BUT...is having money in the "Bank" even considered with respect to the credit rating?
It does with my bank. Mind you, credit ratings are calculated differently north of the border so I can't say if it's the bank or the system.
I went for years without a major credit card. I had a couple of store cards for the rewards systems and paid them off religiously to avoid interest charges. Then came the internet and the potential to shop on-line, but for that I needed a major CC.
So I went to the bank. Told the loan officer in charge of such things that I wanted a card for online shopping with a low credit limit, say $500. Or perhaps a pre-paid card. Something that would limit my risk if the number was stolen (yes I know the CC company is supposed to protect one in such events, but I prefer to limit my liability in the event they don't). I guess I gave him the wrong impression and he assumed I was trying to restore my credit rating or something. I didn't understand the direction of his comments until later on in the conversation but he clearly was not eager to give me a credit card.
The turning point came when he asked me if I had an account at that bank. When he typed in the account number he literally sat back in his chair and widened his eyes. It was the closest I've ever seen anyone come to a real spit-take. His whole demeanor changed and he said "Oh. Why Mr. [torch] I can give you a card with a $25,000 limit right now!".
That was the closest I have ever come to doing a real face-palm. Wasn't he listening? "I don't
want a $25,000 limit, I want a $500 limit." That's when he explained about how people try to rebuild bad credit ratings and how pre-paid cards are a scam to prey on the poor, etc. etc. Anyway, the upshot was that the lowest limit card they had was a minimum $1,000 so I never got what I was after. But the overall balance sheet was definitely a factor in their equations.