I'm just curious because they have written to me three times in the past three months wanting me to apply for their Premier Pass Mastercard. I had previous cards with them in the past and they were one of only two creditors to take me to court. (Or should I say the CA the accounts were assigned to took me to court.) I have rebuilt my credit since then - now I'm in the low to mid 600's; the lowest being TU at 617 and the highest being EQ at 657, EX is in the middle with 631. I have two CCs with HSBC (Orchard and Household, both for $300 each) and I just got WaMu for $2000 last month. I'm carrying a balance of $117 on the Household card and I transferred $190 from the Orchard to the WaMu. Should I take a chance and transfer the Household balance to Citi since they are offering a 0% balance transfer thru July 2008 then rise to 14.47% after then? Or should I leave well enough alone and just be happy with what I have. Both Orchard and Household are at 10.40%, WaMu is 0% balance transfers thru December 2007 then will rise to 12.58%. Also I know a couple of people that have both HSBC cards and they both said that after a year their interest rate rose to 19.99%. One of them has never been late, always paid the card off in full each month and has credit scores in the mid-700's which is the reason why I'm considering transferring to Citi and stop using the HSBC cards.
Just be careful to read the fine print, don't assume you will get the card. It is an invitation to apply. Make sure you read the account T&Cs which may have higher rates "based on your credit history". If you can afford the inquiry on your credit report, then perhaps it is financially worth applying for the new card. Just don't count on being accepted yet, or to receive the promoted rates.
It was very frustrating to me I had got offer after offer to apply for a Wamu card a couple of monthes ago. I finally did apply only to get denied along with a nice hard inquiry on my report. Bah.......... Now that my scores are better I'm getting the invites again but I just shred them. Not apping for anything for awhile, gonna let my 3 month old tl's age a bit. Good luck! Tegleg
Thanks. That is just what I thought. I was tempted, though! I really can't afford another hard pull but I am surprised that Citi would contact me about applying. But then again, I figured that Citi may have knowledge about me thru my college because they are the "preferred lender" and got caught up in the student loan scandal earlier this year! I also assumed that my scores were improving because Bank of America sent me a pre-approved letter for an auto loan that is good for a year and CitiFinancial has nagged me a few times to apply for a personal loan for $1500. These are all gimmicks, aren't they?
