Hello All! I am trying to rid myself of all annual fee cards. I rarely carry a balance over, so APR isn't a primary issue. My FICO scores are looking at high 600's and low 700's with a Chp 7 showing on EQ and EX. So what say you? What's the easiest no annual fee card to get? I currently have a Chase Plat. Card, and am looking for one other so I can get rid of Cap One and a secured card.
My scores are about what yours are and I have a Chase Platinum card. I applied for Chase's Perfectcard last month and was approved for a 4k limit. It has 1% rebate on all purchases and 3% on all gas purchases. I'm thinking I'm going to use it for groceries each month and get the 1% back and pay it in full each month! The annual fee is waived if you purchase at least 9 times during a calendar year...which for me is easy.
Thanks for the info How long between the time you got your Chase Platinum and the time you applied for the PerfectCard? I just got the Platinum a couple of days ago.
We've had the platinum for about 2-3 yrs now and we also have our mortgage thru Chase so that may have helped. Never been late on anything either...but have alot of credit and it's all like 2-3 yrs old. They pulled TU as a report too. I live in FLorida so I don't know if that varies by state.
Thanks Soup, I did a PFB asking for no annual and a higher credit limit but have gotten no response so far. It's only been a week, though
With scores like yours, Citibank would be an obvious choice. Chase might approve you, but they might also reprice you at the drop of a hat. If you ever carry a balance, it could happen, even if your credit is improving.
I applied for Citibank the other day because of the info on that other thread. Also, "whopulledmycredit.com" showed Citi pulling TU for my area. I checked. They pulled EXP which still shows my Chap. 7 and a pre-bankruptcy charge-off. I'm looking for the letter, but I'm pretty pestimistic about it.
You know, in your case "easiest" could simply mean "most likely to pull Equifax." So maybe American Express Optima or the Household GM Card would be good choices. AmEx does require 2 accounts for at least 2 years.
I saw that 724 EQ score and figured the BK must be off already. I'm thinking a 724 would be impossible with a BK still on the report. But if the BK is still there, I guess AmEx Optima would not be a good card to apply for.
Thanks Richguy. I called and confirmed my suspisions. I was declined. They said they do not do BK for 7 years. That's alright. I have a long memory. I'll be rich by then and deny them credit Time to try something else. I just hate the idea of $50 annual fees. I suppose I'll call Cap1 and see what they will agree to.
If there's activity on the card and you pay on/ahead of time, you should have no problem getting the fee waived. It's a pain to call, but it's once a year and can be done even after the fee is charged. How recent is your Ch7? Mine is just over two years ago, things are still pretty tough. I'm also discovering that some of the chargeoffs from my BK are showing up as "late", though I was never late - paid right up to filing. (cc debt was not the problem, taxes were) I've been able to "grow" my Cap1 unsecured card from $300 to $1200 in one year. It was the first card I obtained post BK. It sounds like you don't have much history at this point, based on what you've described. I'm curious about your high score in contrast to lack of history. FICO - go figure!
Hello Dans, I think part of my high scores has to do with a credit history dating back to 1985. Also, I needed to get my family into a house very badly so I spent hours every night plotting against these dogs. I've been out of BK for 1 year. I got a lot of stuff to fall off. I still have some stubborn ones. TU dropped my BK tradeline based on a true, but rather empty handwritten BS letter I sent them (I made it sound like I was some poor naive hillbilly who thought TU was his advocate). None of the others have dropped it. I got two cards right away. I also took a secured loan from my credit union and paid it back early ( l literally paid to borrow my own money). Right before I got my mortgage, I redisputed everything and artificially raised my score some. I also made sure my cards were below 50% usage and never carried a balance over. Other than that, FICO is a reasonless beast. Make friends with the beast.
Since TU is the one without the bankruptcy, what about B of A. They pulled TU on both my husband and myself. I even had an old paid chargeoff from 1/98. BTW we live in Texas.
Thanks shawbee! They blew me off last year, so I hadn't even thought about them. I have 4 accounts with them. I filled out an online app. a few minutes ago, and it said check back in 24h. I pulled my WK report, and sure enough, they pulled TU just a few minutes ago. We shall see. In the meantime, I called Cap1 and got the annual fee dropped. So if all else fails, I'll keep this one.
A little follow up on the BofA application. They declined me, but did not post a reason. I called the number on the e-mail and asked. I figured they would tell me something about my BK or my one bad TL on TU (acronyms -- don't you love them!). Instead, the guy tells me it was declined pending address verification. HUH? Anyway, instead of looking about my address on my accounts I have with them to verify it, they said I had to send a copy of a utility bill. BTW, I've only been at this address for 6 mo. The guy said as soon as the address was verifiable by a document sent by me, the app would go through. Does this sound plausible? Or is it BS?
Nope. Your good to go, if they declined you because of the BK, they would have said so up front followed by a letter. They are a good bank to do business with.
Thanks Brad j I should get the letter by the end of next week. I'll give them a couple of utility bills to look and and see what happens. If I get this one, I'll probably sock draw Cap1. TBC
