Thought it might be a good idea to list a customer confidence review on which cc companies SEEM to be on the up and up regarding aprs and fluctuating credit limits. Up to now - the ones I feel confident about (please - anyone - let me know if you've had negative experiences) are: â?¢ Bank of America Have 2 cc's with them - one is my oldest tradeline - almost 5 years. Allow cl increases every 6 months, have not jacked apr or lowered cl ever â?¢ AMEX Also 2 ccs - Blue, Starwood - plus Gold charge card. Have received 2 increases and have heard that they never play around with raising aprs or cl - as long as you're not late with payments, etc. â?¢ Generations Bank One card - fairly new - have only heard good things about them - and nice cs. The others are all new - less than 6 months - and for some reason I don't feel as confident with them - Chase. Citi, First USA, Elan Financial Services.
Chase and Citi are not bad at all. I have 4 lines with Chase and they are 10000 or above, 2 of them are 0% APR right now. www.creditsense.com
Generation's Bank or any small town bankcard. All the major players WILL jack you eventually, once it is in their best interest to do so.
Generations Bank or any small town bankcard. All the major players WILL jack you eventually, once it is in their best interest to do so.
Capital One... 3 Platinum cards. I have hit 95% ratio before for several months and no rate hike. In fact, I was thanked for my excellent payment history (translation=profitability with stable payments)... very nice. no rate hikes whatsoever... 8.9 fixed. we'll see what happens when rates eventually go up... but for now, steady
Good topic... 1st National Bank (Omaha) will increase rates after doing an annual soft inquiry MBNA (without a CL increase request) pulled a hard inquiry and lowerd a limit 9 mos. after opening
The following jacked my rates to very high APR's after my card useage got close to the credit limit: Citi, Nextcard, and all three of my FirstUSA. All bills were always paid on time and there are no negatives on my report. Only problem is very high useage. One of my FirstUSA cards still had over $5,000 in available credit and they took that away, reducing my balance to $3000 from $8500. MBNA did not increase my APR, but gave me a choice. I could keep my reasonable APR if I agreed to never use my card again. I took this option. Or, if I ever used my card again, my APR would go to 24.99%. MBNA is continually offering me low BT deals. I am not sure if it is a trick to see of they can get me to use the card so they can jack my rates to 24.99%. Or, they may have forgiven me because I have always paid on time on all my bills. Or, they may not have realized I signed an agreement to never use my card again. I don't plan on testing them on this. BOA did not jack my rate. I paid off $7500 of a $15,000 balance on Citi and they lowered my Apr from 23.99% to 9.9% and increased my CL to $22,500. They are now offering 3.9% BT's. If you follow this board and others, you will see that FirstUSA is probably the worst about jacking your rates. The moral of the story is this: Always have somewhere else to move your balances before you get in too deep. Once they get you, they got you good. It is a long climb out of the hole.
I agree, always have some credit available. I disagree with the high usage statement. I use all my teaser rate offers, so I am constantly using my credit. I always go close to the limit, usually just leave 1000 available, I have never been jacked up by any creditor. Providian did refuse to give me a lower rate on my 11000 line (23%), so I closed it. www.creditsense.com
I don't understand why MBNA would lower your interest rate only if you promised not to use the card? and what prompted FirstUSA to lower your credit line? Thans
FirstUSA jacked my rate and lowered my credit line solely because I had high useage of my cards. Never a missed payment and never a late pay. Everything has always been current. MBNA did not lower my rate. They said they would not raise it if I agreed to never use the card again. If I everr use it, the APR goes to 24.99%. Again, the sole reason was high useage of my cards. I went through two serious illnesses. Came close to dying a couple times. I missed a couple years of work and lived off my cards. But, I have always been current. There is nothing negative on my reports. Unfortunately, I have to pay it all back. Right now, I am paying mostly interest.
Citibank Platinum Select 6.65% V Chase Platinum 4.75% V ($45 annual fee) Quantum 9.99% F Bank of America Platinum 9.99% F Discover Platinum 12.99% Next step I will try to get Discover 1 or 2% lower
Current APRs: MBNA 11.99 Citibank Plat 6.65 Citibank Aadvantage 8.65 ATT Universal 7.65 Nextcard (defunct with balance) 9.99 Orchard 15.9 (ouch!)
I go close on whatever card gives me a teaser. At times I have been close to the limit on all of them, it all depends on timing. At the moment I have 3 unused cards, but First Union just offered 4.7% APR till 1/03, so that will get used for 11k, the line is 12k. www.creditsense.com
I never had any problems w/CC raising APRS: MBNA Plat plus - 8/01 $9k 11.99% F Amex Blue- 1/01 $9.6k 9.99% F Cit Pl sel - 11/00 $10.5k 13.24% V (wont lower APR) Chase Gold - 9/00 $7.5k 7.99% F Providian - 2/99 $1.4k 16.9% F (Want to close) but dont want to hurt FICO ....----oldest Tradeline----- I stongly believe what CREDITWORKS states....you need to use your credit to build credit....this is the only way i have obtained my credit...and from all the info from this board...thanks EQ 752 EXP 735 TRANS 677 Tony V. San Diego, Ca
