I always paid on time. They repriced me from 29.75 to 31.75/33.75. Then they closed my account for no reason. NOW they start reporting my account, when the reason I accepted the card originally was their policy of not reporting. It's reported as closed, but also as paid in full, never late. They only report negative accounts, so closed for no reason is clearly negative in their eyes. Maybe they intend to stop reporting once it's totally paid off?
Maybe it's not the same Aspire card I've got, but they've reported every month for me and they recently gave me a CL increase of $500. My rate is 15%, the lowest of all my cards. I have nothing but good things to say about Aspire.
I'm sure it's the same Aspire organization, but perhaps a different tier that you're on. I knew they were subprime when I accepted their offer at 29%, but I was willing to tolerate it for two reasons: (1) The possibility of renegotiating the APR later; (2) The credit line that wasn't reported. I didn't know then about their predatory repricing policy, or that they would just close accounts for no reason and then report them as closed. Before you say nothing but good things about them, you could consider those facts, even though they're outside your own personal experience. Under the name of Emerge, they have put a number of former Providian customers through pure hell. But they probably do have their elite division, not exactly prime, but one that at least isn't pathologocally suspicious of supposedly subprime customers. Congratulations on your success with them. Perhaps in the near future you can qualify for the Aspire Platinum Visa.
Again, it's only my experience and I would never say anything beyond that, don't know much about them as a company or even heard anything about them until I saw your post. It's a "gold" card, maybe not the highest level but they have treated me far better than Cap1, Providian or DMB. I filed a Ch7 BK 8/01 and tried to keep some cards w/low or no balance. Cap1 and Providian cancelled w/0 balance. Great, glad I paid them off. My reasons for BK were tax liens, not CC debt, so I was never late and didn't default on all that much - maybe 8k? I kept the NextCard and DMB cards - I know, now I know, not great choices. Nexcard went out of biz and DMB jacked me up from 12% to 19%, based solely on my BK. Thanks, DMB! Glad I didn't include you guys. </sarcasm> Anyway, got a new Cap1 card from an offer they sent me and I'm playing games w/them, usual Cap1 crap I see around here. DMB dropped the APR a huge honkin' half a percentage point - wow! And Nextcard, bless 'em, has been soaking me for 24% on a balance that will never come back as a credit line because they went belly up! So in this scenario, perhaps you can understand why I like Aspire. They never jacked me up or jerked me around. I have gotten a CL increase without asking and subprime, prime, primal scream or whatever anyone calls them, they are my ONLY credit card that has treated me decently since my BK. When they gave me the $500 CL, I felt like someone was actually noticing my attention to paying on time, etc.
So did you take the Aspire card through the bankruptcy, or did you get it since then? If it's new since the bankruptcy, I can see how they would treat you a little bit better. They can be generous with credit limits as well, as they were with me. BTW, I think they noticed my on-time payments as well. But in my case, they probably used them as a reason to increase my APR. After all, it doesn't do any good to jack up rates once cardholders default. It's only profitable to jack up rates on accounts that are always paid on time.
Sorry I didn't make that clear - yes, I kept the Aspire card through my BK and they were the *only* card I don't regret keeping. The only new card since the BK is Cap1, and the other new loan is my auto loan from Chase just 3 months ago.
So, what I read here are that most are pretty evil and the rest are much worse. CC companies have you over a barrel IF YOU HAVE A BALANCE. I hate that. After my BK I have no CCs and do not want any. I may need to do something for credit building though...
Re: Re: Aspire maggots!! I agree completely that one should not have a balance outstanding. It's like any tempation, there's a price to pay and it's got double digit interest at a time when it's hard to earn 4% on your money. If you never want to finance a car or house again, you can keep paying cash for everything. But if you want to establish good credit, no point in waiting to establish a good payment record.
Thanks, Dog-san! I start using that emotive language after I've been stabbed in the back. Occasionally, it may be of interest to others. JCB is a great card, but if they had closed my account just for living in the wrong state, I'm sure I would have felt about the same. Have a good time in The City for all of us!
