I just received an offer for an Associates National Bank Visa. Are they a sub-prime card? The interest rate would seem to indicate so, but they do have a grace period and no annual fee. What type of experience can anyone tell me about? Thanks Brian
RE: Associates National Bank V People do report service problems with Associates, but I haven't had any. Having been acquired by Citigroup, they may provide better service in the future. My Associates Visa is a better deal than my Capital One Visa, due to a higher limit and no annual fee. There the differences end. Like Capital One, Associates is reported to be very hard-headed about increasing credit limits or reducing interest rates. They would much rather lose a cardholder than make an exception. If you think you'll be in the subprime market for a few years, an Associates Visa might not be a bad deal. But if you're improving your credit, that Associates Visa will just clutter up your credit report with an extra account. I'm already thinking of closing mine, after less than a year.
RE: Associates National Bank V I've had an Associates MC for over 10 years and never had any problem with them. I got it when I was 17 (my mother co-signed back then) and it was a student card. The credit limit was increased to $1800 and stayed there. My one complaint is that my account got over-the-limit and I was having a hard time getting it down. When I finally did, I'd found out that they'd closed my account. I was never notified. So I called and asked was it customary for them to close accounts without giving a customer a chance to rectify the situation. They said no, but never said much of anything else. My interest rate has always been about 18-19% though.
RE: Associates National Bank V I have one of these... It's not bad, for a subprime, except for the outrageous APR (27% in my case). But I've never carried a balance on this account, so it didn't matter. I have the acount for about 1 year, I'm thinking about closing it... the other thing that pisses me off is they don't have online access, I have to rely on the good old paper mail to make payments... Forgot to mention, they increase the limits at about every 6 months intervals, pretty minor increases in my case ($250 each time). I've never requested anything myself though, maybe I should give them a call, see what they can come up with...
Associates: no online access? That's weird because my Texaco card, which Associates runs, can be billed and paid online.
I'm gonna close them REAL soon Guess what! I called them, and they wouldn't budge a bit. No increase, no APR reduction. Boy this card is so closed... About online access... maybe they changed it lately, last time i checked, it wasn't there
RE: I'm gonna close them REAL I heard that their on-line access is in test phase and currently offered w/ their student card. I personaly had a Washington Mutual secured card issues through the Associates and I closed that account due to their crappy customer service. See this post: http://board.creditnet.com/read.php3?num=1&id=29810&thread=29810
Associates online access I looked at the online access for my Texaco card, and it listed other people you could pay. Included in that list was Associates National Bank. When I went to the Associates section, it asked for the name of the Associates credit card I want to pay. Weird.
RE: Associates is HOLDING ME H i tried to close the secured card and low and behold, they said my money is tied into a CD and I thought is was a regular savings account,,.. i have to wait a few more months to close the account.. good luck people
No you don't! My deposit was in a CD also......when I called to close the account, it was done immediately. I didn't have to wait but I did have to pay a small penalty for withdrawing the funds out of the CD early.
