Anyone here have the Associates Secured Card? If so: 1- Do they report to the big three? 2- If they do report, do they report as a "secured card"? 3- Overall opinions/experience with them? 4- Do you recommend them or is there a better option? thanks in advance for any feedback!
1. Yes, including your credit limit. Don't have their secured card, so I can't answer #2. 3. Very positive. Automatic increases every 4 months. Call on the beginning of each month to see if there's a lower APR available for you. Online access is currently limited to student cards, but should be available to all cards soon. They're now part of Citigroup. 4. Highly recommended. Also, their secured card has no annual fee; Try getting THAT from Providian or Capital One 5. If I were you I'd try their student card. The student card is unsecured, and you don't have to give ANY details about your school other than a name. I got an instant approval online: http://www.studentcreditcard.com/the_card/splash.htm Saar
I had a secured Associates card in the past. I had no real problems at all. Customer service was friendly and helpful. Statements arrived on time and payments posted quickly. They did report the card to all three bureaus and it was reported as secured. The one thing that I did not like was the number to customer service was a toll number. However, I am sure that since Citi has taken over, they would at least have a toll free number. I did get luck and find a toll free number to call them each and every time.
Harpua, I have an Associates Secured Card and am happy with them so far. I've only had it for 4 months now, but my experience with them so far has been good. The only difficulty I have had with them is that my account is not yet showing up on any of my credit reports. This past Friday I requested in writing that they make sure the account reports to all three CRA's. So, we'll see how well they do in making that happen. That will be the first real test of their customer service. I'll post the results once I hear back. Overall, though, I am happy with them and intend to keep my account.
I had the Washington Mutual Secured card through the Associates. I got it in Sept. 2000 and canceled in Feb. 2001. Here was my experience w/ them: 1. Never reported to any bureau although they did run an inquiry on Experian (I'm in CA). 2. See #1 3. My experience sucked bigtime! My card got stolen and Am/Ex (I had credt card insurance through them) reported it to them. Then like 3 weeks later they call me regarding charges on my card, etc. IT NEVER GO REPORTED STOLEN! So I called Am/Ex immediately and got on their back. They gave me the name and number of who they talked to. That person never followed through with closing my account and ordering me a new card! Everything was screwed up. So I had to call and report it stolen. Then they wouldn't send me a new card because my account was WAY over the limit (due to fraud!). They stated that I had to wait until my balance was under the limit to get a new card. I was so frustrated! So long story short..... I paid them the full balance ASAP and CLOSED the account. I also filed a complaint in regards to their poor customer service, etc. After they conducted their investigation, then sent me a check to reimburse me all of the fraud fees and my deposit. I was so glad to be done with them. They even refunded me my annual membershit fee as well. 4. Do I recommend them? Probably not...but that's my opinion. Others have had no problems. A friend of mine just canceled them as well due to their poor customer service. She had a regular Associates card w/ a $500 limit. She also said that she had a problem with payments posting too but didn't go into details regarding that.
