No, don't do that cause then you run the potential risk of screwing everything up. What if they delete it, then your credit card company puts some sort of hold on your account to do a fraud investigation??? They'll want to know WHY you disputed the account as not yours. Or you may even have the police show up at your door to ask you questions????
Thanks for all of your replies. I am going to plan out a strategy this weekend. I am leaning towards using the IRA loan to pay down Citi, ask them for a lower interest rate, then apply for the Citi Silver and Citi Gold. Then BT to those from the other high interest cards. A couple more questions. If Citi turns me down on the Citi gold and silver, is it reasonable to call them and ask them to reconsider? I am asking this because Citi is not reporting on a regular basis and if I use my IRA loan to pay down my existing Citi, it may not show up for a long time on my credit report. Anyone had any luck with them asking them to reconsider a denial? I checked the various web sites this morning to determine which CRA they pull and the scores needed. I think I am in good shape on both of those areas. I could not find any info on who Generations Bank pulls or what score they require. Does anyone know? I saw that Beaker said he got denied at 682. That is about where I am at, depending on the report pulled. I was already aware of the plan to move money from card to card, based on closing dates, in order to show artificially low balances. That is part of my overall plan, but I obviously need somewhere to move my balances to. I know exactly when my cards report, except for Citi and MBNA. My one problem here is with Citi not reporting on a regular basis. If I pay it down, and it does not report for months, that kind of screws up the plan. Any ideas? Last question and then I will shut up. I have asked for interest rate reductions. The reply I get is a rehash of what they sent me originally. They say they pulled my report and saw a collection account and therefore consider me a high risk. They ignore my proof from the creditor that the debt was not mine and the fact the item no longer appears on my report. So far, I have done this by letter because I have been sending the creditor letter saying the debt was not mine. Any suggestions on where to go from here on this issue? Is there someone else I should be talking to? Thanks for all your help. Any addditional comments are appreciated.
When you apply for the citi silver and gold, they will pull your report, AND check over your payment/history of the other accounts. This usually is why you get the "7-10 days" message. They will manunally review your current account, its payment history, etc etc... sometimes they will pull another hard inquiry if they feel like it (!!) during the manual review process. So get all your ducks lined up, i've never been denied another AA card, cept when i went over the 3 card limit..
Here is a thought, if you cannot qualify for any of the AMEX lines. Hopefully you are making more than minimum payments. For the next couple of months make minimum payments, save the difference and open a brokerage margin account, you will need a minimum of $2000. Buy some safe marginable security, then borrow against it, brokerage loan rates are well below 10%, use this margin to lower your credit card balances. www.creditsense.com
Sam: You seem knowlegeable on this. Would I be better off using the $9000 to pay down maybe $1500 on each of the six cards? I am hesitant to do that because I fear FirstUSA will cut my credit limits. Does anyone have any thoughts on my question concerning getting a lower interest rate on the cards now? Any imput is appreciated. Creditworks: I think I am too conservative for that.
I'll throw in my 2 cents on this topic. I would suggest applying for the AMEX LOC first. Its a soft inquiry on Experian. With your payment history and scores, you at least have a shot. Even if you get it at prime to 5.99, your still ahead. Since they don't report you could pay off First USA and get rid of them. Make a few large payments to Citibank and then request a lower interest rate. If they say no, you may be in a better situation to get another card and transfer balances to something like Bank of America and their 8.9% for life card. You debt ratio will be lower, so it may work. If the AMEX LOC doesn't work out, Try the Citi AA Cards. Just my 2 cents, JP
heck, you have nothing to lose now. Apply for the amex loc, then for the citibank aa silver and gold. you either get it and move on , or get denied and face the consiquences. 50/50. What are you lingering for ????? I am not trying to be a wise guy or something, but to deserve the salary you make you must be a guy that can make decisions.
i agree I would apply for both citi cards, but carefully think over the application responses, to maximize your internal score (citi does use one).
