Just received an invite to apply for First USA platinum card. Dose anyone know their credit guidelines. What type of score are they looking at for an approval? Are they generous with cl? I have recently wasted some inquiries for: Amtrack MBNA - Denied Hilton Honors Mastercard - Denied Citibank AA Gold - Not an instant, but still waiting for answer. Not to worry...have disputed all inquiries on all three bureaus and have been 50% successful at removal.
they will deny you. My friend had the same denials, but got the 2 citi cards. First usa and mbna want a very nice score.
Maybe I'm showing my age, but does anyone else remember when First USA actually marketed itself as "First Chicago"? Back in the 1980s I had a First Chicago Gold VISA. Ah, the good old days. Doc
First USA was my first REAL credit card w/ a GENEROUS limit back in 97-99. My credit went down the tubes and since they peek at your reports so often, then must of got nervous because they LOWERED my credit limit to $6k thus leaving me less than $100 available credit. Next thing I knew I was being charged over the limit fees, etc. I was furious! Had it out w/ the rep and closed my account (with a balance!). Not to mention that if I ever mailed a payment, it would take 10 years for them to get. Another thing that bugged me was that they were NOT consistant with sending me a statement every month. Some months they did...some they didn't. I had enough. To this day they still play games with statements, etc. but whatever, my account is almost paid off. One good thing I have to say about them is that they lowered my APR with out me even asking.
Watch out for FUSA on their finance charges. If you have a credit and a debit that post on the same day they can BOTH post as a debit. Maybe a flaw in their software or perhaps an "intentional" flaw. I don't know, but I caught them. Also watch your ending balance from previous statement and beginning balance of new statements. I've had discrepencies which, had I not caught it would have had me ending up paying hundreds of dollars more than I owed. Bottom line - if you have FUSA pay it off and also do a careful audit of finance charges, late fees, overlimit reporting, etc., etc., over the life of the account. I can almost guarantee you will find errors and overcharges. If you don't have any FUSA cards make sure you NEVER get one. Be careful when applying for credit as they have many cards with other companies sponsoring rewards, etc. such as Yahoo. These are all the double cycle billing method and are a supreme rip off! Make sure when you apply for anything that you know which bank issues the card.
Yes, Doc, I will admit it. I remember when they were First Chicago. My first Visa card was a First Card from them. Got it in 1983. Maybe that shows my age! LOL Being a native Chicagoan and all. I live not to far from one of their call centers in Elgin. They can't even keep their employees and are always advertising for help. I had a different card from them that I filed in my Chapt. 7 last year. They can't even get it reported correctly. It is one of 7 accounts (along with Household Retail Services & Ford) that have gone through dispute mode and have come back verified. So I am dealing with them directly and have my attorney set to proceed if they do not correct or delete. Of course I will do the small claims process first. So my advice on FUSA is forget about them, you don't need them.
It was reported in Barron's Financial Weekly that the reason for First USA losing 5 million accounts in one year was their inflexible policy on late fees. Combine this with very poor posting performance, as in they post it whenever they feel like it, which may be never. Combine this with a libelous reporting policy, as in they report a payment posted (by them) one day late as if it were paid (by you) 30 days late. Stay away from these creeps! And from their inbred corporate cousins at Bank One as well.
George-First USA was a division of First Chicago if I am not mistaken. Yes, they were bought by Bank One about three years ago. I used to bank with First Chicago until they started charging you after your third visit to a teller in a month. Yes, they charged you to make a deposit through a teller after you used your first three teller visits! Why pay a bank to take your money?
