You can have up to 3 HSBC products. 300.00 is not a very good limit, BUT, once you get in with them and pay a few on time you can go after better HSBC products such as Union Plus who has a great BT deal right now around 6.9%. Stay away from Crap 1. If you get HSBC keep the balance low. They have a habit of waiting until you get close to the limit and nailing you with extra charges to push you over the limit so they can get another chunk from you. Juniper cards are not prime cards by any means. Also, you mentioned you need another card for a better picture. You should not go for new credit on how it looks, but rather for what card gives YOU something in return and boost your score.
Just be aware that "not activating" the card is not the same as "closing" the account. If you do not activate it, you will still have the account, it will report to your CRs, and you will still be considered to "hold" the card. If you do not want to do business w/them, then cancel the card formally in writing.
^^^ Thanks. So it already appears for CR purposes that I have this card? I just want one HSBC card with a decent limit. Hopefully when I call on Tues, they will be bale to work that out. otherwise, I may cancel, in writing. Will that look bad on my CR - that I had a card briefly and cancelled it? The only reason stated for my decline was "We recently approved you for an HSBC account." Maybe the request for 2nd card came too soon after the 1st one??? I have the phone number for the credit dept to call on Tues. When I asked why my limit was so low, explaining a previous card from someone else a month ago gave me a limit of $1500, they said they looked at what other creditors gave me and try to stay in the same area. My 2 Crap1 cards have limits of $500. (I asked them not to do auto credit limit increases, because I was afraid that if they gave me more credit that another card wouldn't, - I was thinking that another card would say my debt to income ratio was too high.) I guess that last card with a high limit wasn't able to be seen yet. I used to get offers for a Union Plus card, but then they stopped. I thought I was getting them because at the time, I was in a union, and in the last 3 years, I have not been, and they cannot offer cards to non-union people. But I don't know, it's just what I thought. I've had 2 for a few years now, and now they are helping with my history. Should I get more cc's, then after some history with the new cards, cancel the Cap1 cards, to be done with them? I need another cc for my credit picture, but yes, I also want one that I'll actually be able to use if needed, a good company, a decent limit, etc. I've been advised to help my score, I need to add 2 cc's. Since then, I've added one (with the $1500 limit), and I'm looking for another. I'm looking at pre-approved offere in the mail (that's how I got the HSBC $300 one, but they didn't tell how much until after I got the card) I would have liked one for airline miles that gives you points for shopping (not just flying). I checked on the credit card ratings sites, and I noticed that the cards I have should have says a person should have a "good" credit score, and that Continetal Airlines cc required a "good" score too, so I did apply over the weekend. My response was that more time is needed to decide, and they will send a letter within 30 days - I hope to know more sooner - I may even call by the end of the week.
I think you're giving HSBC too much credit (pardon the pun) when you're thinking that the second invitation was a result of your call. It may look that way from the "outside", but their internal marketing programs are scheduled and run months ahead of time. Don't take this as the gospel truth, but from what I've read and experienced, here are some general rules of thumb: * nothing happens fast in the world of credit, except getting declined and blacklisted. * "pre-approvals" usually aren't, and even if they are, they're usually subject to a reinvestigation of your credit profile anyway * more credit lines are better than fewer * low usage ratios are better than higher usage ratios * older credit accounts in good standing are more valuable than newer accounts * recent activity is weighed more heavily than older activity; too much recent activity can be a killer * lots of credit apps in the past 6 months are going to be noticed more than whether you were accepted or declined or even activated or used the new accounts * your overall debt-to-income ratio and used-credit-vs-available-credit are possibly the two most important criteria that banks look at, next to your credit score. Mortgage companies don't want to see more than 25%-30% overall debt-to-income ratio because most mortgages eat up 25%-30% of your income, and taxes take another 25%-30%. If they're all 30%, that doesn't leave much leeway (10%) for emergencies if you don't have several months of savings to fall back on. HTH
An Update ^^^ RE: the last point of debt-to-income ratio... That was the reason stated in my very recent application. I decided to just go ahead and try to apply for the Continental Airlines CC (Chase), and I just got the rejection letter. The reason stated was: "Balances on accounts are too high compared to credit limits" They listed TU as the CRA they used. (my highest score is TU = 689) But it wasn't about the score, it was about the balances, in my case. But I think they look at your credit overall, not just score. I do know my cc's are maxed out right now - that will change at least somewhat in less then a month and should be in a good utilization in about 2 months. However, the good news is I did get things worked out with HSBC. The low limit approved card is closed (never activated, never used, was only an account for a couple of weeks, so no negatives about that, and I called and officially closed it), and I was approved for a higher limit ($1000+) with them on another mailing (after I closed the low limit card) So now I have my 4 cards. After paying limits down, I'm hoping my credit picture looks better and scores jump some. And, staying positive, I'll get a free credit report now because of the rejection, so I don't have to use my once-a-year free report just yet.
