These dishonest ripoff artists increased the APR on my account to a whopping 27.99% without notifying me & for no reason. I have always made my payments early & often for much more than the minimum payment due. They claimed it was due to changes in my credit report but I have a copy of my report & when compared to the report I got just before opening the account, there have been NO changes. They are LIARS, CHEATS & as soon as I can pay them off, I will close the account & never do business with them or any of their affiliates again.
No changes in your report? Your balances are exactly the same? What are your other cards and open tradelines?
thank you for the heads up My girl friend just received one. Will have to keep an eye on hers. I thought abut getting one till now... please keep us posted..
AFAIK, they have a UDC that allows them to jack your rate up if you are late on any payments to ANYONE. It says right in the small print on their application that they will jack your rate way the hell up if you so much as look at them funny. Just keep making your payments to them. I'm sure the reason you got the card was to make on-time payments and build good credit. You can't be phased by them increasing the rate on you. Complain and do everything you can to reverse the increase, but don't forget the point of having the card. If you are having trouble paying off the balance on a secured card, it really may not be the right time for you to have a credit card at all.
Orchard recently ratejacked a bunch of people. In my case, I'd been overlimit on one card two months ago, so I don't hold it against them -- it was my dumbass error. On the other hand, I'd been intending to close the card before its sixth anniversary anyway, so I did, balance transferring the amount on the card to another account.
What is your debt to available credit ratio, both on this account, and on the total of your revolving accounts?
I have posted this before. This is how they operate. This card is for people rebuilding credit and usually can't get another card. I got mine in Feb 2006. I have never been over 50%, never LATE EVER, nothing and I got the same notice for the exact same increase. My husband who is new to the US and is establishing his credit got the Orchard SECURED card and he has never been late, never over the limit or anything and they raised his as well. My credit is better NOW than when they gave me the card so that is a bogus excuse. My husband has added excellent tradelines including an AMEX card (he works for them thank god) plus an auto loan, all low balances and both of our rates have raised. I read on ripoffreport, and many many people are complaining about the same thing. Basically there is nothing we can do but suck it up and wait until we get a prime credit card. Good luck.
Use it for what it is good for: Establishing or re-establishing credit. Their rate says they don't want to lend to you except at excessive rates. Don't carry a balance.
Further agreed. I carried Orchard for years to rebuild credit because cards like that were all I could get at the time. I never had a problem with Orchard, but I never carried a balance either. The bottom line is, nearly all the bottomfeeder secured card issuers will molest you if you carry a balance, not just Orchard. Pay it off each month and once you're getting mainstream offers again, get rid of it. After I got rid of my secured Orchard card, HSBC (parent company) offered me a real card with an attractive rate, no annual fee, and a $6000 credit line. Hang in there...better things will come around.
