Working on my credit. got citibank plat,aria, and cap 1 card. now i get a pre-approved up to $500 classic orchard bank card offer. $39 app fee. $99 yearly membership fee. Pretty stiff. Do they still suck? Im trying to weigh the benefits of $99 for 1 years worth of good trade line? Any opinions? They have online ACH payment? Thats a must. The question i have, will a fourth credit card line improve my score any? After getting the citibank, i have absolutely no reason to continue using the cap 1 and aria, except for pure credit rebuilding trade-lines. I did notice Household Bank holds the title on that card. Would it be wise to get the card in hopes it might sway the opinion of a household automotive loan in the future if necessary? Any tips.. muchly appreciated.. g'nite.
RE: Orchard bank? Even worth b Having a credit card from household bank will not increase your chances or a car loan or vice versa. I have an autoloan from them with no problem and they would not give me a credit card. I also have a orchard card and they (Household) would not give me a credit card. I wouldnot recommend that credit building strategy. I would suggest that you try not to get anymore than 5 credit cards. Anymore than that really starts to lower your credit score. Some of us are desperately trying to reduce the number of our credit accounts to 4-5 cards. You are in a very good position with the Citibank, Providian, and capital one accounts. I would hold off on cards in hope of getting some prime cards in the near future. You will more than likely easily get a Chase card soon. Also another Citibank account would not hurt. Orchard bank is gonna be very stingy with credit limits in the beginning. You are already beyond their limits now. Look up not down my friend. I see you getting a $1-2K limit Chase card (gold or plat) in 6 months( my little crystal ball. lol). I know Chase is joining Citibank in this marketing for subprimees. I got something brewing right now with Chase..let you know about it later). But anyway, you have 3 very decent cards and anything outside of Chase or Citibank or AMEX would be a waste of your time. Obtain your 5 credit card wisely. And remember credit limits count. Citibank is generous, as well as Providian. Capital one is not so bad also, just a little slower, but you can always bluff limit increases out of them. Orchard aint gonna budge for at least a year. Good Luck! roni.
RE: Orchard bank? Even worth b I notice that people posting to this board are divided on the question whether Orchard sucks or doesn't suck and if it does suck, how much does it suck? But I agree with Roni that Orchard doesn't appear to be a card that you need because you will not get much of a credit line if you are looking at a 1-2 year horizon. I have substantial credit lines with Orchard but that is only because I've had their cards for a long time. I do not close them because they enhance my credit utilization ratio. A credit line of a few hundred bucks wouldn't have this impact so I see no reason for you to bother. You might want to try Chase as she suggested. You might also look into either a second card with Citibank or apply for the AT&T Universal Platinum. Universal is a Citibank subsidiary that seems to have similar credit standards. The AT&T card comes with a reasonable rate for purchases and has a 2.9 intro for balance transfers. If you have balances to transfer, you could save save alot of money by applying for this card. You also get $100 in free long distance calls. Just a small perk but not enough to induce someone to apply.
RE: Orchard bank? Even worth b thanks. i had the hunch that it wasn't too great of an idea. I'll just sit on my thumbs for a while
RE: Orchard bank? Even worth b A few points here: (1) You don't need four bankcards to establish a good credit history. Three would be enough. Two would be enough. CapOne seems superfluous, but closing it too soon could hurt your image with some lenders. (2) Orchard is reviled mostly because they're a lot worse than they used to be. Even in the last year, I have seen their offers get much, much worse. The annual fees keep rising and the limits have been drastically cut back. They used to be better than CapOne because they offered much higher limits; now I see them as worse because of the excessive fees. (3) Those new "Who says money doesn't grow on trees?" offers are both condescending and sickeningly ugly. The card would be the same ugly green color. You could literally get sick of using the card, perhaps after a large meal at a restaurant with friends. On second thought, with that credit limit, maybe you couldn't afford a large meal. (4) If you got the Citibank Platinum card by trading up from an AAdvantage card, that may not indicate your ability to get a card from another bank like Chase. Maybe it was just a happy anomaly. But keeping the Citibank card to build your credit is a lot more pleasant than keeping the other two. I'm pleased at your success.
Richguy! Richguy I said he would probably get a chase card because I have the chase card. It is not that much of stretch. roni
RE: Orchard bank? Even worth b this bank sucks i have had it for 1 year and they still have not given me a credit increase my annual fee is coming up 69.00 going to pay off the balance and close this account to avoid 69.00 annual fee on a measley 300.00 credit line
