I was doing a research for work and I came a cross this in a CNN Money article. Lower your credit card rate November 2, 2001: 3:25 p.m. ET Credit card holders find it hard to latch onto the interest-rate freefall. By Sarah Max "While you're shopping for the lowest rates, you may notice the best offers come from small banks with unfamiliar names. Arkansas' Pulaski Bank & Trust, for example, has gotten lots of kudos over the past several years for its 6.5 percent annual rate. Unfortunately, your chances of qualifying for Pulaski's card, or any small bank's card, are slim. "Pulaski only has 32,000 accounts and is only adding 1,000 new accounts a month," McKinley said. "About one in 100 applicants will qualify for it." Even if you do beat the odds and qualify, don't expect to transfer big balances and shop like Imelda Marcos. The average credit limit for Pulaski cardholders is about $1,600. You're more likely to qualify for the better rates and bigger credit limits if you focus on the largest issuers, such as Bank of America, Bank One/First USA, Capital One, Citibank and MBNA. Although 9 percent is about as low as they go, they don't limit their best offers to just the very best applicants and they are willing to take on larger balances. "If you're looking to transfer a $5,000 balance, you need to look to the largest issuers," McKinley said."
My wife had SIMMONS NATIONAL BANK $1,000...asked for a credit limit increase, they sent her an application with MORE QUESTIONS THAN MY MORTGAGE!!! NOT KIDDING!!! Big limits were/are NOT AVAILABLE with this bank either.
When I applied for the Pulaski card it was extremely time consuming. They verified everything. including employment and salary. They are extremely thorough in how they examine their potential cardholders. In the end I was approved but their applications process is much longer (in length and duration to process) than most others I have dealt with. Ended up getting a $7000 limit at 7.5% for both purchases and cash which is great. For those who apply now its much better 6.5%
Be careful about being 'Hidden'... Advantages: 1) You carry a large balance which gets 'shielded' from your ratios Disadvantages: 1) If you pay on-time consistently, you get no credit for this. 2) And they may start reporting any time without your knowledge which may be surpirsing when you apply for a mortgage or car loan. I'm sure that if you become delinquent they will report to the CRA's...
What scores are needed for Generations bank? Also which report is pulled? any other special criteria that has to be met?
I was going to apply for a Pulaski Bank card sometime. After emailing them, they replied back to say that the number of applications they take is very limited. I asked them about applying if someone had a past bankruptcy and they stated "we cannot reveal our underwriting criteria, you are encouraged to apply".
