Has anyone had a good experience with Orchard credit cards? A week or 2 ago, the Orchard credit card offer with $89 annual fee was discussed here. I now have received the offer. It is $1500 with 19.4% apr. I don't need the card but may take it (without the annual fee) and use it for 2 years to build more credit. One writer here seemed to support Orchard - "somebody" was the writer's name. Everyone else seemed to have had a bad experience with Orchard. I was pissed when I went to the Orchard website and saw $59 annual fees being offered. OK, so maybe they have more than 1 offer. If you have had a positive or at least neutral experience with Orchard let me know. Thanks.
I personally feel that Orchard bank should only be used by someone trying to build credit. If you have better cards, dont deal with Orchard. They are subprime. Your rate sounds pretty good though. Maybe they are branching out. But you dont need an annual fee that high. Move on over to Citi or Chase if you need new cards. roni To: Somebody / or anybody here wrote: ------------------------------- Has anyone had a good experience with Orchard credit cards? A week or 2 ago, the Orchard credit card offer with $89 annual fee was discussed here. I now have received the offer. It is $1500 with 19.4% apr. I don't need the card but may take it (without the annual fee) and use it for 2 years to build more credit. One writer here seemed to support Orchard - "somebody" was the writer's name. Everyone else seemed to have had a bad experience with Orchard. I was pissed when I went to the Orchard website and saw $59 annual fees being offered. OK, so maybe they have more than 1 offer. If you have had a positive or at least neutral experience with Orchard let me know. Thanks.
You may find that the annual fee goes along with the card. Until they actually negotiate with you, it would be highly speculative to think of this card without an annual fee. If you got the same offer as me, the credit limit was "up to $1500," with a minimum of $300 listed in small print. People usually resent Orchard for the same reasons they resent Capital One: low limits and high annual fees. If you already have Capital One, you don't need this one. If you don't have Capital One and need to build a credit history, then I think this one will do just as well.
Thanks Richguy I, Jim, wrote the original message on the thread here. My offer was the same as yours and today when I called Orchard, I was informed that they would not negotiate about the annual fee. I threw the offer in the trash as I have already received $3,000 cards with decent terms from Providian and Capital One. Not to mention the credit union visa cards (both at 13.9 fixed rate apr.). My visa card limits total 11,000 now on the 4 cards. I expect them to grow this year to the real level I want. In February, it will be 2 years since I discharged my Chap. 7 BK here in California. Your posts are great. They are very detailed which is appreciated.
RE: Thanks Richguy Thank you. For some reason, I've kept a complete file of all the offers I receive from Orchard Bank. I was seriously considering them a year ago, but realized I didn't need any more annual fees. Now I can't even allow any more bank cards, so why would I want to close Citibank or Chase to make room for a $300 card that would cost almost $150 per year if I reached my limit, which wouldn't be hard to do considering their stingy limit policy? By the way, you've made amazing progress within two years of a bankruptcy.
The progress I have made has been somewhat attributable to this board which I accidently came across when a student left her computer on with the site up. Fortunate for me.
Here's the low down on Orchard Bank They are a good card to use if you are atempting to rebuild damaged credit or if you are getting set up with your first credit card. They report positive information to the 3 major credit bureaus each and every month. No other credit card I am aware of will do that for every single cardholder. The do have some high annual fees. However, these annual fees go to pay for the bureau reports they file every month. They will start credit line increases typically after 12 - 15 months on file. They will start out low but gain in size if the account is kept current. Their CS will is fairly generous with waiving fees. I hope I have answered all of your questions
