I saw another thread on this but did not want to hihjack it with my questions. In general, I have very high credit utilization on my Visa and Mastercard accounts. This prevents me from getting approved for any new cards. Also, some of the cards have jacked my rates to unconscionable levels. Other than that, my credit is perfect, with no derogatories. I have a Sears Preferred store card that is over 20 years old with a perfect payment history. I keep getting offers from them to convert to their Mastercard. I was thinking that if I did convert, I might be able to get a special BT rate and get rid of some of the high interest rates on other cards. I read here in the last few weeks that they do offer special BT rates. Here are my questions: 1. Will they pull either a hard inquiry or soft inquiry if I ask to convert? If so, which one? 2. will they look at my balances on the other cards, or just look at the score? My score is somewhere around 680. 3. Has anyone been offered special BT rates when they converted? 4. Any opinions on my chances? 5. I know it would help my ratios if I got a new Sears Mastercard and kept the old Sears store card. But, I am almost positive they would check my credit and I would be turned down. Am I right? Any opinions on this? The bottom line is that I do not want to waste any hard inquiries. Also, as everyone here knows, you have to have somewhere to transfer your credit balances. FirstUSA is screwing me on the APR, but they are offering an attractive BT rate that I cannot take advantage of now (no available credit). If I can use this new card for a BT from FirstUSA, I can then take advantage of that BT rate. Overall, this can really hilp my situation. Much thanks for any input, comments, and advice
They did not turn me down, my utilization varies, but it is high most of the time. If you have any kind of account you can usually balance xfer to it, I did to my HELOC which is at 5%, because they offerd me 2.9% and an increase after having given me a 9.9%. www.creditsense.com
Thanks for the reply. Does anyone else have any comments? I do not want to screw this up if I decide to go forward with it
I would ask for a TRADE NO INQUIRY (20 years should speak for itself)... Many have got a BUMP in the credit limit...ask about that also... MY SEARS CARD IS SINCE 1979~~~$5,300 BUT I'M AFRAID OF REJECTION...(DENIAL) F.Y.I. some people have received 30 times their SEARS STORE CARD ON THE M/C...(I WOULDN'T EXPECT EVEN DOUBLE FOR ME)!!! Tell them your "BUDDY" has 9.90%~~~you would like that... --------->UYGF
