This is so confusing! It seems like every credit card company is cattering to people with bad or not so perfect credit. I bet this where the "money" is these days. Everywhere I go I see people using their Providian, Capital 1 etc.... I have a Providian Gold card. I have been a customer for 2 years. My limit is 5.5k. They treated me with respect! (LOL). Who would give a card to someone with 18 charge-offs in his/her report. Well they gave me one and the limit increased from 500 to 5.5k in less than 2 years. Also the interest rate has reduced from 23.99 to 16.9 with a grace period. This is not a bad card after all. I am not getting rid of Providian for a Citibank or another so called Prime card. As I learned from this board you can negotiate your card interest/available credit and turn it into a prime card. This is not a game!. Get a card or two, pay your bills on time, negotiate your limits with retention. Stay loyal to a credit card company who has given you a chance! If you keep applying for cards just because it is exciting to get it in the mail, you will be in the same situation you were before (too many bills to pay leading to bad credit). This is not a game!!!!!
RE: hay there. Did you try citibank AA? If approved, you can convert it instantly to platinum select which im sure is prettier than providian. Also they give you platinum benefits, platinum APR's (mine is down to PRIME+2.9%). This is not a game, when it comes to my own money, my loyalty is to those whom are more profitable to ME, not the bank. You don't work for providian do you? Folks, take the best you can get, and screw loyalty.
Sub-prime/Prime Claudio, I can see your point, but unfortunately many companies today don't give a fig about their customer base. You would think that these credit card companies would cater more to their existing customers especially when keeping a customer is five times more cost effective than trying to market a new customer. Dani
RE: Sub-prime/Prime What I meant is that some people here are getting out of control. They keep applying for cards!!!! If you want to re-establish your credit, you should get 1 or 2, and keep it for at least 2 years. Having too many trade lines is not a good way to improve your credit. Having a trade line of more than 2 years is very important (RELIABILITY) Applying for a card that beats your current card benefits (APR, limit) every chance you get is not the way!
RE: Sub-prime/Prime. What a me Claudio and Sam, Claudio and Sam, The world of sub prime credit can be pretty overwhelming. And, yes, I'm glad Cap One was willing to grant me a card when I needed it. In exchange, however, I paid dearly for the privilege. Currently, I have two Cap One cards and I *definitely* don't plan on keeping both forever. Maybe I'll stick with the gold for a while but that Visa classic has got to go! Even though Cap One does offer an attractive platinum card to lure those with good credit, I'll never be able to perceive any card from this company as prime. Maybe this doesn't sound rational but that's how I feel. I've worked very hard on my credit and it sure feels good when the results of my efforts are validated. As the old saying goes, "ya don't know what you've got, til it's gone." And, now that I'm starting to get my credit back, I intend to guard it with my life! I am grateful that I've been able to advance to cards from Chase and Citi. It's a lot more fun to pull one of these cards out of my wallet. My experience in sub prime hell hasn't been wasted. I'm definitely coming away humbler and wiser. Donna
RE: Sub-prime/Prime. What a me Here we go again with self righteous folks preaching about how to not get into debt. The one thing I've learned from my experience (and before you asked, it's due to a scam I was involved in when purchasing my house) is that no one, not Claudio or GOD (okay, maybe Him), can say "Stop" and people do. It's like telling someone they're overweight and "all you have to do is exercise" blah blah blah. The point is, one will stop when THEY figure it out. Sure, they'll be back on the board, asking for help, and we'll offer what we can, but until that lightbulb goes off, it doesn't stick. No one here is stupid. We all know why we got where we are and most if not all know how to fix it and get back on track. So preachin' about it (Claudio) isn't helping anyone. Waste of precious breath.
Be nice Shantel! Shantel, how can you say all this to me. The other day I was giving you good advice about your problems. I am disappointed at you!
I disagree.....please read. How much have your scores increased Creditwiz? I beg to differ with your opinion of only needed 1-2 cards to build credit. Also, applying for cards does negatively affect your credit scores because inquiries hurt. But they hurt worse in the first 6 months and fall off your report in 2 years. My strategy was quite different from yours. I applied for many tradelines and havenot had a late payment on any of my credit lines. My scores were 590's in 4/00 and now they are in the mid 600's. That is including an astronomical amount of inquiries which was due to buying a car, car insurance, moving to another state. My credit was checked every which way but up. I have for cards: Providian 4/00 $2,800 Orchard 4/00 $400 Chase 8/00 $2K Citibank 9/00 $9K Citibank 9/00 $9K FCNB 4/00 $450 closed FNBM 4/99 $200 closed Capital one 11/99 $400 Capital one 8/00 $2K First Premier 3/00 $350 MBNA $6100 line of credit Speigel $400 As you can see I established alot of credit lines. I took a beaten in the inquiry department, but I have been inquiry free, cold turkey, for a few months now. I had no good credit reported except for my student loans which were still in good standing. I truly believe that this high number of R1's being reported each month is responsible for my rebounding in the credit score department. As for you comment on getting more credit and getting into trouble again, I guess you have a point. But you were expressing concern about people at this site doing that. Well for the most part, people at this site have had enough of credit problems. Been there, Done that, & aint trying to go back. I handle my credit responsibly. Lucky I make enough income to pay for whatever I charge. I dont think anyone here is living ABOVe their means. roni
RE: Be nice Shantel! Disappointed or not Claudio, I just think that was a wasted comment. I WILL however, apologize if I offended you. Won't apologize for how I feel. In the future though, you might want to think about how you're working your posting so YOU don't offend others. I probably wouldn't have said a WORD if you'd said, "In my experience, switching from card to card isn't helpful and the best thing was to just stop charging". That's a lot different than saying, "You people just need to stop charging". Get it?
RE: Sub-prime/Prime Claudio wrote: ------------------------------- Having too many trade lines is not a good way to improve your credit. ************** ***************** And how many are to many & why?
RE: Sub-prime/Prime Claudio wrote: ------------------------------- Applying for a card that beats your current card benefits (APR, limit) every chance you get is not the way! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Why shoulden't people have the same right to shop for the best deal on credit with out paying a penality as they have when shopping for a new car or any other product on the market??????????????? Inquries should not be allowed to be posted on credit reports! !
