Why only 3 card offers.

I have chargeoffs from 3 years ago. I admit it. I have only received 3 credit card offers since then. Providian, cap 1 and Orchard. I took them all. People here talk about Aria, Aspire, FCCB and the other subprime cards. Do they send preapproved cards or not?

 

The three cards you already have are the most aggressive at marketing. They go after almost anyone whose bad credit is a year or two in the past.

As far as others go, I'm a bit surprised that First Premier hasn't been after you. Aspire too, since they were after me right along with Providian. Neither of these cards would really help you; you already have the 3 best subprime starter cards.

First Premier has excessive fees and usually imposes a low credit limit. Aspire has some positive points like no annual fee and higher limits, but is useless for rebuilding your credit, since they don't report your positive history to the credit bureaus.

If Aspire hasn't sent you an offer yet, the best you could get online from them would probably be the 35% Classic Visa with a low limit. I only accepted their 30% card (which came with a $1750 limit) because they sent me 8 or 10 preapproved offers, and even that may have been a mistake on my part. Don't worry, you aren't missing much from Aspire.

Aria is almost identical to Providian, being offered by the same bank. They depend on you to apply online, I think, and don't send out many preapproved offers, if any.

First Consumers (FCNB,) which may have been what you meant by FCCB, is certainly as good as your other cards, but is always at least partially secured to start. They give you anywhere from 100% to 300% of your deposit as available credit. I never got an offer in the mail from them. Instead, I saw their applications at local supermarkets. You can also apply online, but if you already have unsecured cards, a secured card would be unnecessary.

I think your big turning point will be when you get preapproved offers for cards without annual fees. One of my first was for a Texaco card, and there have been a few others. But then again, Texaco doesn't report my ontime payments, so it really doesn't build my credit history. I just wanted to have more credit options, and with no annual fee I had nothing to lose.

I've gotten used to seeing mostly inferior offers in my mail, and it's very frustrating. But it's also very logical, since I've already accepted the best subprime offers, and rarely qualify for prime offers yet. Your best strategy for now is to build an immaculate payment record, accept any decent offers that come in the mail, and apply online OCCASIONALLY, like every 3 months or so. Sooner or later, you'll get all the credit you can reasonably use.

 

I think "Pre Approved" means something. Three offer I recevied was Pre-Approved and I received the cards. I think Pre selected doesn't mean anything. Also, when you get a pre approved offer that doenn't require you to fill out nothing but signed your name and write in your telephone number they have pre approved you, but if you get an ofer that ask you yous SS #, your salary your next of kin and so on they haven't pre approved you yet. This is just my gut feeling.