Carnvial Sea Miles Qs

[Anonymous]

I was receommended to me, as I rebuild credit, to apply for Carnival Sea Miles.

Applied for first card in ten years yesterday, HSBC, $2k Instant Approval. Weird since they soft Experian which is my worst (well 662 which is about the same as Efx and TU but many more baddies which didn't come off in disputes).

Then denied for BOA and WAMU. I'll pull today to see what CRAs they pulled, I am hoping it was Exp which would explain that.

Anyway. On Carnival site you have to answer yes to 'no bks' and 'clear of serious delinquint accounts'. Now on TU, which I believe they pull, I have 2 unpaid collections (which fall off in a few months so the accounts themselves are old, assign dates of 03 and 05) and a Cap1 CO which drops off in June as well.

So I can't very well answer that one with a check. Or when they say clear do they really mean recent.

Should I bother applying or wait 4 or 5 months, use the HSBC to build that up, and when the CAs and CO fall off re-apply?

[MidnightVoice]

---

nyccc2 wrote:
I was receommended to me, as I rebuild credit, to apply for Carnival Sea Miles.

Applied for first card in ten years yesterday, HSBC, $2k Instant Approval. Weird since they soft Experian which is my worst (well 662 which is about the same as Efx and TU but many more baddies which didn't come off in disputes).

Then denied for BOA and WAMU. I'll pull today to see what CRAs they pulled, I am hoping it was Exp which would explain that.

Anyway. On Carnival site you have to answer yes to 'no bks' and 'clear of serious delinquint accounts'. Now on TU, which I believe they pull, I have 2 unpaid collections (which fall off in a few months so the accounts themselves are old, assign dates of 03 and 05) and a Cap1 CO which drops off in June as well.

So I can't very well answer that one with a check. Or when they say clear do they really mean recent.

Should I bother applying or wait 4 or 5 months, use the HSBC to build that up, and when the CAs and CO fall off re-apply?

---

Personal opinion - if those unpaid collections are going away, I would wait and then apply for a Junny card.  The drop off plus a few solid months of history should help, and get you a bigger CL

[Anonymous]

Hmm, I've never been on a cruise before...

How is the rewards program on this card? Any uses redeeming? And how are Carnival cruises? Would I be better off using my Amex Rewards points towards a cruise vacation instead?

[Anonymous]

That was my feeling too. I am going to try to help those unpaids along with DV letters, not sure if after re-reading the threads on that if I can do so since the initial letters from the CAs was well before 30 days ago, more like a few years ago. But I guess it can't hurt. Maybe after two disputes, no $, falling off soon, out of SOL they'll just say screw it.

[Anonymous]

Regarding CLs;

If I apply and get a smaller CL because of the unpaid collections, and then apply for a CLI in 6 months after establishing a good payment/utilization history with them AND the collections have fallen off AND my score has gone up, won't I end up with about the same CL as I could have had waiting, and possibly better since I now have a history with them?

[Anonymous]

I think carnival is backed by Chase and they aren't touching anyone with delinquency. I'm surprised about wamu, they are backed by providian and alot of people can get that one. Boa and discover don't like delinq either.

[MidnightVoice]

---

D_Boone wrote:
I think carnival is backed by Chase and they aren't touching anyone with delinquency. I'm surprised about wamu, they are backed by providian and alot of people can get that one. Boa and discover don't like delinq either.

---

I think Carnival Sea Miles is Juniper, and I won't know what Junny are like on CLIs for a couple of months when my gas card has its first birthday 

[llecs]

I think Chase and Junny both do business with Carnival. If you go to SeaMiles.com, you'll see both cards. You can also apply to both.

Junnys version was OK, but there's better. Good start card, though.

[Anonymous]

---

PenguinGeek wrote:

Hmm, I've never been on a cruise before...

How is the rewards program on this card? Any uses redeeming? And how are Carnival cruises? Would I be better off using my Amex Rewards points towards a cruise vacation instead?

---

I have this card, too, but I barely use it.  I have heard and read horrible things about the rewards program.  It takes forever to acucmulate enough points to do anything with, then they have these very strange redemption policies, like if you want a free cruise it will cost you all your miles, regardless of how many you have.  There are also stories of people being quoted a certain number of miles for cruise discounts only to find several thousand more taken out of their account once they book it.  from what I've read, when people question this they are basically told to read the T&C, because it's in there.

I don't even consider mine a rewards card at all.  I just use it every once in a while to keep it alive.  If I get a cruise discount out of the deal in 50-100 years or so, so much the better, but I'm not counting on anything.

[Anonymous]

nyccc2, I agree with M.V. If Carnival Seamiles is handled by either Chase or Juniper, chances are, with the collections, you'll be declined. No need to waste inqs on it, IMO.

I don't think either one likes to see a collection on a cr. That's a major derrog.

But that's only my opinion.