Hi all, as my options are obviously limited with a 571 fico score I tried to apply for Fingerhut and to my surprise, I was actually approved! I have a $230 CL and have to put a $30 downpayment on my first purchase. I am sifting through the site currently for something cheap($40-$50 range) to have them start reporting, but I have a two questions.
1. I don't plan on using this card often, but I heard if you PIF with the freshstart card they will shutdown your card as they want you to wait 90-days before PIF, can anyone confrim or deny this? I really don't want to carry a balance due to high interest rate and the items themselves are already inflated to begin with.
2. I was searching the forums and noticed a post that said they now report to all 3 CRA's, Can anyone verify this as well?
Hopefully I can PIF before interest hits and get all 3 reports going, so I'll have my CAP 1 Secured and this one reporting to all 3 major CRA's to help build my revolving history.
Thanks in advance!
Okay well I found out I am not actually getting the card right away but the fresh start is an installment loan and after it is PIF I will get a credit card. I still see conflicting information though. Some are saying if I pay off immediately they will not issue card, others say they paid off immediately and still got card, so I am stuck on what to do. I found something for $50 which is the minimum, kind of frustrating because what I really wanted was $49.99 and it wouldn't allow me to checkout because it was under $50 :/
Ended up costing me $70 with shipping, Yikes!
Good to know they report to all 3 agencies at least.
My experience is kinda interesting. I was approved for the Fresh Start program on 5/6. After my approval I decided I wanted to cancel my Fresh Start account being that I was approved for some Commenity Bank cards the day after. I called Fingerhut CSR and said I wanted to cancel asap. The CSR said that I can cancel just as long as I paid the full balance on the item that I purchased and after that the account would automactically be canceled. So as soon as I got off the phone with the CSR I PIF immediately. To my surprise on 5/20 I get an email congradulating me on graduating from the Fresh Start program and now I have $250 in credit. I honestly thought if I PIF right away and didn't make any monthly payments, my account would be closed... even the CSR confirmed that. But strangely they gave me credit anyway. I don't even use the card but I figured I would just hold on to it for a year and see if I get any CLI's. I'm thinking they went ahead and gave me credit right away because they didn't want to lose me as a customer? IDK but I guess for certain customers they will give you credit anyway even if you PIF
That is interesting, I think I am going to make one payment and try to PIF after that and see if I still get the card. I also applied for Victorias Secret card same day but got the dreaded 7-10 day mailing letter, So I am sure I am denied of that one. I wanted to get that one and just let my girlfriend use it here and there for stuff she needed while using it to build my credit, but hopefully between my cap 1 secured and fingerhut card I will be able to get easier approvals later down the road.
Okay, thank you. I will make 3 payments and then PIF. Also how often do you have to use the card to keep it active? I don't plan on doing a lot of purchasing with it, but at the same time, don't want it to close at least until I can start getting prime cards to replace my secured card and this one.
