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My experience is a little different than most people with Merrick cards.
I got a Geico credit card in 2006 when they were dabbling in the industry; they were not a subprime lender. They sold the accounts off to Merrick a few years into the recession. So far Merrick has been a fine, if unremarkable company; They've kept my oringinal Geico limit, terms, and interest with no AF. I plan to keep it open as long as possible as they are now my oldest open account.
I've never had to call them for anything so I have no idea how their CS works, but I'm happy with the card as it stands.
Does anyone know what Fifth/Third likes seeing to get a card with them? My Bk has been DC since October 16 - I always see adds for them online and was curious.
@Anonymous wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:I posted six months ago that I received an offer from Merrick Bank for $1250 SL doubled to $2500 after 7 payments with around a 19% APR and virtually no fees.
Their latest offer, received today:
$1500 SL doubled to $3000
16.95 APR
Fees we won't charge
No Annual Fee
No Account Set-Up Fee
No Cash Advance Fee
No Processing Fee
No Over Limit Fee
No Additional Card Fee
No Returned Payment Fee
and No Foreign Transaction Fee
I know I'm beyond this card, but it still intrigues me. I'm curious as to what their absolute best offer will end up being. This is about the 4th one I've received and they get progressively better.
My husband got an offer and got the card for $900 SL to $1800 a couple months ago as part of his rebuild, and I have to say their website/online account access is the worst I've seen so far. But it is a great rebuilder for him, so we can't complain too much!
A few days ago I paid off and cancelled my Cap One Plat because they wouldn't give me a CLI from the $750 I was at. My lates card was for $17,000 with Fifth/Third, with NO relationship with them! YES you are beyond Merrick, best to say Goodbye.
The offer that was mentioned in the OP sounds like the "Double Your Line" offer that they sent me in 2012. Mine was $900 start, $1800 after 7mos, no fee.
They sent that offer to me after I had a $500 CapOne that was a few years old. It had a clean history, but I didn't know anything about credit scoring or the importance of utilization. I just happened to hit a profile in some month that led to a Merrick invite.
Around the same time, I also got a mailer from Citibank.
I decided I'd like to carry a ~$750 balance, which wasn't possible on my $500 CapOne, so I applied. Not to Merrick - to Citibank. They declined me. Disappointed, I tried that other invite from "some bank I've never heard of" and Merrick instantly approved me.
I proceeded to carry that balance and paid some interest while paying it down. After 7mos, my limit doubled to $1800, putting me at $2300 total across 2 cards, and BAM - I started getting more credit mailers than I'd ever seen. I even had an unpaid subscription to glossy coffee table books from American Express showing happy wealthy people taking vacations in the Bahamas and going sailing. AmEx mailers are first class bathroom reading material.
In retrospect it's obvious that the change in available credit versus utilization (and one of them was probably reporting $0) had made a big difference.
This was when I started researching the offers I was getting, and started to appreciate the topic of credit and learn a lot more about it. From there it was onward and upward.
So I have a fondness for Merrick. Capital One was my first credit card, but Merrick is the card that put me in the big leagues. I credit that to the fact that they grew a lot more than CapOne did, though at the time I applied I was ignorant of how much it would help me.
I've since closed CapOne due to the perpetual annual fee. Merrick is still with me. I'm kind of surprised they haven't closed me for lack of use. The only significant charge on Merrick in a few years was ~$120 one year ago. Other than that it's just been ~$1 transactions every ~6 months. In fact they just sent me an updated "chip" card yesterday.
Merrick was one of the first banks a few years ago to start giving borrowers their credit score on the web site. That's not unique anymore but it was a big bonus for a while. People whose credit was too good for Merrick were lamenting not having one, and they couldn't get one because it was invite only.
The score they've always given me is from TransUnion, and it still is. I think it's the "Bankcard 08" score. What confuses me is that the scale is drawn with an implied max of 900, but it clearly says "FICO(R)" on the page. I noticed in this thread that apparently some people get Experian. I wish they gave me Experian, I can get TransUnion elsewhere.
Call me weird, but I don't mind Merrick's web site. I'm old fashioned when it comes to computing, so I like Merrick's simplicity. Yeah, it's like a web site from 1999, but that's fine by me. I tend to get more annoyed with the over indulgences of more "modern" sites, where everything is overly complex and heavily scripted. I like things to be kept simple, fast, and compatible. Not that I think Merrick's site is faultless, but overall I think it's fine. The site I find most cumbersome of my accounts is Bank of America. :-P
Merrick sent me a "1250 and dboule your line to 2500" in 7 months offer. I looked at it and tore it up. I didnt even read the rest(I am sure it has high interest). It did say no fees but that was a come up form 500 and 750 offers that came in the months past.
I got the Merrick card a few months ago, back when I was in the middle of rebuilding. They offered me the double your limit after 7 months deal with no AF and I took it. Since then, I've received a huge CLI from NFCU, gotten Discover and Cap 1, so I dunno. Honestly, I almost cancelled the card the first time I logged into their mobile app/website. It is HORRIBLE. I know that I've outgrown the card and I'm leaning 70/30 towards getting rid of it, but still not 100% yet.
@Anonymous wrote:I got the Merrick card a few months ago, back when I was in the middle of rebuilding. They offered me the double your limit after 7 months deal with no AF and I took it. Since then, I've received a huge CLI from NFCU, gotten Discover and Cap 1, so I dunno. Honestly, I almost cancelled the card the first time I logged into their mobile app/website. It is HORRIBLE. I know that I've outgrown the card and I'm leaning 70/30 towards getting rid of it, but still not 100% yet.
Not sure what version you have but if it has no AF would keep it around until your scores in your sig get a bit higher. Just my opinion. If it has an AF then I would consider getting rid of it if it doesn't impact your utilization.
@Anonymous wrote:Their interest is getting real. Dw has a Merrick card from 4 plus years ago and wont let it go because of AAOA She uses about 2X a year and they just raised it again to just shy of $4,000 The age would kill her if she pulled it.
It would only hurt her UTL if her other cards don't have a high enought CL to cover the impact of the losing the 4,000 in ava credit.