ORCHARD BANK

[Anonymous]

I have had a Orchard bank credit building card now for almost 5 years.  I have never asked for a limit increase and have paid ontime no lates at all.  I called today for CLI and they turned me down, my scores aren't the grerates 566 EQ 533 TU but I have been cleaning things up and have paid down all balances with almost 0 owed on all my cards except this and my Platnium Points CU card.  Has anyone ever been able to get an increase with them at all?  Very discouraging to me

[FretlessMayhem]

I once had luck with Orchard via the backdoor number. Have you tried it? It's listed in the Backdoor numbers thread stickied at the top of the forum.

[Anonymous]

How do your reports look?  I've heard that they look at how you are doing with you other creditors and base their decision on that regardless of your track record with them.

[favor4me2]

I've had Orchard since 07 every 6 months I would call and get a cli for 100 and they would charge me a $25 fee so it was actually $75. A few months ago I called the backdoor # and threatened to close the card and they gave me a $400 increase with no fee (because I was a good customer and they didn't want to loose me ) and I asked her why was I charged a fee all the other times? she told me to call the backdoor # and there would be no fee.

[YoungEntrepeneur]

If they don't give you a CLI, don't close the card. The history of the account is far more important than the limit.

[favor4me2]

I had another Orchard card that I closed that was secured for $250. I got it about 4 months after the first card. I closed it because the csr told me it would never go unsecured. In the meantime I got a Cap1 card that had a $500 limit and then credit steps kicked in and it is now $1000. I also got a Walmart card for $400. Would this offset me closing the other card? The first Orchard is my longest history. Both of the new cards have a 0 bal.

[Anonymous]

favor4me2,

chances are, you will see a drop in your Fico Scores eventually down the line.

The Closed Accounts only stay in your CR for 10 years and then drop off. so in the long run, your AAoA will decrease once the account you closed reaches 10 years.

I would keep it and charge $5-10 every 3-4 months on it to keep it active...

[favor4me2]

I only closed it because I had 7 credit cards and didn't need/want to mange that many. I also read that op were closing cc after they received better ones. That was not my oldest card and it wasn't going unsecured so it was defeating my purpose (I thought). I have a BK from 05 discharged in 06 that is probably hurting my score even worse. I'm trying to get to the 700 club this year my highest score is around 680. I didn't think it would hurt to close that card, from now on I will just keep them open and charge a little on them I'm new to the game but I'm learning fast. Thanks for your advice

[Anonymous]

Closing the account will not hurt your FICO or credit unless it is your only account, then you need to keep it open.  But, if you have established other credit and better quality credit, then closing this account won't really affect you for 10 years.

Once you close the account, it will continue to report on your credit and continue to fator into your AAoA for 10 years, then it will drop off.

I dumped my Orchard, but I did this after I had other quality credit, higher CL's and it was not my oldest account.  But when they refused to give me a CLI (was $750) when my FICO's are 800 plus, income 6 figure and I have other cards $10k.....they are useless.  The best they would do is cut my AF in half this year. 

[favor4me2]

That's exactly what they did for me cut my AF in half so when it was time to renew, I closed the card. I couldn't see paying an AF on my own money. It's good to know that it won't affect my score for 10 years hopefully by then it won't matter.