Orchard Bank Credit Card

[Anonymous]

My credit score is pretty low due to a bankruptcy discharged last year and I am finally to a point where I can start to rebuild.  One of the problems I ran into was difficulty getting approved for a credit card. I had accounts IIB from several major card issuers (Capital One, Chase, ect), so that ruled out going to any one of them. I do occasionally get pre approvals in the mail from some random card issuers, but most of them have steep interest rates and exorbitant fees. I really don't want to put in applications everywhere because I am trying to avoid hard hits on my CR. After looking into different companies that offer "bad credit" cards, I found Orchard Bank. I went on there website and got pre approved for a card with a interest rate not too bad and only a $59 yearly fee. I figured this was the best I could do. They have said I was approved, and I should be getting an email with all the detail.

Anyways, I did more research about Orchard bank and found TONS of complaints online. Everything ranging from them just raising your interest rate for no reason, taking up to three weeks to process payments, all that stuff. So I was wandering, does anyone have experience with Orchard bank? Is it a decent rebuilder card? I am ok with the fact that I will probably close this account after the first year when I am able to get something from a more reputable issuer.

Opinions are appreciated

[ngerasimatos]

I have them and they seem great. No issues and they raised my credit limit after 6 months.

[Anonymous]

I got them Feb 2007, no problems so far. Payments always post the day they say they will. Interest rate is 9.9% - never has changed.

[Anonymous]

I would open a secured or unsecured card with a CU- 

Where are your scores at?

Have you checked the BK friendly CC thread?

[nicemann]

I have Orchard and they have been helping me rebuild my credit.  I  use the cards about once or twice a month and always pay online.  In fact I just did another PIF with them today.  Should be posted to the account on the 17th.  I do have high interest so I don't keep a balance on it. 

I would recommend them.  Currently have a $2000 CL but not sure how strict they are for CLIs down the road.

[Anonymous]

I did check the BK friendly thread, that's where I actually got Orchard Bank.

At this point, my scores are in the mid-500 range.

I'm glad to hear some people are having a good experience with them. Hopefully this gets me started in the right direction.

[Anonymous]

I also meant to say, I did talk to my credit union about getting a card from them. However, I currently owe them about 20,000 for an auto loan that was NOT reaffirmed in the BK (I'm keeping the car though), so they won't extend me any more credit until that is paid off. They even took away my personal line of credit/overdraft protection, even though I didn't owe them anything for that.

[llecs]

I have Orchard's secured CC. I deposited $500 and got $600 in credit. It is doing its job well. I wish I had waited and got a secured cards somewhere. There are fees.

The previous two payments I made were a bit odd. They cleared my payment but reversed it. For example, I paid $150 in February. They took the money out of my checking just fine, but they took $1 and gave that too me as an available balance and they took $149 and charged that back to me (even debiting that from the available balance) as a debit under the label of "pending payment" or something like that. This happened twice for January and February. However in March, I paid the card in full anticipating that I might close it and everything went as planned and was fine the next day. I'll still close it as it served its purpose well.

[Client9]

I received an Orchard card back in December of 2005.  16.9% with a $400 CL.  As of today, I have never been late ever with it and my CL is now $1900.  Use it responsibly.   That is all I can say.

[Anonymous]

 I used orchard as a rebuilder after BK and they were fine.  I closed them when they would not remove AF. They also sent me a HSBC card a month later with no fees but higher int. rate. I still have that card but plan on closing it.  Don't be afraid of Orchard. If you use it right they will give you auto clis.