Orchard Card Rate Increase Notification

[Lucid08]

I have an Orchard card with a $500 CL and received my notification about the change to a variable rate a few weeks ago. This was my first CC that I got when I started my credit building journey a couple of years ago. Since I got the Orchard card I have joined NFCU and received both their NRewards Visa and MasterCard each with a $2500 limit. I've kept the Orchard card this long to help build my AAOA even though it has a $49 AF, but I am now considering closing the card since a call to customer service yielded no hope of removing the AF or a CLI or APR reduction.

My EQ FICO score went way down back in the latter part of last year when my only "baddie" dropped off - which placed me into the squeeky clean bucket. My score has now rebounded into the low 600's as my AAOA has hit the 1 year mark. I've read the thread about how to properly close out a credit card, but I wanted to ask if the Orchard Card was worth keeping for a little while longer considering that my credit file age is still so young? Perhaps just sock drawer it and pay the AF and grin and bear it for a couple more years?

ETA: The Orchard card is an unsecured card.

Message Edited by Lucid08 on 01-11-2010 04:37 AM

[Jazzzy]

You can safely go ahead and close it. No reason to pay an unnecessary annual fee for a card you no longer need.

Even when closed, the Orchard card will continue to count in your average age of accounts for up to the next 10 years. If it is your oldest account, that age will still count whether it's open or closed.

There is a place for rebuilder cards, and it seems you've made it past that place. People thinking they will lose the age benefits of a card are one of the main reasons people hold on to unnecessary cards. Nothing wrong with keeping a card that does not have an annual fee, but I'd rid myself of the annual fee card.

[hazzmat1021]

.I asked a similar question over the weekend. Unfortunately, I've found that I'm stuck with my OB CC with a CL of $420. I thought my scores of EQ 695(official website), TU 663 (my fico) and EX 650 (my fico), were enough for me to give orchard bank their hiking papers. I've always paid this card in halves,or in full.I currently have 100% of my CL available, and a debt-to-credit ratio of 0. However, I was still denied a CC from USAA, and Military Star MC. Seems as though credit COMPUTERS are unforgiving of past (2yrs-but settled) negatives. You on the other hand, since you already have CC's with a decent CL. I would probably use the new CC just enough to establish a history with it, refrain from using the old one for a while, then see how it effect your scores. Orchard bank is in the business of making money off people with unsatifactory scores, they have no intentions of increasing limits, or lowering APRs in out favor. They figure "they need us, more than we need them." if this wasn't the case, he/she would already have a low APR, high CL credit card with another institution. I've been with OB since 2007. My CL went from $300, to $350. I made a request for a credit increase based on my stellar payment performance, and they obliged with $420..(LOL) and just slapped my with a $79 AF. Maybe I should have sent in an app to NFCU. Good luck. i know you want to tell OB to stick it, but wait for a few months and see what it does for your scores.

[Jazzzy]

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@hazzmat1021 wrote:

.I asked a similar question over the weekend. Unfortunately, I've found that I'm stuck with my OB CC with a CL of $420. I thought my scores of EQ 695(official website), TU 663 (my fico) and EX 650 (my fico), were enough for me to give orchard bank their hiking papers. I've always paid this card in halves,or in full.I currently have 100% of my CL available, and a debt-to-credit ratio of 0. However, I was still denied a CC from USAA, and Military Star MC. Seems as though credit COMPUTERS are unforgiving of past (2yrs-but settled) negatives. You on the other hand, since you already have CC's with a decent CL. I would probably use the new CC just enough to establish a history with it, refrain from using the old one for a while, then see how it effect your scores. Orchard bank is in the business of making money off people with unsatifactory scores, they have no intentions of increasing limits, or lowering APRs in out favor. They figure "they need us, more than we need them." if this wasn't the case, he/she would already have a low APR, high CL credit card with another institution. I've been with OB since 2007. My CL went from $300, to $350. I made a request for a credit increase based on my stellar payment performance, and they obliged with $420..(LOL) and just slapped my with a $79 AF. Maybe I should have sent in an app to NFCU. Good luck. i know you want to tell OB to stick it, but wait for a few months and see what it does for your scores.

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Hi hazzmat...we can't get our EX FICOs here. We can get EQ and TU, but EX doesn't sell it's FICO scores to consumers any longer. Are you sure it's your EX?

[hazzmat1021]

Lynette

The experian scores I was referring to are from the "freecreditreport.com" website. This is experian's official website. In my past experience, I've found my experian fico score to be anywhere from 8-10 pts above experian's (beacon or scoreplus or whatever it's called) scores . So I guess my 695 score in fico terms are about 703-705...maybe slighty higher.

[haulingthescoreup]

You have three FICO scores (well, more, when you count all the specialty scores.) At any rate, you have a FICO EQ, a FICO TU, and a FICO EX.

You will not be able to find out your FICO EX unless you belong to PSECU (a Pennsylvania CU) or you app for a mortgage. The score provided by Experian on its site is NOT a FICO score. It's a PLUS score, and it might be higher, lower, or the same as your EX FICO score. There is no reliable formula for translating your PLUS (FAKO) score to your FICO score, whether it's EX, EQ, or TU.


eta: and the reason that this is so is that Experian ceased allowing consumers to buy our own EX FICO scores on February 13, 2009. They're now making a very nice little business out of selling their FAKO scores, I believe.

Message Edited by haulingthescoreup on 01-11-2010 06:57 PM

[creditwherecreditisdue]

The only available EX FAKO score that is even vaguely worth a hoot is Vantage, which you can purchase directly from EX. It is also now the score included with TC. On the whole FAKO scores are misleading and the advice even more misleading. Gotta beware!

[-RED]

The funny thing is it is a builder-card, and the rate was half way desent.

[haulingthescoreup]

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creditwherecreditisdue wrote:

The only available EX FAKO score that is even vaguely worth a hoot is Vantage, which you can purchase directly from EX. It is also now the score included with TC. On the whole FAKO scores are misleading and the advice even more misleading. Gotta beware!

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But don't forget, for anyone curious enough to pull their Vantage score(s), the score range is 501 - 990. A 700 on that range is a lot less impressive than a 700 on the FICO 300 - 850 range.

Here's a nice article discussing this: BankRate.com's VantageScore vs FICO credit score. It even has the conversion formula that sorta works for some folks. But look at the table and see how differently various items are weighted: Vantage weighs util 23% vs 15% for FICO (53% higher); Vantage weighs total balances 15% vs 30% for FICO (100% lower.)

That's why adjusting for the score range only accounts for part of the difference. The intrinsic factors that make up the scores carry different weights, so unless everything is at 0% with a squeaky clean history, you're just not going to get much of a correspondence.

And now that I look at it, that multiplier isn't right, either. The Vantage score range is narrower than FICO's, so just dividing 850 into 990 still isn't fully adjusting for the range difference.

Just general FYI for all.

(Who else remembers memorizing the formula for converting Celsius to Fahrenheit and back again for high school chemistry?? Same thing in terms of the score range, but at least temperature conversion doesn't have to account for different factors as does the Vantage/ FICO attempted conversion.)

[Lucid08]

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@LynetteM wrote:

You can safely go ahead and close it. No reason to pay an unnecessary annual fee for a card you no longer need.

Even when closed, the Orchard card will continue to count in your average age of accounts for up to the next 10 years. If it is your oldest account, that age will still count whether it's open or closed.

There is a place for rebuilder cards, and it seems you've made it past that place. People thinking they will lose the age benefits of a card are one of the main reasons people hold on to unnecessary cards. Nothing wrong with keeping a card that does not have an annual fee, but I'd rid myself of the annual fee card.

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Thanks for the reply LynetteM.

Is there any reason to consider the CL on the Orchard card for utilization purposes? If my figures are correct, the extra 500 for overall utilization would allow me some wiggle room in using my NFCU cards, while maintaining a slightly lower "overall' utilization for scoring purposes, correct?

I was considering this when I asked the above question, but failed to make mention of it when I focused on the AAOA issue in my question. I am still a bit fuzzy when it comes to how FICO calculates single card utilization versus overall utilization across all accounts, and how the percentage of overall utilization is weighted against individual utilization. Gosh, I hope that makes sense!