Congrats on the progress. You are making good headway and are in the right spot with that CU. Treat them well and they will treat you very well. They will grow with you about as big as you can go. Once you are a little farther along add some of the other military CU's as well, they have some of the best CC limits most can get. Much easier to get large limits with them than the big banks like BOA, Chase, and Citi.
tbc wrote:As a lurker for the last year, made great strides in rebuilding.
Wanted to share my experience thus far with the new First Progress secured credit card issued by Synovus Bank out of GA.
I saw them advertised on this site as a rebuilder/poor credit/bad credit.
I took the plunge. Prior to Jan of last year, I had one CC. (Forgive me if I am not really up on your lingo)
Applied Bank. I was ok with them, until Sept when they got rid of the annual fee and now charge 9.95 per month. When I say ok, I hardly used it except to send my daughter cookies at college. Paid in full or left a couple dollars. My one conversation with customer service, they sounded a million miles away, and I felt like I was talking to Peggy from the CC commerials. So, I started looking.
I researched from this site as much as I could about First Progress, with no success until someone mentioned here in a thread couple weeks ago.
I had already app'd online, and they called me within 5 days to verify identity and confirm information. At the end of the 5 min phone call call. They told me I was approved and I could expect my card within 7-10 days. Oh, I spoke with a pleasant female with a southern accent I clearly had no issues understanding.
The card arrived and I spending a lazy Halloween night at home, I called to activate and to close my Applied Bank. Still wondering if I should close the Applied Bank but taking a hit at 9.95, I keep thinking thats 120 bucks missing out of my IRA a year/ or clearly paying off one of my other collections.
The only negative comment I can leave thus far is it says, I could call 24/7 at 1-866-706-3584 to activate card. I got a voice mail that said they were closed. HUH?
Well, I just called them back to activate. Wasn't an automatic activation or an automatic voice, but a true live person that I spoke with. PLEASANT
I then decided to go ahead a log on and get my account set up. Had some difficulty and called customer service. They are clearly not set up for easy use online, however, the gentlemen I spoke to again with a southern accent, which I clearly understood, put me on hold for no more than 30 sec, after I had explained my inability to create a log on. He immediately took my number and referred to a supervisor to call me back.
Fortunately, BAM while on the phone, I figured out what I was doing wrong. He stayed on line with me, until I completed my log in, changed my passwords, and security questions, and didn't put me on hold, or talk to someone else. He patiently waited while I logged out, and could easily log back in. Asked if there was anything else he could do for me? and we hung up.
My point in this ........It truly sucks having messed up credit. It is a bright day in my life today to have a card that I could clearly understand customer service, and not have the stress of having to deal with sometimes rude/less than customer friendly representatives. Of course they are probably not understanding me as well, with my southern twang.....lol So, fair is fair.
I just wanted to give this inital review to those of you who are in my shoes.
FYI-I also closed my accounts recently with BOA and soon CITI I am slowly transferring to NFCU and USAA. My fiance is active duty and have been afforded that opportunity. I feel blessed.
I took the plunge and applied for the secured NFCU which was my inital offer upon approval of the account, and so pleased with the conversations and their patience.
Due to this site, and the awesomeness of the special people here diligently giving advice I have raised my credit score 125 points in the last year. Was more but I disputed 12 items on my CR. They deleted 7 and 1 came back as PIF.
Hope this little bit helps those who are wondering about First Progress.
(I wanted to add, it is so stressful in this society to have poor credit, and pricey, then to add poor customer service and a charge here and a charge there for allowing you to use your own money just to create a tradeline. I was so apprehensive about initiating this tradeline, due to the lack of information, but working diligently to create/build/restore, and most importantly pay those creditors I have let lag in the past. It was just good to feel good hanging up with both NFCU and First Progress. For the first time, I am actually feeling like I am truly making progress in righting what I let go wrong.)
Hey first off welcome to the community! Second congratulations on making the improvement with your credit. I recently realized this year how important it is to keep an eye on your credit and to make sure the credit report is clean of any negatives. Btw have you signed up for the 10 day free trial to find out EQ Score?
Starting Score: EQ 686 10/18/11, TU 689 10/25/11, EX 685 10/11 (Amex Pull)....these are all FICO scores
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