Activate Orchard or what?

[Anonymous]

I HAVE the following 2 accounts OPEN on my report for 3-4 years now...

CAP1 - CL $500 NO AF (Never Late)

EXPRESS - CL $250 NO AF (30 and 60 days late marks as of Nov2005, GW letter sent last week)

I was APPROVED for the following just recently but havent activated the cards yet.

ORCHARD - CL $300, $59 AF

HOOTERS - CL $1000, $48 AF

WAMU - CL $750, NO AF

I am in the process of rebuilding as i have 8 derogs on my report. Of those, 6 of them were settled for less than full amount in 2006. My thought is that i should NOT activate the Orchard because ive heard that its very hard to get a CL increase from them. What do you guys think? My score right now in TrueCredit is TU572, EX568, EQ609. Is that too many cards to have? I mean, Orchard only has 300 CL and AF is 59. I dont really need it to rebuild...or do I ?

thanks in advance.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I HAVE the following 2 accounts OPEN on my report for 3-4 years now...

CAP1 - CL $500 NO AF (Never Late)

EXPRESS - CL $250 NO AF (30 and 60 days late marks as of Nov2005, GW letter sent last week)

I was APPROVED for the following just recently but havent activated the cards yet.

ORCHARD - CL $300, $59 AF

HOOTERS - CL $1000, $48 AF

WAMU - CL $750, NO AF

I am in the process of rebuilding as i have 8 derogs on my report. Of those, 6 of them were settled for less than full amount in 2006. My thought is that i should NOT activate the Orchard because ive heard that its very hard to get a CL increase from them. What do you guys think? My score right now in TrueCredit is TU572, EX568, EQ609. Is that too many cards to have? I mean, Orchard only has 300 CL and AF is 59. I dont really need it to rebuild...or do I ?

thanks in advance.

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IMHO- The Orchard is a great rebuilding card. They should get you up to $500 in 6 months if you pay well and I am sure your score will be higher then. I would not get any more CC TL's until after your re-build. Do you have something against apostrophes?

[Anonymous]

no i do not have anything against apostrophes. Nobody has ever pointed it out. I'll make sure that I'm carefull when i type now.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

no i do not have anything against apostrophes. Nobody has ever pointed it out. I'll make sure that I'm carefull when i type now.

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I was Just Kidding. Smile!

[jandj]

I have had great luck with my Orchard Bank card.  I currently have 2 OB cards....one with a $2200 limit (originally was $500) and now a new "Platinum Elite" card with a $3000 limit.  I have been 100% happy with them!

[Anonymous]

haha i know you were kidding. don't worry, i didn't take it serious.

[jandj]

oh yeah, and my credit is DEFINITELY not stellar!!  My score on myfico is 638 right now, but it was 550 a year ago when I got the card.  I am pretty confident the card has played a role in raising my score!

[Tuscani]

Orchard is a great rebuilder card!

[Anonymous]

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Tuscani wrote:

Orchard is a great rebuilder card!

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Yeah, that is true. I have three Orchard cards now. MasterCard, Discover and Visa.  The only downside is that the Visa came in with an AF of $39.  The upside to that card is that it has 0% interest until May 08 and then a decent rate after that.  I called them yesterday because I didn't really want to take on another card with an AF.  I was going to cancel, but I lost my backbone when they knocked the AF in half.  My first reaction to the original poster would have been to go with the no AF card (since we didn't see the % rates), but after reading the other comments and thinking about my own short relationship with Orchard, I would recommend them as well.  Maybe I should have held out for a CLI and a total drop of the AF, but like I said, I punked out.  One thing I REALLY like about Orchard is their website. I love going in and paying my bills quickly. I recently made a trip to GA. and put the hotel, rental car and air ticket on my Orchard MasterCard.  I had cash in the bank, so I just paid them off as they showed up rather than wait for the bill to arrive.  I find that if I wait for the bill, I tend to pay less than I could/should and I am more likely to let a balance ride.  One piece of advice, limit your calls to Orchard. EVERY time you call, they try to hit you up for their protection plan and also their auto loans.