Prime rate Credit Cards

[antredd67]

Dlm,

  The only time I maxed out my Capital One card was when they suckered me into exceeding my $5000 credit limit by $3000 to take advantage of transferring balances on to their card.  Since I transfered $2770, my credit limit now is $7770, and that's what Capital One is reporting to all 3 CBs as my highest balance. I rather see a nice round number like $8000 or $10,000.  Right now I have a balance of $1990, and I am keeping that balance below $2300 which keeps me at 30% uti.

[Anonymous]

Thats what irritates me, you don't get rewarded simply by being a good customer you have to do something that will hurt your credit such as maxing out the stupid card or BTing to get them interest.  Whatever happened to pay on time everytime and the rewards will come?  The good thing about that not reporting the limit is that most lenders will probably assume 8K all my odd lines seem to round up to the next rund ten on my reports.

[antredd67]

   When Wamu bought my Providian card, they have been very good to me as well.  In fact they have just increased my credit line the same month I paid them down to a 30% UTI.  They increased my credit limit from S10,500 to $12,000. This credit line increase most definetly helped me gain 30 points last month since I didn't charge anything on this card and paid down $7,000 worth of revolving debt. I plan on keeping my Wamu card well below the 30% UTI because I know within the next 12-18 months they will be increasing my credit limit again, which can only bump up my FICO score even higher.

    Also, WAMU sent me an offer in the mail for their Platnium Visa card with a $30,000 credit limit this week, with no annual fee, and with 0% interest for one year if I transferred all of my higher interest rate cards to their card. I am starting to see that just by paying down my debt significantly last month and thus bumping up my scores to the 660s, I am getting starting to get better offers with higher credit limits.

[dlm0820]

Thanks guys for the info about WamU.  I get them about every few weeks, so the next one I guess I'll try to apply for even it will cost me a ding on my file.  In the long run it seems to be good.  I'll just get my CapOne up to almost the $500 limit then pay it down and see what happens.  I plan on paying it down before my due date, so hopefully that will help.

I'm sure all of us will get those other good "prime" offers eventually.  Right now I'm my mid is about 650 which isn't great, but not that bad either.

I'll keep  you all updated.

Thanks again.

[Anonymous]

WaMu has me spoiled.  After dropping Household, I applied for both WaMu and Juniper within a week of each other.  The offers had just been sitting on my desk.  I was so afraid I couldn't get anything but household.  I was shocked at the interest rate they gave me.  In the time since Junny has been nothing but a plain old vanilla card that really gives me no incentive to use it but Wamu just keeps getting better.  Hopefully come June, Wamu will be even nicer.

One perk I really like is that they offer FICO scores right on their website as well.

[dlm0820]

for WamU outright on the website or just wait for the pre-approval offer?  I don't want to waste a ding if I'm not going to get approved?  You all make WaMu sound so good i really want to try but dob't want a ding if i'm not going to get it.

[antredd67]

DLM,

  Just from reading your posts, it sounds like you and I are in the same Fico Score Club mid 600s.  I just received an offer from Wamu the other day, which means that I will have to apply for their card in order to consolidate my higher interest rate cards over to them.  The offer is pretty good $30,000 credit limit, 0% interest rate til May 2008, no annual fee. Since I already have a card with them, I am about 90% sure that I would get approval especially since I h ave a B of A signature line of credit with a $22,000 credit limit. But again do I want to be dinged as well as have a new account on my credit report REDUCING THE AGE OF MY HISTORY.

  But if you are looking to get a better card at a better rate, I would wait  until they send you either a pre-approval offer or when you have gotten all of your Fico scores above 680. If they send you an offer to apply for credit, you may want to wait until then too, the odds of you getting a card with them may not be as good if Chase just turned you down.

 I sometimes ask my credit cards which CB (if not all ) that they use in their credit card approvals.  Some of the reps know and some don't. You can call Wamu and ask the customer service rep if he or she knows, and once you find out which CB they will run when you apply for their credit card, you can at least know where you stand score wise to decide if you want to gamble with a new inquiry as well as reducing your average age of  your credit history from acquiring a new credit card.

In this stage of this Fico score credit game, we have to be very careful and patient before we end up dinging ourselves out of points we have worked so hard to get.

[dlm0820]

I think I'm gonna wait until I get the preapproval from WamU.  I don't want to cost myself points especially if the Sims are right and I'm supposed to be getting a 30 point jump next month.

I'll play it by ear and wait till mid-month to see what my scores go up to after my cards report.

I think my tax lien is hurting me a lot too.  The SOL in NY is 5 years so that will be coming off in 2009, and if I have to wait until then, so be it.  By then I should have a mortgage on my file and with my scores now I could probably get a decent rate on one.  I thought for sure that I would get the Chase card that I applied for, but I guess my lien hurt me too much.  I'm also thinking about calling Chase up to see if they can re-review my app and talk to a live person.  Is that a good idea?  I got the denial about 10 days ago.

I guess I'm just envious of all of you on here that have those high limit cards.  I would love to see one in my hands and know what it feels like to have that again.  When we are young we don't know how much something will hurt us when we get older.  I had all great prime cards in college and once I got married I blew it all away thinking that not paying it would make them go away.  Oh well, patience is a virtue as they say and I guess I'll just have to have that virtue for now.

[Anonymous]

Chase is very picky even though some of ther cards come with 20% interest rates.  That I don't get. I never knew chase was that deeply subprime.  For that I would stay with Household.

[antredd67]

  When I was 20, I received my first AMEX charge card.  I thought I was on top of the world until I graduated from college and was unemployed for one year and 1/2 (ruining my credit rating) before starting my career. Had I not closed AMEX, I would have a 20 year credit history file on my credit report, and probably be well about 750.  Now that  I am 40, I know I can't mess up because I am getting too old to be starting over again.