topic Re: Wamu surprise! in Credit Cards

Wamu surprise!

Anonymous — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 00:03:55 GMT

Today I logged into my Wamu ESPN account as I do almost everyday. However, today was different from all the 9 mos of days previous, because today Wamu gave me a CLI of 1,000 dollars. I can not say way this has happen. Was it exactly my 9 mos anniversary, or was it my PFICO (716 up from 714 the month before)score breaking some predetermine level. Could it have been the increase usage. I push thru about 700 hundred dollars a month since May. PIF of course. I was really going to close this in May, but Cheddar thought I was being a bit hasty. So I guess I own you a round at the local watering hole there Cheddar. Side note: I am still not a fan of the two cycle billing, and I know if you PIF, that it doesn't matter but still. Also my Wamu platinum card hasn't moved from the 2,000 initial CL and it 6 mos old. All in all not a bad day for Wamu.

Re: Wamu surprise!

Anonymous — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 00:58:00 GMT

As long as you manage the card well and keep your balance fairly low, the 6 mos CLI should be coming soon. I've heard that WAMU isn't crazy about inquiries, but it was the last card I got (2 of 2 this past year) so I can't confirm that myself.

I just checked my WAMU platinum acct online. At 6 mos now, just paid my 6th stmt and received a $1K CLI to $3,500. Other than the double-period billing, not a bad card. I keep my less than 15%, and PIF'd at 3 months. My FICOs are 690+

Good luck!

Re: Wamu surprise!

Anonymous — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 16:17:01 GMT

Reasons I don't Like Wamu

1. 2 Billing cycle used for finance charge calculation
2. No online statement.
3. $15 for same day payment, (i am not sure if any other CC does that)
4. If you read the text in red when making the online statement, it says that you might own finance charges even if you PIF every month after the 20-25 grace period.
5. Rate jackers.
6. Date selection for online payment at wamu. (yukk, 3 combo boxes).

So with Wamu,
1. Never revolve.
2. Pay well, I mean well before the statement due date.
3. Keep close eye on the finance charges, there are complains for unexplained finance charges charged but reversed after talking to the CSR.
4. Be very careful with the date of payment you have selected, it is easy to scroll the combo box if you have mouse scroll wheel and if you are not careful when you scroll.

Reason(s) I like Wamu.
1. 4k My highest Limit.
2. humm...

Message Edited by voidman on 08-23-2008 09:17 AM

Re: Wamu surprise!

score_building — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 15:19:05 GMT

CONGRATULATIONS! Not trying to rain on your parade, just make sure you continue to litigiously do all the right things on the card and you'll prolly be fine...

voidman wrote:
Reasons I don't Like Wamu

1. 2 Billing cycle used for finance charge calculation
2. No online statement.
3. $15 for same day payment, (i am not sure if any other CC does that)
4. If you read the text in red when making the online statement, it says that you might own finance charges even if you PIF every month after the 20-25 grace period.
5. Rate jackers.

So with Wamu,
1. Never revolve.
2. Pay well, I mean well before the statement due date.
3. Keep close eye on the finance charges, there are complains for unexplained finance charges charged but reversed after talking to the CSR.

Reason(s) I like Wamu.
1. 4k My highest Limit.
2. humm...

For real tho' ...they just mini rate jacked me from 7 (my lowest apr - we liked!) to16 for carrying a balance for like 3 or 4 months (worse than amex, yo!) i always made large payments no less than 5 or 6 times min. and pifed a few months later on this card. never any lates or overs on any revolving (a few old lates on refinanced student loan) rising scores, currently tu fico 686 several new and growing accts. some accts. are high util but only because i messed up on paying b4 statement period and made a few large purchases, will report under 50% (then 30, 10, etc) shortly. Almost half my 8 or 9 accts are at zero balance already. A couple of weeks b4 the rate jack they doubled my credit line. A week b4 the jack they sent me a 0 percent balance transfer offer for 'excellent customers' (so it was a bit of a backstabbers scenario)

Add insult to injury they send me a 0 percent "preapproved" offer two weeks after i closed that puppy down for the same platinum card (sadly, i couldn't pif immediately or may've kept it so as not to mess w/ my fico) i'll pay down over the next few months and be done. they're fine if you can tolerate a comparatively high maintenance issuer w/ a sketchy past that you have to watch v. closely at every turn. Nearly EVERYONE who says 'no, they're good' has behaved basically like a credit perfectionist who does almost nothing wrong ever on their card -PIF's always, low util, etc. SO i guess you could add 3 if you were feeling generous: 3. if you are a fairly hard core credit perfectionist and don't miss a beat- ever really, they can be good!

Absolutely dead accurate overview and SPOT ON encapsulation on how to win with wamu voidman, you rool!

Message Edited by score_building on 08-22-2008 08:19 AM

Re: Wamu surprise!

llecs — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 15:40:00 GMT

felixfly2000 wrote:
Today I logged into my Wamu ESPN account as I do almost everyday. However, today was different from all the 9 mos of days previous, because today Wamu gave me a CLI of 1,000 dollars. I can not say way this has happen. Was it exactly my 9 mos anniversary, or was it my PFICO (716 up from 714 the month before)score breaking some predetermine level. Could it have been the increase usage. I push thru about 700 hundred dollars a month since May. PIF of course. I was really going to close this in May, but Cheddar thought I was being a bit hasty. So I guess I own you a round at the local watering hole there Cheddar. Side note: I am still not a fan of the two cycle billing, and I know if you PIF, that it doesn't matter but still. Also my Wamu platinum card hasn't moved from the 2,000 initial CL and it 6 mos old. All in all not a bad day for Wamu.

Congrats! I love those surprises.

Re: Wamu surprise!

Anonymous — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 17:43:10 GMT

score_building wrote:
CONGRATULATIONS! Not trying to rain on your parade, just make sure you continue to litigiously do all the right things on the card and you'll prolly be fine...

"litigiously?" You mean you think he should sue WAMU for giving him a CLI?

Re: Wamu surprise!

score_building — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 18:58:57 GMT

Cheech wrote:

score_building wrote:
CONGRATULATIONS! Not trying to rain on your parade, just make sure you continue to litigiously do all the right things on the card and you'll prolly be fine...

"litigiously?" You mean you think he should sue WAMU for giving him a CLI?

ROFL - no, he should keep on top of every detail of the account as if it were "of or pertaining to litigation". You can't sleep on wamu (no - i don't mean go to bed w/ or sleep on top of). meaning you have to pay attention 24/7

I am delighted for his happy association w/ wamu and hope it continues. In my case and some others it didn't.

Re: Wamu surprise!

Anonymous — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 21:18:01 GMT

score_building wrote:

Cheech wrote:

score_building wrote:
CONGRATULATIONS! Not trying to rain on your parade, just make sure you continue to litigiously do all the right things on the card and you'll prolly be fine...

"litigiously?" You mean you think he should sue WAMU for giving him a CLI?

ROFL - no, he should keep on top of every detail of the account as if it were "of or pertaining to litigation".

LOL. Nice attempt at a salvage there. Let's see if I can try that, too.

He should surgically keep on top of WAMU. You know, as if were "of or pertaining to surgery."

Nah. Just doesn't fit. But I give you 100 points for trying!

Re: Wamu surprise!

score_building — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 22:14:04 GMT

nice attempt at "salvage"? Cheech, i had hoped my attempt to clarify (not salvage actually) would have helped clear up my sloppy post... but perhaps you'd rather hyperfocus on one poorly placed word than what i was trying to say, why you'd choose to do so remains unclear, but seems odd.

Cheers to OP for the good news! Wamu is not always particularly generous with cli's esp. compared to some other issuers, as far as i can tell, so keep up the good work (i shared my experience merely as a cautionary tale because it was shortly after i almost posted the good news about a cli that they rate-jacked me, hopefully it helps someone from having the same type of experience as i did w/ wamu)

Re: Wamu surprise!

Anonymous — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 22:33:28 GMT

score_building wrote:
nice attempt at "salvage"? Cheech, i had hoped my attempt to clarify (not salvage actually) would have helped clear up my sloppy post... but perhaps you'd rather hyperfocus on one poorly placed word than what i was trying to say, why you'd choose to do so remains unclear, but seems odd.

I guess a sense of humor is in short supply these days. I was just letting you know that you had some toilet paper on your shoe. No need to shoot the messenger! Cheers!

Re: Wamu surprise!

Anonymous — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 02:14:26 GMT

Thanks score_building, I will keep an eye out the the rate jack. I don't usually carry a balance, but I thought I might let a small balance report in Sept. Probably should re-think that now. I let you guys know if this is followed my a rate increase tho.

Re: Wamu surprise!

Anonymous — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 09:21:04 GMT

I get my statement on-line????????????

Re: Wamu surprise!

score_building — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 09:38:13 GMT

felixfly2000 wrote:
Thanks score_building, I will keep an eye out the the rate jack. I don't usually carry a balance, but I thought I might let a small balance report in Sept. Probably should re-think that now. I let you guys know if this is followed my a rate increase tho.

Odds are you are ok to let a small to moderate balance report, i wouldn't worry about that, (it's larger balances that can be problematic even for short periods in my experience) you generally seem to have them figured out w/ your routinely pif payment patterns in any event so an occasional small balance should be fine-keep up the good work felixfly2000!

Re: Wamu surprise!

score_building — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 09:50:30 GMT

with wamu platinum you can only 'order' your statement online which is sent to you by snail mail. you cannot view a statement online. i figured that was the case for all their cards. do you have their ESPN too?

casinoannie97 wrote:
I get my statement on-line????????????

Re: Wamu surprise!

Anonymous — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 16:13:51 GMT

Well, its a online transaction list for that billing period I guess, It is not a online statement though. Online statement should look just like the statement that you get in the mail so that you can print it at home for your records.

I would have assumed that they would give the online statement if we "choose" not to get the snail mail, but I could not find any option to say no to snail mail.

Well, I can order the statement but I guess I might have to pay something for that.

Another reason to hate Wamu is the choosing the date of payment to be made.

Well you can not choose the current date obviously coz they charge $15 for same day payment, but look at the controls to select the date, it is a 3 combo box the most primitive way of doing it, I though this logic of selecting a date is long dead.

Why I hate it? Well it is very easy to enter wrong dates by one or 2 days or one or 2 months if you are not careful with your center mouse scroll when that control has the focus.

Re: Wamu surprise!

Anonymous — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 16:57:23 GMT

Not your credit card from WAMU from WAMU site you don't.

You get tranasations and payments-, no apr and nothing that is considered a legal statement of account.

The also do not have paperless statements.

casinoannie97 wrote:

I get my statement on-line????????????

Re: Wamu surprise!

Anonymous — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 17:07:16 GMT

I got a paper statement from WAMU the other day. Effective October first my interest rate is going from 14.99 to 23.99. I guess it will continue to sit in my desk, except for the occasional coffee. Never late, never a balance. Oh well.

Re: Wamu surprise!

TangMeister — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 19:00:27 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I got a paper statement from WAMU the other day. Effective October first my interest rate is going from 14.99 to 23.99. I guess it will continue to sit in my desk, except for the occasional coffee. Never late, never a balance. Oh well.

Why not call them and ask what's up with the APR increase? Won't hurt to ask, and you just might get it reversed. Automated systems handle most of these rate jacks, anyway, so ask a real person to intervene and you just might get lucky.

Re: Wamu surprise!

Anonymous — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 21:48:44 GMT

The thing with Wamu is that they won't send out a statement unless you carry over a balance. So in reality I may have been rate jacked already, and I am simple not aware of it. Since I PIF before my due date. So when the next statement cuts instead of mailing me a list of account activities. I get BT and purchase checks. I can only conclude that Wamu is not against killing trees, they are only against informed consumers. I will let a tiny balance show next month, just to see what my interest rate really is.

Re: Wamu surprise!

score_building — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 22:43:33 GMT

felixfly2000 wrote:
The thing with Wamu is that they won't send out a statement unless you carry over a balance. So in reality I may have been rate jacked already, and I am simple not aware of it. Since I PIF before my due date. So when the next statement cuts instead of mailing me a list of account activities. I get BT and purchase checks. I can only conclude that Wamu is not against killing trees, they are only against informed consumers. I will let a tiny balance show next month, just to see what my interest rate really is.

why not offer online statements 1. kill less trees and 2. stop obscuring aprs from those who PIF (or don't have access to their most recent paper statement). Just because you typically pif and aren't charged an apr when you do doesn't mean you don't want to keep track of your apr. i don't get it. i can't say i'll miss having this cc too much, except for the free pfico score. the idea that you can be forced to run a balance (or have to call the call center) to find out the current apr is objectionable.

one thing i don't like about the macy's card is you have to look at you cr or call in to find out your cl.

Message Edited by score_building on 08-23-2008 03:42 PM

Message Edited by score_building on 08-23-2008 03:43 PM