topic Re: New Wamu Card in Credit Cards

New Wamu Card

Anonymous — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 00:49:44 GMT

I just wanted to say thanks to all of you that post information on this site. I have learned a great deal on how to manage my credit and how to apply in just a few short weeks of visiting this forum. I have applied so much of it that I have seen dramatic changes in my scores already. So I just wanted to say thanks to you all and look forward to being a member here. Also just finished registering for the Wamu site and the information on there is great. I read that they use TU is that true..If so then I have all three bureaus covered.

Re: New Wamu Card

GFer — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 00:52:03 GMT

Welcome to the forums!

I love these forums---the least amount of judgement and most helpful, wonderful people!

Good Luck!!

Re: New Wamu Card

SherriLynn — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 01:29:06 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I just wanted to say thanks to all of you that post information on this site. I have learned a great deal on how to manage my credit and how to apply in just a few short weeks of visiting this forum. I have applied so much of it that I have seen dramatic changes in my scores already. So I just wanted to say thanks to you all and look forward to being a member here. Also just finished registering for the Wamu site and the information on there is great. I read that they use TU is that true..If so then I have all three bureaus covered.

I'm with you calwlvrn, this forum rocks! My score has also gone up quite a bit recently because of things I've learned here. I had an $8,000 error on one of my reports, but was able to get it deleted using the knowledge I've gained here. I am absolutely addicted to MyFico.com, and I have to read it daily! Thank you all very much! I am also a Wamu customer, and use the TU 'fako' score on there. I've heard it's not a real FICO score.

Re: New Wamu Card

xelda — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 03:24:11 GMT

It's a real FICO score, but it's based on TU's bankcard model. There are other models as well tailored to various loan products. Lenders can choose which one they want to use when they pay to pull your score. (Or, they will use their own models to create an internal score.)

Providian was already pulling TU's bankcard FICOs every month and decided to make them available to their customers as a perk. When WaMu bought out Providian, they kept the same service. So you'll see people refer to this score as a PFICO. Now that Chase has bought WaMu, we don't know if the PFICO will still be made available to WaMu customers.

Re: New Wamu Card

Anonymous — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 03:57:19 GMT

I responded to a pre-approval offer I received about a month ago. I was skeptical.

They did indeed pull TU in my case - I live in Illinois.

I was approved for a $6k credit limit on the night they were taken over by the FDIC and sold to JP Morgan Chase.

I have heard a lot of negatives, including credit limits being lowered and I wondered if I would receive the card at all.

It came in the mail today, and I activated it. My credit limit was still $6k (at least for now).

My only complaint in activating the card is that after you enter all of your information into the automated system, they transfer you to their reps, so that they can push very hard for the overpriced "credit protection insurance". I had to say no FOUR TIMES before they would let me off the phone.

Other than that, the card is decent, it carries an 11.99% interest rate and - if you transfer a balance - allows interest free purchases until (in my case) 03/2010. Needless to say, I will transfer a balance. That is the main reason I responded to their offer.

Credit protection insurance is not necessarily a bad thing if you carry a balance, but if you pay it off each month it is money out the window (I asked, and they told me that if I charged $1k and then paid by the due date, I would still owe .79 for each $100 charged ($7.90) so that can get expensive really fast.

All in all a good deal, I am happy so far.

Good luck!

Jeff

TU 700/EQ 697/Ex 648

Re: New Wamu Card

Anonymous — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 04:10:09 GMT

Credit insurance for most people is a rip off.

Re: New Wamu Card

Anonymous — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 05:06:40 GMT

I have read that they really push that when you activate...I just activated mine around 11pm MST and I had no issues what so ever all automated then the call disconnected...

Re: New Wamu Card

Anonymous — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 16:47:08 GMT

I got the PetSmart card through WAMU...I activated it and like you had to tell them 5 times that I was not interested. After that, I went to their website and put my cat's pic on my card, and when I got the new one I had to call and activate it...and listen to the whole schpeel again! This time I got a little upset when she wouldn't take no for an answer and I kind of yelled at her. In my defense, she did ask me why I wasn't even interested in hearing her out...so I told her!

They're really rude, too, when they finally accept that last NO!

Re: New Wamu Card

Anonymous — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 17:12:10 GMT

I don't have any Wamu cards, not for their lack of trying though, but I had a similar experience with Chase, though not at card activation. They kept calling me trying to offer credit protection or identity theft protection and I had one guy who I kept telling no, and then finally he asked me why, I told him I didn't want to pay for it, and he said "it costs X amount per day, that's less then a cup of coffee." I told him I don't drink coffee, not a lie, and he was silent for a few seconds and then repeated the whole coffee thing. Finally he took my no and after we hung up I called the number on the back of my card and told them to stop calling me with products.

I get that these people are just doing their jobs, but when someone says no twice, that should be it. So when I called I told them that and then told them that if they want to send me something in the mail, fine. But they need to stop calling me trying to sell me things. No calls since then.

Re: New Wamu Card

n2win — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 00:01:56 GMT

No Wamu card here, but I got another Wamu offer in the mail today???

I thought they were Chase now, why (how??) are they still sending out all these offers (2 this week for me!)

Re: New Wamu Card

haulingthescoreup — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 00:40:19 GMT

n2win wrote:

No Wamu card here, but I got another Wamu offer in the mail today???

I thought they were Chase now, why (how??) are they still sending out all these offers (2 this week for me!)

??

Well, I would think that it's a done deal with the dollar figures, but you have to realize that the CC portfolio of a doomed bank is one of its few assets, as it represents accounts receivable. So maybe they're trying to increase the number of their CC holders?

From what I've read here, a lot of people are getting offers from National City Bank, too.

Re: New Wamu Card

Scamp — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 15:15:27 GMT

@haulingthescoreup wrote:
@n2win wrote:

No Wamu card here, but I got another Wamu offer in the mail today???

I thought they were Chase now, why (how??) are they still sending out all these offers (2 this week for me!)

??

Well, I would think that it's a done deal with the dollar figures, but you have to realize that the CC portfolio of a doomed bank is one of its few assets, as it represents accounts receivable. So maybe they're trying to increase the number of their CC holders?

From what I've read here, a lot of people are getting offers from National City Bank, too.

I got another WaMu one earlier this week, too - interesting thing is, after a slew of offers saying I qualified for a CL UP TO $7,500, this one suddenly decided I was pre-apped for UP TO $30K!!

My credit profile hasn't really changed since they first started sending me stuff (if anything, it may be slightly worse at the moment), so I'm not sure what the sudden jump was about, beyond presumably trying to lure me in. Must admit, it made me blink in startlement!

I just smelled desperation, though perhaps I don't understand that whole WaMu-Chase situation well enough to understand what's going on with these pre-apps, either. lol.