topic Re: Merrick Bank Offer...Surprised in Credit Cards

Merrick Bank Offer...Surprised

Anonymous — Sat, 17 Sep 2016 19:19:29 GMT

I mentioned in a post awhile back that I had received pre-approved offers for Merrick Bank and First Premier. Well, just going through some papers to sort out the shredding, I came across the offer from Merrick and actually read it. I was surprised to see it was for a $1250 SL that would double to $2500 after 7 on-time, minimum payments, but what surprised me the most is that the APR is 19.7%. That is significantly lower than my Cap1. There are virtually no fees (other than late fees), and...no FTFs. The tiny pictures to select card design appear to have "Signature" under the Visa logo. Could this really be a VS? I am thinking no, but I'm not sure. Seeing all of this made me do a quick reconsider on apping, but decided the answer is still a hard pass...well, semi-hard pass now.

Re: Merrick Bank Offer...Surprised

Anonymous — Sat, 17 Sep 2016 19:25:18 GMT

I actually had a Merrick card. Never had any problems with them. The card I had though wasn't anything as nice as this: it was firmly planted in subprime land with a $6/month fee, $800 CL, and 25%+ APR. Are there really no monthly or annual fees with your card?

Re: Merrick Bank Offer...Surprised

Anonymous — Sat, 17 Sep 2016 19:31:13 GMT

I wouldn't expect it to ever become a VS; subprime lenders give very slow and very small CLIs, if at all. The APR is lower than your Cap1 but it is still quite high, the SL is low even after the doubling, and there probably aren't any rewards or bonuses for getting it.

Passing was a good choice.

Re: Merrick Bank Offer...Surprised

Anonymous — Sat, 17 Sep 2016 19:42:20 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I actually had a Merrick card. Never had any problems with them. The card I had though wasn't anything as nice as this: it was firmly planted in subprime land with a $6/month fee, $800 CL, and 25%+ APR. Are there really no monthly or annual fees with your card?

From the mailer:

Fees we won't charge

No Annual Fee

No Account Set-Up Fee

No Cash Advance Fee

No Processing Fee

No Over Limit Fee

No Additional Card Fee

No Returned Payment Fee

Fees we may charge

Pay by Phone Fees

Late Fee

Then on the back in the terms it replicates all of those fees as $0, and adds Foreign Transaction $0.

The only thing I can't find is grace period information.

Re: Merrick Bank Offer...Surprised

Anonymous — Sat, 17 Sep 2016 19:45:28 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I wouldn't expect it to ever become a VS; subprime lenders give very slow and very small CLIs, if at all. The APR is lower than your Cap1 but it is still quite high, the SL is low even after the doubling, and there probably aren't any rewards or bonuses for getting it.

Passing was a good choice.

No, it's not a rewards card and has no bonuses. Thanks for the confirmation on passing. I just wish I could've gotten something like this over Credit One in the beginning, but I think I am way beyond this type of card now.

Re: Merrick Bank Offer...Surprised

Anonymous — Sat, 17 Sep 2016 19:52:22 GMT

it's not a bad card at all.

I got mine back in August of 2014.

starting limit 750 doubled to 1500 after 7 payments, no fees of any kind as well. And same APR as your offer.

The bad thing is I have had it over 2 years now and the cl has not increased at all. In that time I've gotten many new cards with limits ranging from 3000 to 21500.

So great starter card for rebuilders but if you have better options already coming in then I would agree with the people that say pass.

Good luck in whichever you chose.

Re: Merrick Bank Offer...Surprised

Anonymous — Sat, 17 Sep 2016 20:02:06 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
it's not a bad card at all.

I got mine back in August of 2014.
starting limit 750 doubled to 1500 after 7 payments, no fees of any kind as well. And same APR as your offer.

The bad thing is I have had it over 2 years now and the cl has not increased at all. In that time I've gotten many new cards with limits ranging from 3000 to 21500.

So great starter card for rebuilders but if you have better options already coming in then I would agree with the people that say pass.

Good luck in whichever you chose.

Thanks! The fact it won't grow is the deal killer, really, and you just confirmed what I read about that in some old posts I looked up. I have my sights set on cards like the JetBlue Plus, a better Cap1 like the Venture or QS VS, and a Platinum Rewards Visa from my CU that has as low as a 7.79% APR and 3% cash rebate on gas, groceries, and restaurants. I just have to be patient to get where I want to go.

Re: Merrick Bank Offer...Surprised

AverageJoesCredit — Sat, 17 Sep 2016 23:01:45 GMT

Once past rebuild stage, i like this 》 if it wont grow , its gotta go . Could be a nice rule of thumb to ask oneself BEFORE apping!.

Re: Merrick Bank Offer...Surprised

Anonymous — Sun, 18 Sep 2016 00:35:57 GMT

Exactly the same - in every respect - Merrick offer I had.

Re: Merrick Bank Offer...Surprised

raisemysc0re — Mon, 07 Nov 2016 23:13:35 GMT

My wife just got this offer for SL 900.00 and CLI for another 900.

Since it has no AF I am thinking about it for her but given how everyone is saying that this card will not grow to a large CL I was wondering if it would be a good idea (or a waste of time) to ask for a higher SL when responding to the prequal offer?

She just got a Capital One QS1 with a SL of 3K but it is the only card she has so far...

Re: Merrick Bank Offer...Surprised

happypill — Mon, 07 Nov 2016 23:57:50 GMT

Does it offer a grace period? Grace periods are pretty standard for mainstream credit cards, but subprime cards often start charging interest the moment you make a charge. So, even if you pay in full every month, they'll still charge you interest.

Re: Merrick Bank Offer...Surprised

raisemysc0re — Tue, 08 Nov 2016 00:25:25 GMT

25 days

From offer letter

Paying Interest:

Your Payment Due Date is at least 25 days after the close of each Billing Cycle.

We will not charge you interest on Purchases if you pay your entire New Balance by the Payment Due Date.

We will begin charging interest on Cash Advances on the Transaction Date.

Re: Merrick Bank Offer...Surprised

SunriseEarth — Tue, 08 Nov 2016 00:52:37 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I mentioned in a post awhile back that I had received pre-approved offers for Merrick Bank and First Premier. Well, just going through some papers to sort out the shredding, I came across the offer from Merrick and actually read it. I was surprised to see it was for a $1250 SL that would double to $2500 after 7 on-time, minimum payments, but what surprised me the most is that the APR is 19.7%. That is significantly lower than my Cap1. There are virtually no fees (other than late fees), and...no FTFs. The tiny pictures to select card design appear to have "Signature" under the Visa logo. Could this really be a VS? I am thinking no, but I'm not sure. Seeing all of this made me do a quick reconsider on apping, but decided the answer is still a hard pass...well, semi-hard pass now.

Congrats on the offer. The Merrick offer is a good sign in a rebuild; you're definitely doing something right. It's a no-frills card and it probably won't grow after the intial double-your-limit CLI (unless you use heavily), but if you need positive TLs, it's a great way to go. It's definitely better than FP and many of the other rebuild cards. I closed mine some time ago, but it's still a positive TL on my reports.