topic Re: Bank of the West Cash Rewards in Credit Cards

Bank of the West Cash Rewards

Anonymous — Thu, 04 May 2017 05:05:13 GMT

This card interests me a bit, but I've seen a couple Bank of the West's shut down/change names over the past couple years in Oklahoma. Does anybody know if they are soon to be getting bought out or change ownership? And if so, should I be worried about the product changing soon after applying (if I go for it)?

Re: Bank of the West Cash Rewards

jeffery581 — Thu, 04 May 2017 05:11:24 GMT

Bank of the West has continued to grow in recent years, thanks to a combination of organic growth and strategic acquisitions, including United California Bank, the largest Los Angeles-based bank, in 2002, Union Safe Deposit Bank in California's Central Valley and Community First Bank in Fargo, ND, both in 2004, and Commercial Federal Bank, of Omaha, in 2005.

Today, Bank of the West operates more than 600 retail, wealth, commercial and business banking offices in 23 states. Prudent credit underwriting, a diversified loan portfolio, and careful risk management have allowed us to grow to more than $80.7 billion in assets. It is one of the nation's largest banks, yet it preserves its local feel and its award-winning style of relationship banking that ensures superior customer service.

Several branches in Oklahoma.

Re: Bank of the West Cash Rewards

Kforce — Thu, 04 May 2017 22:30:47 GMT

I got this card January this year.

They gave me a CL of 20K, my average card is 15K,

and the average initial Cl for me is about 10K.

A few things to know, but not a deal breaker for me.

1) If you are married, and reside in one of the following
     community property states:
     AZ, CA, ID, LA, NV, NM, TX, WA, or WI
     You must select the "joint" application type and
     include your spouse's information even if you are
     applying for individual credit. The on-line application
     will "HP" both you and your spouses credit report.

If you want to only pull your credit, you need to "Apply by Phone".

2) No online statements, they send paper statement.

However they have a online page that shows the same current info as other banks

3) You can not move your statement date, it is the last day of the month.

4) You need to push payments from your bank or CU with
your bill-pay service, or send a check. They do not have
the normal account linking to pull your funds.

This all said, I like my card, spend about 1K month in the 3% category's, and just

received my quarterly cash-back.

I also think it is my nicest looking card (IMO)

Re: Bank of the West Cash Rewards

heyryan — Thu, 04 May 2017 22:58:56 GMT

@Kforce wrote:
I got this card January this year.

They gave me a CL of 20K, my average card is 15K,
and the average initial Cl for me is about 10K.

A few things to know, but not a deal breaker for me.

1) If you are married, and reside in one of the following
     community property states:
     AZ, CA, ID, LA, NV, NM, TX, WA, or WI
     You must select the "joint" application type and
     include your spouse's information even if you are
     applying for individual credit. The on-line application
     will "HP" both you and your spouses credit report.
    If you want to only pull your credit, you need to "Apply by Phone".

2) No online statements, they send paper statement.
    However they have a online page that shows the same current info as other banks

3) You can not move your statement date, it is the last day of the month.

4) You need to push payments from your bank or CU with
     your bill-pay service, or send a check. They do not have
     the normal account linking to pull your funds.

This all said, I like my card, spend about 1K month in the 3% category's, and just
received my quarterly cash-back.
I also think it is my nicest looking card (IMO)

That's a great SL and really helpful info about the card!

Do you mind sharing some DPs for your approval such as INQs, recent new accounts, bureau pull, FICO score, etc?

Re: Bank of the West Cash Rewards

Kforce — Thu, 04 May 2017 23:26:29 GMT

@heyryan wrote:

That's a great SL and really helpful info about the card!
Do you mind sharing some DPs for your approval such as INQs, recent new accounts, bureau pull, FICO score, etc?

I got the card to somewhat replace 2- SalieMaes.

At the same time I also applied for the FNBO (2% Cashback Visa),

I wanted a 2% Visa for Costco and backup for Citi-DC 2%.

The FNBO was a limited time offer so I got it in 12/2016 near the end

of the offer.

Early in Jan 2017 I went for the BW Cashback

Prior to the FNBO, my newest cards were >2 years old. (SallieMay, and Citi-DC), 0 INQs on record.

My Fico-8's were (845-850). Both pulled Experian. 25+years oldest account, 8-years AAOA,

3-home, 5-car, 150K-Income

I applied on-line for the BW and they pulled both my wife, and my reports (HP-Each).

When I called and asked they said that they pull both if not a phone application.

I learned the other shortcomings after having the account.