topic Re: Your Opinion on Comenity Bank in Credit Cards

Your Opinion on Comenity Bank

Anonymous — Thu, 02 Aug 2018 02:30:42 GMT

So far I only have accounts with major banks or my trusted local CU. I'm interested in a new card but I see it's handled by Comenity Bank. I've never dealt with any of these quasi bank card companies.

What's the consensus here on Comenity? How is the customer service and reliability?

Thanks!

Re: Your Opinion on Comenity Bank

pipeguy — Thu, 02 Aug 2018 01:18:34 GMT

Welcome to the forum - you can search on these forums for Comenity and you'll find they back a lot of store cards and a few private labeled bank cards - a few love them for easy store card approvals, however many of us won't do business with them due to high interest rates and "inconsistent" or lack of customer service such as shutting down accounts for no obvious reason, etc. IMO and experience, if you don't need them and have better options, avoid anything backed by Comenity.

Search on shopping cart trick (Comenity)

Search on Credit Card Approvals (Comenity)

Seach on adverse action (Comenity)

Re: Your Opinion on Comenity Bank

K-in-Boston — Thu, 02 Aug 2018 01:23:06 GMT

Comenity is one of the largest issuers of credit cards. I have their BJ's MyPerks World MasterCard and have had no complaints. Starting line was $17k and it has received regular credit line increases every 4 months (the last 3 were $3k each). They also offer long 0% balance transfers from time to time with a 1% or even 0% fee on some cards (such as mine). Customer service is likely not great; fortunately, I have never needed it. A lot of people have reported them shutting down accounts, but these have been almost exclusively people who get numerous (even a dozen or more) store cards from them in a short period of time. For the average consumer, there should be no problems.

Re: Your Opinion on Comenity Bank

Pikaboo-icu — Thu, 02 Aug 2018 02:19:02 GMT

Welcome to My Fico

They're ok..

The interest is high so if possible PIF.

I have Buckle & Victoria's Secret both are Comenity. Never any issues.. Regular & fair with CLI.

I only keep the cards & use them for the perks & rewards at the stores.. I have 2 other Comenity cards I never use.

Come to think of it, I should close them lol..

If your card offers good perks I say go for it..

Re: Your Opinion on Comenity Bank

JR_TX — Thu, 02 Aug 2018 02:58:52 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
So far I only have accounts with major banks or my trusted local CU. I'm interested in a new card but I see it's handled by Comenity Bank. I've never dealt with any of these quasi bank card companies.

What's the consensus here on Comenity? How is the customer service and reliability?

Thanks!

From one Texan to another I say stay the heck away from them #%^*|€!!! They have the worse case of bi-polar disorder and that is even an insult to being bi-polar (my apologies).

They approved me via SCT on their Sportsmans’s Guide Visa card few years ago... then the fool in me app’d for 3 more EQ pulling cards days later in which one of those was a Comenity product. ‘Lo and behold not only they denied me on the new app but without warning just shut down my SGV card!!

I of course called their CSR and was just given the run-around and was bounced around from different call centers across the globe! And all they can give me was an obviously scripted answers being read from their computer screens!

Horrible Experience! Just horrible!

And as “the great explorer” Peghede would say, “RIP Comenity”!!!! Lol Sorry Peg, gotta use Comenity.

My apology for the rant....

Now on the lighter side of things, if you find a Comenity backed store card that you must really have and you’re always gonna PIF (high APR) then I say why not though be prepared for some rough ride ahead cuz it can get really really rough!

Just my 2 TX ¢.

Good Luck!

Re: Your Opinion on Comenity Bank

SarahJo — Thu, 02 Aug 2018 10:57:42 GMT

@K-in-Boston wrote:
Comenity is one of the largest issuers of credit cards. I have their BJ's MyPerks World MasterCard and have had no complaints. Starting line was $17k and it has received regular credit line increases every 4 months (the last 3 were $3k each). They also offer long 0% balance transfers from time to time with a 1% or even 0% fee on some cards (such as mine). Customer service is likely not great; fortunately, I have never needed it. A lot of people have reported them shutting down accounts, but these have been almost exclusively people who get numerous (even a dozen or more) store cards from them in a short period of time. For the average consumer, there should be no problems.

I have 2 cards, one has received consistent CLI's since day one and still offers 0% and other perks on certain purchases...the other, not so much, but I keep it open due to AAoA. I have never had any issues with either.

Re: Your Opinion on Comenity Bank

Anonymous — Thu, 02 Aug 2018 11:15:08 GMT

Welcome to the forums!

Comenity and I go way back (I am talking 2004 here, when I opened my Victoria's Secret card).

They are honestly an OK lender and have lax underwriting standards.

Just don't have most of your accounts with them -- they are known for taking adverse action on those with multiple accounts with them.

YEMV, of course.

Re: Your Opinion on Comenity Bank

Anonymous — Thu, 02 Aug 2018 12:53:58 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Welcome to the forums!

Comenity and I go way back (I am talking 2004 here, when I opened my Victoria's Secret card).

They are honestly an OK lender and have lax underwriting standards.
Just don't have most of your accounts with them -- they are known for taking adverse action on those with multiple accounts with them.
YEMV, of course.

I currently have only one card with them, Overstock. I've been going back and forth on whether to keep it; right now, I'm on the keep-it side, since I just got another more-or-less quarterly $1500 CLI a few weeks ago and I do use it every few months. I've been mighty tempted to get one more Comenity card (the Williams-Sonoma Visa, for example, being that that's a proper bankcard as opposed to a storecard, or the BJ's World Mastercard), but I remember (1) the horror stories about AA's on multiple Comenity accounts, though I gather that mostly applies to people who've gone hog-wild with the SCT and have 10 or 12 or even more Comenity accounts as opposed to two or three, and (3) that I'm supposed to be gardening the rest of the year, even if Williams-Sonoma is still SCT (I tested it yesterday and got the preapproved popup, so).

All that being said, I honestly have no complaints with my Overstock card aside from the high APR, but that's par for the course.

Re: Your Opinion on Comenity Bank

Anonymous — Thu, 02 Aug 2018 13:07:58 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
Welcome to the forums!

Comenity and I go way back (I am talking 2004 here, when I opened my Victoria's Secret card).

They are honestly an OK lender and have lax underwriting standards.
Just don't have most of your accounts with them -- they are known for taking adverse action on those with multiple accounts with them.
YEMV, of course.
I currently have only one card with them, Overstock. I've been going back and forth on whether to keep it; right now, I'm on the keep-it side, since I just got another more-or-less quarterly $1500 CLI a few weeks ago and I do use it every few months. I've been mighty tempted to get one more Comenity card (the Williams-Sonoma Visa, for example, being that that's a proper bankcard as opposed to a storecard, or the BJ's World Mastercard), but I remember (1) the horror stories about AA's on multiple Comenity accounts, though I gather that mostly applies to people who've gone hog-wild with the SCT and have 10 or 12 or even more Comenity accounts as opposed to two or three, and (3) that I'm supposed to be gardening the rest of the year, even if Williams-Sonoma is still SCT (I tested it yesterday and got the preapproved popup, so).

All that being said, I honestly have no complaints with my Overstock card aside from the high APR, but that's par for the course.

I am glad you enjoy your card. Comenity is not bad, but my advice for anyone (especially my fellow re-builders) inquring about them would be to not get greedy with them -- they may take adverse action.

Re: Your Opinion on Comenity Bank

Anonymous — Thu, 02 Aug 2018 13:08:45 GMT

@K-in-Boston wrote:
Comenity is one of the largest issuers of credit cards. I have their BJ's MyPerks World MasterCard and have had no complaints. Starting line was $17k and it has received regular credit line increases every 4 months (the last 3 were $3k each). They also offer long 0% balance transfers from time to time with a 1% or even 0% fee on some cards (such as mine). Customer service is likely not great; fortunately, I have never needed it. A lot of people have reported them shutting down accounts, but these have been almost exclusively people who get numerous (even a dozen or more) store cards from them in a short period of time. For the average consumer, there should be no problems.

+1. Well said, K.

Re: Your Opinion on Comenity Bank

Anonymous — Thu, 02 Aug 2018 13:10:23 GMT

Have three Comenity Store cards: JCrew, Pottery Barn, and Express. Easy to get and easy to get credit limit increases on. If you want to build your total credit limit without getting hard pulls they are great. They also give you discounts on your first order. For example with JCrew I got 20 percent off when I applied for the card (Which was in addition to their 30 percent off sale) and 20 percent off coupon when my card arrived. Which is great because you use them in addition to their sale. Must of cards have reward programs as well. I would never carry a balance on them though. As interest rates are high.

I think people who get cancelled are either people who get a ton of the cards or people who get both store cards and co-branded visa cards from them.

Re: Your Opinion on Comenity Bank

Anonymous — Thu, 02 Aug 2018 13:11:10 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Have three Comenity Store cards: JCrew, Pottery Barn, and Express. Easy to get and easy to get credit limit increases on. If you want to build your total credit limit without getting hard pulls they are great. They also give you discounts on your first order. For example with JCrew I got 20 percent off when I applied for the card (Which was in addition to their 30 percent off sale) and 20 percent off coupon when my card arrived. Which is great because you use them in addition to their sale. Must of cards have reward programs as well. I would never carry a balance on them though. As interest rates are high.

I think people who get cancelled are either people who get a ton of the cards or people who get both store cards and co-branded visa cards from them.

Re: Your Opinion on Comenity Bank

Anonymous — Thu, 02 Aug 2018 13:26:24 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
Welcome to the forums!

Comenity and I go way back (I am talking 2004 here, when I opened my Victoria's Secret card).

They are honestly an OK lender and have lax underwriting standards.
Just don't have most of your accounts with them -- they are known for taking adverse action on those with multiple accounts with them.
YEMV, of course.
I currently have only one card with them, Overstock. I've been going back and forth on whether to keep it; right now, I'm on the keep-it side, since I just got another more-or-less quarterly $1500 CLI a few weeks ago and I do use it every few months. I've been mighty tempted to get one more Comenity card (the Williams-Sonoma Visa, for example, being that that's a proper bankcard as opposed to a storecard, or the BJ's World Mastercard), but I remember (1) the horror stories about AA's on multiple Comenity accounts, though I gather that mostly applies to people who've gone hog-wild with the SCT and have 10 or 12 or even more Comenity accounts as opposed to two or three, and (3) that I'm supposed to be gardening the rest of the year, even if Williams-Sonoma is still SCT (I tested it yesterday and got the preapproved popup, so).

All that being said, I honestly have no complaints with my Overstock card aside from the high APR, but that's par for the course.
I am glad you enjoy your card. Comenity is not bad, but my advice for anyone (especially my fellow re-builders) inquring about them would be to not get greedy with them -- they may take adverse action.

It also helps, for me, that most of the SCT cards are for stores whose wares I have no particular interest in or use for, which serves as a major brake on temptation. That pretty much cuts it down to Overstock and places like Williams-Sonoma and Gamestop (and at that, Steam has better prices than Gamestop). I really only ended up getting the preapproved popup on the Williams-Sonoma Visa since I was window-shopping on the new and much-touted Instant Pot.

Re: Your Opinion on Comenity Bank

Anonymous — Thu, 02 Aug 2018 16:01:31 GMT

I personally have no problem with Comenity. Granted I only have the one card (Wayfair) but it has been extremely useful in rebuilding my credit if for no other reason than the fact that almost monthly, it seems, they increase my limit about 2K per. Card started out at $500 last year and as of this week it's sitting just shy of 10K. The soft pull CLI's are nice as well.

I find their associated web sites to be pretty user friendly without too many bells and whistles. I'm able to get in, do what I need to do and get back out.

I think the majority of the poeple that have beef with Comenity might be the ones that discovered the SCT, went hog wild racking up as many as they could, sprinkled in some of the co-branded VISA cards and then couldn't figure out why they were being closed upon. You live by the sword you die by the....store card?

Re: Your Opinion on Comenity Bank

Anonymous — Thu, 02 Aug 2018 16:23:01 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I personally have no problem with Comenity. Granted I only have the one card (Wayfair) but it has been extremely useful in rebuilding my credit if for no other reason than the fact that almost monthly, it seems, they increase my limit about 2K per. Card started out at $500 last year and as of this week it's sitting just shy of 10K. The soft pull CLI's are nice as well.

I find their associated web sites to be pretty user friendly without too many bells and whistles. I'm able to get in, do what I need to do and get back out.

I think the majority of the poeple that have beef with Comenity might be the ones that discovered the SCT, went hog wild racking up as many as they could, sprinkled in some of the co-branded VISA cards and then couldn't figure out why they were being closed upon. You live by the sword you die by the....store card?

+1. That's pretty much how it works, all right; most people who get into AA trouble with Comenity have amassed a bunch of store cards via the SCT, then acquired one or more of their Visas (which mostly - with a few exceptions such as Williams-Sonoma, which I've previously mentioned - require HP's) and thereby caused Comenity to take a good hard look at their portfolio. As I noted earlier, this is one reason why I'm hesitant to get the Williams-Sonoma Visa even though it's one of the few major-brand bank cards available via the SCT; even if I only had that one plus the Overstock store card, the risk of AA from Comenity is, to my way of thinking, too high for not much return for a high-APR card with rather limited benefits.

Re: Your Opinion on Comenity Bank

Anonymous — Thu, 02 Aug 2018 18:30:40 GMT

I have 2 store card (OS and Wayfair) and they keep giving me cli on them without asking. I also have a Williams Sonoma Visa through them. All receive constant, steady increases.

OS started at $2000 in Oct 2017 and as of yesterday was at $15,600

WF started at $2000 in Oct 2017 and as of yesterday was at $15,500

Every other week they have given increases. I have bought off of both 3 times, maybe $2000 total and they keep upping my cl.

Williams Sonoma started at $2000 in Nov 2017 and I've received 2 increases since then and am now at $13500 on that one (Visa, not store card)

I've had no problems and normally pay off if not in full each month, within 2 months to give them a little bit of interest... to keep them liking me.

Re: Your Opinion on Comenity Bank

stellar — Thu, 02 Aug 2018 22:02:15 GMT

frogman1 wrote:

Easy to get and easy to get credit limit increases on.

I found this to be true as well. However in the end the store cards were not that useful to me and I didn't like spreading my rewards around or only getting store rewards. I closed all my comenity cards.

The other thing I remember is that it was hard to get them to update the credit bureaus. I would have to leave a small balance to get them to update. That was for store cards though, I never used their visa/mc.

Re: Your Opinion on Comenity Bank

AverageJoesCredit — Fri, 03 Aug 2018 13:50:59 GMT

Meh

Re: Your Opinion on Comenity Bank

Anonymous — Fri, 03 Aug 2018 13:57:40 GMT

I have two Comenity cards - Overstock and Wayfair. I use both cards regularly and have nice limits. My "relationship" with them has been short, but great. I've read many horror stories so I don't plan to get any new cards from them.

Re: Your Opinion on Comenity Bank

Anonymous — Mon, 03 Sep 2018 22:37:41 GMT

Bumping because I got an offer (it didn't say "preapproved", so it's likely just marketing) for the BJ's Perks MasterCard this evening. That got me searching for commentary on this card, and one thread I found said that, at least in their case, the people at the BJ's warehouse customer service counter in-store are able to tell you if you're pre-approved for a card. Has anyone else found that to be the case, if they were invited in-store to apply for a Perks MC?