topic Re: Any info on Bank of the West cards? in Credit Cards

Any info on Bank of the West cards?

J0hnD0nuts — Wed, 22 Jul 2020 00:32:36 GMT

I've been looking at the Bank of the West Cash Back card for it's 3% on gas , dining and grocery but I've never gone through them before and can't seem to find much here about them. Does anyone have any experience with BOTW cards? How easy is it to get a CLI? APR reduction? Anything else I should know?

Re: Any info on Bank of the West cards?

UpperNwGuy — Wed, 22 Jul 2020 01:08:59 GMT

I know that they have a geo-fence. Do you live in their service area?

Re: Any info on Bank of the West cards?

J0hnD0nuts — Wed, 22 Jul 2020 01:27:55 GMT

I do. But I'm not currently a member of their bank.

Re: Any info on Bank of the West cards?

coldfusion — Wed, 22 Jul 2020 01:31:59 GMT

Give the members here a bit of time to see the thread and respond. BOTW is geofenced and while there is a critical mass of members here who bank with them it isn't a large community so a bit of patience here will be a virtue.

Re: Any info on Bank of the West cards?

PullingMeSoftly — Sat, 25 Jul 2020 02:49:13 GMT

@J0hnD0nuts wrote:
I've been looking at the Bank of the West Cash Back card for it's 3% on gas , dining and grocery but I've never gone through them before and can't seem to find much here about them. Does anyone have any experience with BOTW cards? How easy is it to get a CLI? APR reduction? Anything else I should know?

@J0hnD0nuts welcome to MF! Great questions, I have the Cash Back MC and find it to be a solid offering. Integrates well with my BOTW checking/savings, and has become a dedicated card for my DS to use for food & grocery items while he's at university (I consider it SD'd otherwise since I now have the AOD visa though). I've been with BOTW for several years but have only had this card since Dec 2019. The cash back redemption portal is antiquated but gets the job done for transferring rewards to a BOTW checking/savings, or a statement credit. I believe it's a $25 min redemption (haven't done it for a while, so I don't remember).

Now on the topic of CLI's...Interesting you should ask...my SL is and has remained at $15k, and when I initially used the request link through the web interface at 90 days, it said that my account would need to be at least 6 months old before an increase could be requested. So I waited and tried again well after the 6-month mark and after my 6th statement closed, only to then receive a message indicating the account must be 12 months old haha. Looks like their UW is in Covid mode now. So under normal circumstances, you should be able to request a CLI every 6 months. I'm gonna try again at the end of December.

A great thing about BOTW, is that the app and approval was completely SP. Not sure if that is because of my banking history with them or not.

Re: Any info on Bank of the West cards?

SunriseEarth — Sat, 25 Jul 2020 07:04:32 GMT

BOTW is definitely a relationship bank. However, I didn't have a banking relationship with them and I got a mailer for a SUB of $100 for $1K spend. I was not instantly approved, but I eventually got a $3K SL and their lowest APR. Eh. Rewards have to be redeeemed incrementally, which I'm not a fan of. Also, the card isn't contactless (and kinda ugly, IMHO). Card isn't eligible for CLI until it's been open for 12 months.

So far, I'm not really a fan, even thought it's the best card I have for groceries.

Re: Any info on Bank of the West cards?

BearsCubsOtters — Sat, 25 Jul 2020 14:45:28 GMT

I do not have anything to add in terms of your question. But I wanted to say that I find it funny how in recent years the foreign-owned banks have "come out of the closet" if you will in terms of no longer hiding their ownership.

Harris Bank in Illinois was quietly owned by BMO since 1984 but you wouldn't have noticed until they re-branded as BMO Harris a few years ago. BBVA did not really hide that much, but they dropped "Compass" from their name. And now we have Bank of The West; it has been owned by BNP Paribas since around 1979 but only recently has started using their hideous corporate branding, replacing the rather cool bear motif. Off topic, I know.

3% on gas, dining and groceries year round does sound nice, but I would calculate what you can earn half the year by using Chase Freedom and/or Discover for the 5% quarters; they may be more or just as lucrative and not as shamefully ugly as the BNP Paribas card. Its like those stars morph into a flying bird or something, maybe to signify how great it would feel to bank with them? Gag me.

Re: Any info on Bank of the West cards?

celluloid17 — Sat, 25 Jul 2020 15:37:26 GMT

I've had this card since late 2016 and it has gotten a fair amount of a use from me over the years. It's one of the few cards that offers decent year-round cashback on groceries (since the sadly defunct Sallie Mae rewards card). I've never really used it for gas, as I try and use my Costco Visa for that, but it's nice to have a single card that covers restaurants, gas, and groceries (the one category Costco Visa isn't competitive) in the event you don't want to carry more than one card.

I echo many of the sentiments already mentioned. I too miss the the bank's original branding (the California brown bear) and the look of the cashback card at launch with the sihlouette of the bear against the green background (a really cool looking card). The new logo is not appealing at all. I still have my card with the bear and I'm going to hold onto it until it expires.

Another thing mentioned that I don't care for either is their new rewards redemption structure. This is one card that seems to have devolved in terms of access to rewards. They now require a redemption in $25 increments (ugh!) through a clunky and dated rewards website that actually requires you to have a different login than your main account(?!). Previously, the awards were automatically applied as a statement credit quarterly regardless of amount, which may not be completely ideal for some, but it was really convenient.

Their phone app is decent, but again, rewards redemption is not seamless or built into the app as an option. I've only received 1 modest self-initiated CLI through their app, but further attempts have all been unsuccessful.

Currently, this card is sock drawered for me because I'm primarily doing my grocery shopping online via Amazon Fresh, so I'm using the Chase Amazon Visa for this, and I'm using Discover for the few times a month I get takeout restaurant or fast food. That being said, when the quarter ends, I will probably go back to using BOTW for restuarants and for grocery stores whenever I actually resume shopping in store (not anytime soon).

Re: Any info on Bank of the West cards?

Kforce — Sat, 25 Jul 2020 18:36:08 GMT

I got that card 5 years ago.

No previous banking or relationship.

Started me with a larger than average CL -- ($20,000)

Covers Gas, Grocery, Restaurant, and Fast Food

Online Card Services: Lock/unlock your card, Manage travel notices, Manage card alerts, Transfer balance, Request credit limit increase, Dispute transactions, Manage Debit Card Overdraft Service, Change PIN or request your PIN, Order replacement card, Activate a new card

To make on online credit limit increase request:

Your account must be open 12 months or more.
You must not have received a limit increase or decrease within the past 12 months

Re: Any info on Bank of the West cards?

portlandmusician — Fri, 04 Dec 2020 04:35:38 GMT

@PullingMeSoftly @SunriseEarth @celluloid17 @Kforce @M_Smart007 @Anonymous

I read on a few posts (including locked posts) about Bank of the West, a soft pull, etc. I'm currently going for the Navy Fed More Rewards AmEx, but as a back-up plan, I figured I'd try this card, too - if it is indeed a soft pull. I have all my credit bureaus frozen, so no harm, right?

I went to app for this card today. Got the 7-10 day message, which seems common from the posts I've read: manual review, that's what Bank of the West likes to do.

But, unlike other cards I've applied for, I noticed on Bank of the West the final box you check to submit is the "Taxpayer Consent" box, saying they can retrieve, share, use for marketing, yadda yadda yadda your tax returns. Is this normal on cards and just in the long credit card information, or is this something only Bank of the West does? And, is this why they just do a soft pull, because they're also getting your tax returns to verify income themselves and so they can justify looking at a SP and your tax returns?

Hopefully I have a Navy Fed AmEx to report in approvals soon. Then again, maybe I'll have two cards (and data points) to report to approvals soon. In the mean time, Bank of the West intrigued me, I was super curious, jumped the gun and went for it, and am now looking for answers on my questions and more info on Bank of the West. I have no relationship with them. I've seen them driving by them, but other than that, no experience with them until I submitted my app today. So, we shall see. Learning about the bank, regardless, makes me curious, though.

Re: Any info on Bank of the West cards?

TheBoondocks — Fri, 04 Dec 2020 05:08:15 GMT

It's a good card, I have it! I use it for dining and groceries! It grows pretty fast too. I do have the altitude go but I use it just for streaming to get the $15 credit lol. The only thing I don't like is the $25 redemption, but its whatever. The Altitude is $10 so that's good. I never even bank with them but I was like I need a grocery and dining card. And they gave me $20k instant!

Re: Any info on Bank of the West cards?

ChargedUp — Fri, 04 Dec 2020 10:24:31 GMT

I picked this card up last March, right before the credit world started getting weird. Dinky $3K limit and no option for CLI until you hit a year. (This really makes the whole 0%/12months thing useless.) I might have been a little ticked, but hey... it was a soft EX pull, and it adds another lender into my card pool for diversification's sake.

The categories are very useful for most and seem to credit the merchants that it should. Redemption is in $25 increments as said before (which is annoying) and the redemption site is somewhat cumbersome in how you select your cash back for redemption, but they will let you send it to any account (I've sent it to my PNC savings before) or just credit your card account. They have a mish-mash of items you can spend your points on directly, but you'll find much better deals elsewhere (and earn more rewards purchasing things elsewhere!)

Their website is just slightly better than BBVA IMO. Clunky, but it does what it should and there is a CLI button... You just can't use it for 365 days Their phone app is much more intuitive (again, just like BBVA) and makes most transactions happen easily.

Card has a chip, but no contactless for whatever reason (Strange as I see so many ads from MC bragging about using contactless cards.) Card is... green, bendy and very plain. The only place that actually says "Mastercard" on it is in *very* tiny print in the hologram logo on the back. In the end, it does what it's supposed to... (I have had smaller merchants ask me if it's a "pre-paid card" a couple times for whatever reason.)

Payments seem to credit slower than most as well, (and the balance vs. available credit math takes even longer to straighten itself out), which wouldn't bother me so much with a useable limit, but I found myself grabbing for Amex, Chase and BoA a lot of times to avoid possible over-the-limit headaches by mid month.

Final verdict: If this card grows, it's worth keeping for 3% back on a majority of day in/day out spend all in one tidy card. I actually was looking to replace Savor with this (Then Cap One snuck a $3K CLI in on me!) and my DD is making use of the entertainment side of Savor in Las Vegas ATM, so I may end up keeping both. After almost a year with BOTW, Savor does feel easier to live with.

Re: Any info on Bank of the West cards?

portlandmusician — Fri, 04 Dec 2020 18:27:44 GMT

@ChargedUp Thanks for the feedback. I appreciate it.

One question... unlike other cards I've applied for, I noticed on Bank of the West the final box you check to submit is the "Taxpayer Consent" box, saying they can retrieve, share, use for marketing, yadda yadda yadda your tax returns. Is this normal on cards and just in the long credit card disclosure information, or is this something Bank of the West does above and beyond to verify income right out of the gate? Just seemed weird to me, but may be common practice?

But, again, thanks for the info on the card. I'll keep everyone posted if I get it.

Re: Any info on Bank of the West cards?

Anonymous — Fri, 04 Dec 2020 18:46:53 GMT

This was the only card I have applied for that they responded asking for access to my taxes but in addition they wanted a bunch of other stuff so I backed out of it.

https://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Credit-Card-Applications/What-is-it-with-Bank-of-the-West/m-p/5709084/highlight/true#M238414

Re: Any info on Bank of the West cards?

TheBoondocks — Fri, 04 Dec 2020 19:18:48 GMT

Yeah, idk @Anonymous I got instant approved. I hope that old credit unions doesn't provide that much either, I think the most I would go is giving 2 years of tax return, its not like they oculd do anything with your info anyway. I only got it cause the groceries and dining. You should try it again tho, maybe go to a branch. But, I did it online.

Re: Any info on Bank of the West cards?

Anonymous — Fri, 04 Dec 2020 19:32:48 GMT

@TheBoondocks wrote:
Yeah, idk @Anonymous I got instant approved. I hope that old credit unions doesn't provide that much either, I think the most I would go is giving 2 years of tax return, its not like they oculd do anything with your info anyway. I only got it cause the groceries and dining. You should try it again tho, maybe go to a branch. But, I did it online.

I mean it sounds like they're using some sort of public database to verify taxes and/or income which would explain why they wanted all that from me. At the time I wasn't filing taxes because I didn't have to and my income being SSDI only doesn't end up on any employer-updated database. I wouldn't really be interested in the card now though, doesn't make sense for my spending habits.

Re: Any info on Bank of the West cards?

portlandmusician — Fri, 04 Dec 2020 20:25:56 GMT

@Anonymous Yeah, weird they asked for all of that. With a soft pull, I'd let it "stall out" and just do nothing, too, and let them send me a letter to decline due to unable to verify identity.

So, they'd need a 4506-T to get your tax returns? Or, the box I checked, the "taxpayer consent," was that virtually the same thing? That's how I read it. I just wish I screen shot it and/or copied the exact text. Anyhow, that one box, checking it, struck me as odd. But, I figured, soft pull, might as well. Credit is frozen, so if I get this card, I get it. Otherwise, no harm, no foul. Still hoping to get the Navy Federal AmEx More Rewards instead. Both, if I get both, I'll be happy, too.

But, I'd say you made the right choice walking away. And, if it doesn't make sense with your spending now, no need to reply. I just sort of thought, "well, I get to the 24-48 from Navy Fed, if this is a soft pull, might as well try, too. What could it hurt?" And, here we are. Interesting to learn more about this card/bank, though, since when I visit a friend, I drive by it to get to their house and always wondered about the bank, as I had never heard of it.

Re: Any info on Bank of the West cards?

ChargedUp — Fri, 04 Dec 2020 21:31:53 GMT

@portlandmusician wrote:
@ChargedUp Thanks for the feedback. I appreciate it.

One question... unlike other cards I've applied for, I noticed on Bank of the West the final box you check to submit is the "Taxpayer Consent" box, saying they can retrieve, share, use for marketing, yadda yadda yadda your tax returns. Is this normal on cards and just in the long credit card disclosure information, or is this something Bank of the West does above and beyond to verify income right out of the gate? Just seemed weird to me, but may be common practice?

But, again, thanks for the info on the card. I'll keep everyone posted if I get it.

I never signed for a 4506-T, so I'm pretty sure they're not going into something that deep. I'm figuring it's allowing them to access whatever info that Sagestream/Lexis Nexus or one of the other financial data miners out there might have on you. FWIW I think it's more for identity verification purposes than anything.

Re: Any info on Bank of the West cards?

portlandmusician — Sat, 05 Dec 2020 00:43:46 GMT

@ChargedUp Thanks! That makes sense and helps me better understand. I do appreciate it!

Re: Any info on Bank of the West cards?

portlandmusician — Sat, 05 Dec 2020 01:10:06 GMT

@TheBoondocks I saw on this thread you got approved instantly for a $20k card. And, I saw on another post you were inquiring about income/income verification on unemployment - saying you're making more on unemployment than your previous job(s).

So, my question, if you don't mind me asking... to get a $20k limit out of the gate with BOTW with no relationship with them, what did you tell them your income was? And, they obviously didn't verify it, they just gave you an instant approval? Congrats on that! I'm curious. On a whim, as you know from this thread, I submitted my application (soley due to them only doing a SP - credit frozen just-in-case). Got the 7-10 day notification and I have no relationship with them. Just curious if I can piece together how their minds work as I pull data from different posts and await their answer. Thanks!