topic Re: First Premier Bank in Credit Cards

First Premier Bank

Booner72 — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 00:19:34 GMT

Hi CC folks - I'm so jealous of your great cards. I'm in loser-ville w/ a 400CL FPB card I've had since 2007. They charge 7.95 a month (In addition to the 49 a year) and they put the 7.95 on the day the statement cuts, so the only way to get a zero balance to report is to mail in a check in advance -- they won't take payment over the phone (11.95 to pay via the phone) or online (3.95 to sign up to pay online--one time fee).

So as you can see, I'm getting hosed. I believe the interest is 29+%, in case you are wondering.

I am hoping to start the underwriting process next week and want to close it so it surely reports as zero balance. I don't feel like I can trust them.

What do you advise? (BTW, as soon as this house business is over and I qualify for something else, FPB goes bye bye!) Would also love recommendations on where I should apply for my next cc - scores are listed below. Thanks!

Re: First Premier Bank

DI — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 00:28:51 GMT

@Booner72 wrote:
Hi CC folks - I'm so jealous of your great cards. I'm in loser-ville w/ a 400CL FPB card I've had since 2007. They charge 7.95 a month (In addition to the 49 a year) and they put the 7.95 on the day the statement cuts, so the only way to get a zero balance to report is to mail in a check in advance -- they won't take payment over the phone (11.95 to pay via the phone) or online (3.95 to sign up to pay online--one time fee).

So as you can see, I'm getting hosed. I believe the interest is 29+%, in case you are wondering.

I am hoping to start the underwriting process next week and want to close it so it surely reports as zero balance. I don't feel like I can trust them.

What do you advise? (BTW, as soon as this house business is over and I qualify for something else, FPB goes bye bye!) Would also love recommendations on where I should apply for my next cc - scores are listed below. Thanks!

Unbelievable! All of those charges should be illegal.

Re: First Premier Bank

Booner72 — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 00:37:14 GMT

I know, right? And I only realized I was paying all of that in the past couple of months since I started my credit rebuild. As soon as I got that sucker I maxed it out and it's sat that way for the past 4 years, paying 25 bucks a month. OH, DUM GIRL. DUM DUM DUM

Re: First Premier Bank

MarineVietVet — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 01:31:41 GMT

@Booner72 wrote:
Hi CC folks - I'm so jealous of your great cards. I'm in loser-ville w/ a 400CL FPB card I've had since 2007. They charge 7.95 a month (In addition to the 49 a year) and they put the 7.95 on the day the statement cuts, so the only way to get a zero balance to report is to mail in a check in advance -- they won't take payment over the phone (11.95 to pay via the phone) or online (3.95 to sign up to pay online--one time fee).

So as you can see, I'm getting hosed. I believe the interest is 29+%, in case you are wondering.

I am hoping to start the underwriting process next week and want to close it so it surely reports as zero balance. I don't feel like I can trust them.

What do you advise? (BTW, as soon as this house business is over and I qualify for something else, FPB goes bye bye!) Would also love recommendations on where I should apply for my next cc - scores are listed below. Thanks!

According to Section 102 of the Credit Card Act 2009:

‘‘(l) LIMIT ON FEES RELATED TO METHOD OF PAYMENT.—With respect to a credit card account under an open end consumer credit plan, the creditor may not impose a separate fee to allow the obligor to repay an extension of credit or finance charge, whether such repayment is made by mail, electronic transfer, telephone authorization, or other means, unless such payment involves an expedited service by a service representative of the creditor.’’

So it looks like the $11.95 charge to pay over the phone and the one time $3.95 charge to pay online could be or should be illegal. Unless FP declares these methods to be "expedited services".

From a BK years ago to:
EX - 3/11 pulled by lender- 835, EQ - 2/11-816, TU - 2/11-782

"Some people spend an entire lifetime wondering if they've made a difference. The Marines don't have that problem".

Re: First Premier Bank

Booner72 — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 02:22:28 GMT

Oh I'm sure that they do. They make a point, now that you mention it, of telling me if I mail in the payment I won't pay any of those fees. And the "high balance" listed is 453 because of the month they charged the 49 bucks put me over. Luckily it says "Paying as agreed." The price of crappy credit can go on and on.

Re: First Premier Bank

MarineVietVet — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 02:31:08 GMT

@Booner72 wrote:
Oh I'm sure that they do. They make a point, now that you mention it, of telling me if I mail in the payment I won't pay any of those fees. And the "high balance" listed is 453 because of the month they charged the 49 bucks put me over. Luckily it says "Paying as agreed." The price of crappy credit can go on and on.

I would ask them though why they seem to be violating the Credit Card Act by these charges. And I might consider a call to the BBB and perhaps my states' AG office if the answer from FP is not satisfactory.

Re: First Premier Bank

Booner72 — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 03:55:58 GMT

I will glady raise holy hecc on these folks after my mortgage. Right now, I'm desperate and need what I can get. So keep the info coming so I know what to do. I also see that 95 people have read this, that means 95 less people will get screwed.

Re: First Premier Bank

Anonymous — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 04:53:17 GMT

Interesting. Those were their old terms. It seems they didn't make any changes to your account after the new laws took effect. I would give them a call. I have FP I'm 2006-2008 and had the same stuff. Filed BK. Got FP again in January 2011. $750CL, 36%APR, $129AF(I think. Something like that anyway) No other fees.

Re: First Premier Bank

Booner72 — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 14:55:03 GMT

I just called. They said they were in perfect compliance w/ the federal regulations.

BUT she said that I qualified for another card w/ them. (WOW, My credit score is better already bc they never would give me CLI or another card before).

Guess what? It's a 20.00 fee to add my husband as an Authorized User. Then I would pay almost 15 a month in fees. And the annual fee of 49 would double.

Suprising, isn't it? Not.

Re: First Premier Bank

FicoScore626 — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 15:47:33 GMT

@Booner72 wrote:
Hi CC folks - I'm so jealous of your great cards. I'm in loser-ville w/ a 400CL FPB card I've had since 2007. They charge 7.95 a month (In addition to the 49 a year) and they put the 7.95 on the day the statement cuts, so the only way to get a zero balance to report is to mail in a check in advance -- they won't take payment over the phone (11.95 to pay via the phone) or online (3.95 to sign up to pay online--one time fee).

So as you can see, I'm getting hosed. I believe the interest is 29+%, in case you are wondering.

I am hoping to start the underwriting process next week and want to close it so it surely reports as zero balance. I don't feel like I can trust them.

What do you advise? (BTW, as soon as this house business is over and I qualify for something else, FPB goes bye bye!) Would also love recommendations on where I should apply for my next cc - scores are listed below. Thanks!

Forget First Premier's crappy online payment feature. Not only do they charge $3.95 to sign up but it's also going to be an additional $7.95 everytime you make a payment through them. They actually charge you a fee to pay them.

If you have a bank account and use their bill paying feature, you can force payments to First Premier at no additional cost. I had a zero balance and wanted to close my account before getting hit with their annual fee, and wanted no nasty surprises so I submitted a payment of $16.00 and the account ended up getting closed with a credit balance of about -$8.00 after they took their $7.95 fee..

Re: First Premier Bank

vish1 — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 16:10:46 GMT

If all the money that goes into the stupid fees of the lenders like FPB was to go to something better and we will have far less problems here in our America...

Re: First Premier Bank

Booner72 — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 17:15:00 GMT

Hi there - I didn't notice a 7.95 fee to pay online....I will check that now. IF SO YIKES!! My balance is zero and I am mailing them a check for 21.00. That should keep me covered until I can close the acct after mortgage is approved.

Re: First Premier Bank

JonStur — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 17:25:36 GMT

I have both the gold and platinum cards (they're my 3rd & 4th oldest) that I'm closing soon and I haven't been charged to make online payments since the credit card act..I PIF every month and like yourself am left with the stupid $6.00 balance each month..can't understand why you are still charged to pay online...

Re: First Premier Bank

Anonymous — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 18:01:46 GMT

I'm pulling for everyone that's stuck with this junk. Couple months back I got a preapproved (could have been preselected) offer from FP for a card with a limit about equal to the annual fee. If memory serves, the terms even disclosed a periodic CLI with yet another fee. (Really, FP??) Fortunately FP's preselection criteria were off, as even the contents of my sock drawer beat the FP out of FP. GL, everyone!

Re: First Premier Bank

Anonymous — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 02:33:28 GMT

@Booner72 wrote:

BUT she said that I qualified for another card w/ them. (WOW, My credit score is better already bc they never would give me CLI or another card before).

Probably a Platinum card. Same limit, same fees. Don't do it.

Re: First Premier Bank

Booner72 — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 21:54:07 GMT

Hi everyone - I need to know if it would be okay to just close this account. The problem is that we are about to start underwriting, but to get to the UW I have to get my credit score up. This account is really screwing me up because they charge the 7 dollars the day the statement posts. I just talked to a lady that said they do that so they have something to report each month to the bureaus. She claims they can't report if there is no balance. She also said that the check I mailed to them Monday of this week is just going to get refunded to me since my balance is zero, that they will not let me have a credit no matter what!!

Would it be better to have it report with 7 dollar balance, or close it so it is zero? I simply do not know what to do. What I should have done is just let this be the account that shows a small balance instead of the carecredit card, but too late now.

EDITED TO ADD: I pushed through a 7.00 payment using my online banking (THANKS TO MYFICO I GOT THE MOTIVATION TO USE THIS TO PAY BILLS - AMAZING AND SO EASY!). Also a check was mailed for 21 dollars. If they end up still reporting this 7.00 balance I am going to have a fit.

I really would like your opinions tho on if I should just close this card. I know my AAoA can use it since I've had it since 07 - but it will cost me $133.00 a year in fees just to keep it open. Is that worth it?

Re: First Premier Bank

OptimalCS — Sat, 16 Jul 2011 03:43:00 GMT

Speak to your loan officer. I DO NOT recommend closing this account until after closing.

Re: First Premier Bank

Booner72 — Sat, 16 Jul 2011 22:10:30 GMT

My LO knows nothing compared to the MYFICO Forum rockstars.

I NEED this account to report zero. I just got 6 points for another account reporting zero. I've read that the only way it could hurt is if it increases revolving percentage, which it won't.

Re: First Premier Bank

Walt_K — Sat, 16 Jul 2011 23:57:34 GMT

@Booner72 wrote:
My LO knows nothing compared to the MYFICO Forum rockstars.

I NEED this account to report zero. I just got 6 points for another account reporting zero. I've read that the only way it could hurt is if it increases revolving percentage, which it won't.

Booner, the only way it can hurt your score is the effect on utilization. But on manual review, you could still be asked questions about closing an account. I don't know why that would be a bad thing, but I might ask over on the mortgage forum to make sure.

As for getting it to report sero, I wonder if you send them an overpayment while having a balance if that will make a difference. Or just push an overpayment from your bank instead of sending the additional money by check. I find it odd that FP will send the refund back so quickly. Chase and BoA will let a credit balance sit on your account for months before they get around to cutting you a check unless you specifically ask for it.

But if the card has already hit the point where it reported $7 this month, it sounds like you are right, you should move on to working with the other cards and let FP be your card that reports a balance. Or look at a rapid rescore. I don't know anything about how rapid rescore works, it's just a term I see all the time on the mortgage threads. Maybe run a search over there to see if that is something that can work for you.

Re: First Premier Bank

Booner72 — Sun, 17 Jul 2011 00:38:11 GMT

Thanks everyone. Walt, I did push 7 dollars through online banking and sent in a check for 21 dollars. I was told by one CSR that is the only way to get zero, was told by another yesterday that they put the 7 dollars on purpose each month "So we have something to report." What-ever. I hate them so much. I am going to heed the warnings and keep it open but I'm telling you, I'm on pins and needles. It's too late to have this be the balance that reports because I already had 25/1000 card report yesterday but it hasn't hit the reports yet. I guess I can stop complaining now and just see what happens. I do home no one will get this stinking card. There are other rebuilder cards I've read about that don't do this kind of b.s. thing.

PS: I just checked and I do have a 21 dollar credit showing online. We'll see here soon if they report it w/ a zero or not. BTW, This card is getting cut w/ scissors whether I close it or not.

I appreciate everything I've learned from you guys!