topic Re: Merrick Bank in Credit Cards

Merrick Bank

Anonymous — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 20:46:09 GMT

I recently received an mail offer from Merrick bank stating that I've been pre-approved for an offer of a credit limit 1500 with no annual fee. I went online and accepted the offer and got approved. But after googling :"Merrick Bank" seeing they have poor reviews about their surprised annual fees, bad customer service, and etc. Now I'm skeptical if I receive the card should I just cancel right away before deepening myself into this credit card. Any suggestions?

Re: Merrick Bank

tcbofade — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 20:50:04 GMT

Hmm. I have a Merrick Bank CC, and my wife has one as well.

Not the best card, not the worst. We've never had any difficulty with them, but we've never had to contact Customer Service either.

Re: Merrick Bank

Anonymous — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 20:52:03 GMT

I have a hooters card by Merrick and I have no complaints

Re: Merrick Bank

llecs — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 23:06:27 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I recently received an mail offer from Merrick bank stating that I've been pre-approved for an offer of a credit limit 1500 with no annual fee. I went online and accepted the offer and got approved. But after googling :"Merrick Bank" seeing they have poor reviews about their surprised annual fees, bad customer service, and etc. Now I'm skeptical if I receive the card should I just cancel right away before deepening myself into this credit card. Any suggestions?

The fees are only a surprise if the disclosure isn't read before applying. DW has their card. Yes, the fees are bad, but it's a good rebuilder card and they are generous with CLIs, or in DW's case anyway. We only called a CSR once but that was because they suspected fraud after an odd spending pattern.

Re: Merrick Bank

Anonymous — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 00:02:12 GMT

I've found them to be very straightforward and easy to deal with. I've had one of their cards since 2003 (the regular Merrick) and the Merrick Hooters card since 2007, and no problems with either. Both started at about $800 or $1,000 and they are now at $3,300 and $3,200. I recommend them as a rebuilder!

Re: Merrick Bank

Ortz33__ — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 01:39:39 GMT

i also have a hooters card and have no complaints. started with 1500 and still there but it's only been 6 months. no annual fee. low apr at 16% plus rewards

Re: Merrick Bank

scottwagnon — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 10:59:57 GMT

I agree with Chester. It's a great card to have. No complaints, except that you have to call in to get a replacement card; some will cross examine why you want to replace your card. My hooters card has a 3200 usd credit limit; that and no annual fee.

Re: Merrick Bank

CreditCrusader — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 11:11:02 GMT

@scottwagnon wrote:
I agree with Chester. It's a great card to have. No complaints, except that you have to call in to get a replacement card; some will cross examine why you want to replace your card. My hooters card has a 3200 usd credit limit; that and no annual fee.

It's too bad you can only get a preapproval by invitation only. Does Merrick have a preapproval site I don't know about?

Re: Merrick Bank

scottwagnon — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 16:35:07 GMT

hooters mastercard was previously accepting applicants, but not anymore. i have heard they have done this in the past, but have a feeling this pause is for much longer. merrick bank is currently under scrutiny, for illegal practices. this is not a good bank to deal with actually. but for some reason, they do put their best foot forward through their hooters program primarily for prime applicants. while they are mainly predatory, they choose to be sound to prime hooterscard customers such as myself. the interest rate is half-way decent, and the rewards program is pretty good too. i've heard alot of good responses with this card program; that they tend to CLI those that are current and use the card frequently. they also are known to reduce the apr for some hooterscard customers that have been with them for awhile.

i will confirm with creditcrusader that merrick is currently not accepting any new applicants for any unsecured products, unless it is by invitation only.

Re: Merrick Bank

Anonymous — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 17:59:45 GMT

@scottwagnon wrote:
hooters mastercard was previously accepting applicants, but not anymore. i have heard they have done this in the past, but have a feeling this pause is for much longer. merrick bank is currently under scrutiny, for illegal practices. this is not a good bank to deal with actually. but for some reason, they do put their best foot forward through their hooters program primarily for prime applicants. while they are mainly predatory, they choose to be sound to prime hooterscard customers such as myself. the interest rate is half-way decent, and the rewards program is pretty good too. i've heard alot of good responses with this card program; that they tend to CLI those that are current and use the card frequently. they also are known to reduce the apr for some hooterscard customers that have been with them for awhile.

i will confirm with creditcrusader that merrick is currently not accepting any new applicants for any unsecured products, unless it is by invitation only.

the only information I could find on this was under consumer boards, is there something from the government where you found this?

Re: Merrick Bank

Ortz33__ — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 23:36:22 GMT

i also read the "merrick bank is currently under scrutiny, for illegal practices" and did a search and didn't find anything. i am curious as well, what is your source for this???

Re: Merrick Bank

Elated — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 06:03:32 GMT

Hi Baybee,

I don't have anything bad to say about Merrick Bank. I have had my card for approximately 6 years now, and have received numerous CLI's. I am very happy with them, hopefully you will be too!

Re: Merrick Bank

IantoJones — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 20:25:08 GMT

I received an offer in the mail, got one of those "we'll let you know in 20d" messages, so I was sure I'd been declined.

Then today, their CustSvc called me to verify my identity, and then said she'd be sending out my $1000-CLI card in 7-10d !

This with an a low FICO of 598, high in the mid 650's, and several recent TLs opened.

So, I'm thrilled (it's for a 0-annual-fee, relatively low interest card) !

All the best to all of you.

Re: Merrick Bank

Ortz33__ — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 20:26:57 GMT

was this the hooters card or regular?

Re: Merrick Bank

redwalker2929 — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 04:57:09 GMT

I had a horrible time with merick bank. My only advice is to pay your bill well before its due. If you default for any reason....your done and they will do horrible things including lying and cheating. Be careful and you will have no issues.

Re: Merrick Bank

improvingmycredit — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 05:11:12 GMT

Hello! I have a Merrick card. It was one of my starter cards. I have had no problems with this card or Merrick Bank. Personally- it was a great starter card for me and I appreciated the chance when few were there with an annual fee free card. Pay your bills on time and you will have no problems. Hope this helps!

Re: Merrick Bank

Anonymous — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 05:28:20 GMT

I have a Merrick's card also and haven't had any issues with them. However, I think I'll probably be cancelling the card because of the $36 AF, even though they bill it monthly - I really don't use it. Has anyone had luck getting them to waive the fee permanently?

Re: Merrick Bank

Anonymous — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 07:49:00 GMT

I've never tried to have it waived, but what's weird is that everyone's fee seems to be different. Originally I had no fee with that card. At some point they started charging $1 per month. That's right, just a dollar, and if I have no activity they don't charge it. I feel bad for you that they're charging you 3 times that; you could tell them that "a friend" is only charged $1 per month, so why are they charging you more? In my experience, though, that line of conversation always goes exactly nowhere, since they'll act mystified about anyone else's account or the reasons behind the terms on someone else's account.

Oh yes, and my Merrick card is at about 33% interest. Is anyone else's that high? I'm sure it didn't start that high, and I don't remember doing anything wrong. Geez, that card is old - I think I've had it since '04 or '03. When I called to ask about the ratejack they acted similarly mystified so I just gave up trying to understand Merrick Bank.

I have had no problems with the card, though, and they raised it from the original $1,000 or so to $3,300. Sorry if I posted twice in this thread. I'm too lazy to read back and check.

Re: Merrick Bank

IantoJones — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 20:03:23 GMT

In reply to the question above (Regular or Hooters?) -- Regular "Merrick", but unsecured, no annual fee, setup fee, or maintenance fee, and 17% interest (which for someone just over a year post-Ch7 BK, isn't bad at all... most others are in the 20-something percent range...

Here's a link from the Merrick Bank site directly, which both lists their overall ranges, and allows their account holders to check their individual terms (with an online response available - unlike many prime lenders) :

https://www.merrickbank.com/Legal/Agreements.aspx

And here's a link to a doc with just the pricing:

http://www.mbdot.com/docs-repository/merrick-bank/Merrick-Unsecured-Pricing.pdf

(I got these from doing a Google search to find their homepage, then clicking Site Map to find the pages above) .

Thanks,

Ianto Jones

Re: Merrick Bank

Anonymous — Mon, 27 May 2013 05:33:31 GMT

THEIR WEBSITE IS SET UP VERY GOOD. IT TELLS U EVERYTHING U NEED TO KNOW-PRETTY MUCH. OVERALL WHAT I HAVE READ ABOUT MERRICK BANK HAS BEEN PRETTY GOOD. ALL CUSTOMER SERVICE CENTERS ARE PRETTY MUCH LOW RATED . BUT THE CARD OVER ALL, I THINK IS PRETTY MUCH UP FRONT, INTEREST KIND OF STEEP BUT AVOID THAT - CHARGE WHAT U CAN AFFORD AND PAY IT ALL OFF WHEN OUR BILL IS DUE. IM PLEASED WITH MY LIMIT AND THEIR ON LINE SERVICE ! THEIR ON LINE SERVICE IS FAR BETTER THAN CAPITAL ONE AND SO ARE THEIR INITIAL CREDIT LIMITS APPOSED TO CAPITAL ONE. AT LEAST FOR ME THIS HOLDS TRUE.