topic Re: Apple Financing in Credit Cards

Apple Financing

YoungMoney06 — Tue, 12 Jun 2012 01:23:53 GMT

I've been considering purchasing a MacBook Pro for college this fall as my old laptop (one from 2009) is beginning to get a bit outdated. I'm seeing so much about everyone applying for Barclays Apple financing card. I'm interested in doing so, but am not sure if I'll be approved. Right now, my EQ is at 600, 3 inquiries from a year ago, and one collections account that is about 5 years and a more recent (2 years old) account that was paid and closed as agreed. Currently no active credit cards, although I was considering two secured credit cards.

Based on my circumstances, should I apply for it and try reconning if I get denied?

Another thing is that I'm trying to rebuild my credit, however, I'm a bit concerned about the Barclays card being issued and my utilization being more than the suggested 25% ratio. For instance, if I got approved for $2,000 and got a $1,200 MacBook Pro would be a 60% utilization. Any suggestions for getting around this? Possibly negotiating a higher credit limit?

Any feedback is greatly appreciated.

Re: Apple Financing

pizzadude — Tue, 12 Jun 2012 01:47:55 GMT

@YoungMoney06 wrote:
I've been considering purchasing a MacBook Pro for college this fall as my old laptop (one from 2009) is beginning to get a bit outdated. I'm seeing so much about everyone applying for Barclays Apple financing card. I'm interested in doing so, but am not sure if I'll be approved. Right now, my EQ is at 600, 3 inquiries from a year ago, and one collections account that is about 5 years and a more recent (2 years old) account that was paid and closed as agreed. Currently no active credit cards, although I was considering two secured credit cards.

Based on my circumstances, should I apply for it and try reconning if I get denied?

Another thing is that I'm trying to rebuild my credit, however, I'm a bit concerned about the Barclays card being issued and my utilization being more than the suggested 25% ratio. For instance, if I got approved for $2,000 and got a $1,200 MacBook Pro would be a 60% utilization. Any suggestions for getting around this? Possibly negotiating a higher credit limit?

Any feedback is greatly appreciated.

What does your TU report look like ? Barclays almost always pulls only TU. If you don't have any open CCs now then you might consider opening a secured card first and building some history before you apply.

Re: Apple Financing

pizzadude — Tue, 12 Jun 2012 01:49:24 GMT

Also here is a post from today on the same topic: http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Credit-Cards/Barclay-Apple-Card/m-p/1442924

Re: Apple Financing

YoungMoney06 — Tue, 12 Jun 2012 02:00:32 GMT

Honestly, I don't have access to my TU number yet. My intentions are to order it come Friday, however, I last heard some months back that it was around 630-640. I will keep you posted but wasn't sure if anyone here has actually been through the financing process with Barclays to offer any advice.

Re: Apple Financing

Anonymous — Tue, 12 Jun 2012 03:25:29 GMT

I was told, by a rep there, they look for good payment history with current credit cards.

Re: Apple Financing

Revelate — Tue, 12 Jun 2012 05:53:40 GMT

Ignore the utilization numbers for the moment, that's just instant-in-time scoring and 60% utilization (or whatever) if you have the ability to pay it down post-macbook acquisition, is really not a huge deal.

In your case, and mine, payment history and length of tradelines are the long-term score increases, not whatever our revolving utilization happens to be month to month: FICO has no memory of that.

It doesn't sound like your report is all that bad from what you described in your post, and your score being depressed is more due to being a near thin-file than anything truly awkward. I don't know how Apple vis a vis Barclays looks at thinnish files, but since you're better off taking your inquiries in a lump, I'd just apply for the card along with whatever secured cards you're planning to open anyway. Worst case you get denied which isn't a huge deal in our strata as you probably should be sitting for a year on your new cards once obtained which coincidently is the length of the inquiry penalty anyway.

Edit and PS: I'm in a somewhat similar situation building/rebuilding from a thin file and some stupid old derogatories who likewise is going to be purchasing a new Mac of some sort in the back half of this year, and I'll be applying for the card... there's really no reason not to long-term as it's not a shabby tradeline even if it sort of limited in it's use.

Re: Apple Financing

Creditaddict — Tue, 12 Jun 2012 05:50:53 GMT

1. I would not wait until you are in store or trying to order the laptop to apply for the credit card.

2. Barclay I feel based on reading denies about 90% of appliations.

3. Apply during regular hours and then take the number from sticky backdoor thread above and call instantly... you do not have to wait once you get answer.

4. If approved, still call and ask for more. If denied, call and ask to be reconsidered... you can do it with 2-3 different reps if you don't like the answer of the other.

5. I would not worry about utilization right now.

Re: Apple Financing

Revelate — Tue, 12 Jun 2012 05:56:17 GMT

@Creditaddict wrote:
1. I would not wait until you are in store or trying to order the laptop to apply for the credit card.
2. Barclay I feel based on reading denies about 90% of appliations.

1) What path do you recommend instead? Online in the Apple Store or some other mechanism?

2) 90%? I haven't gotten that impression from the threads here, that seems pretty ludicrous frankly. I was mostly looking at the card as I'm expecting to buy a new computer sometime probably near the end of the year, and since it pulls TU and I sort of need a third for my planned end-of-year application spree, it does line up fairly nicely.

Re: Apple Financing

Creditaddict — Tue, 12 Jun 2012 06:42:44 GMT

@Revelate wrote:
@Creditaddict wrote:
1. I would not wait until you are in store or trying to order the laptop to apply for the credit card.
2. Barclay I feel based on reading denies about 90% of appliations.

1) What path do you recommend instead? Online in the Apple Store or some other mechanism?

2) 90%? I haven't gotten that impression from the threads here, that seems pretty ludicrous frankly. I was mostly looking at the card as I'm expecting to buy a new computer sometime probably near the end of the year, and since it pulls TU and I sort of need a third for my planned end-of-year application spree, it does line up fairly nicely.

I recomend to apply online at home... if you apply in store they literally have you go directly to apple website and follow same links over to credit card and you apply on web just like at home but in this case the Apple sales person will see your response in 30 seconds! and it would be harder to do back door and tlak to them in the middle of a busy apple store...

Well Im not going to take a tally of approval vs. denied or further processing when applying... but when I applied, a few threads were going and one very ong thread that covered many approvals "After" calling just like me.

I got $1300 AFTER Calling in and I tried to go back later and ask for CLI to "Cover" larger purchase of computer and was told no... didn't call and push as many times as I should but I really wasn't buying a computer so it was what it was.

Re: Apple Financing

Repo-ed — Tue, 12 Jun 2012 10:53:52 GMT

http://www.whogavemecredit.com/index.php?page=search.php&srch=name

Re: Apple Financing

Happychap — Tue, 12 Jun 2012 11:53:44 GMT

Barclays can be very strict with their approvals. If i were you I would apply for Apples student payment plan that is financed through RBS. Just go to the Apple website click education and you will see a link to apply. Its a new scheme and I beleive their approval criteria is less stringent than Barclays. Here is the link for further info:

http://store.apple.com/us-hed/education_payment_plan

Re: Apple Financing

Anonymous — Tue, 12 Jun 2012 15:19:23 GMT

+1.

I think it's probably unlikely? I applied for the Barclay's card card in 01/2012 and was denied. I had about 75% utilization, and 1 baddie that was paid off. I also had 4 inquiries, of which only 1 was younger than a year (the rest were 1 year+). I called to recon and he said to get my utilization down and then apply later. I explained I was looking to purchase a laptop, etc. So, I'd say you're about 50/50. Maybe apply for a Discover or Citi student card first...or possibly secured card for awhile? Just my $0.02.

Re: Apple Financing

Anonymous — Tue, 12 Jun 2012 15:24:43 GMT

Please don't buy over priced macs on credit unless you can pay before any 0% deal is done. You overpay for the depreciating asset and then pay interest on top of it. God forbid.

Re: Apple Financing

Creditaddict — Tue, 12 Jun 2012 15:54:21 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Please don't buy over priced macs on credit unless you can pay before any 0% deal is done. You overpay for the depreciating asset and then pay interest on top of it. God forbid.

I don't know about over priced... but of course you want to pay before 0% is up... but that's for everything in life you buy at 0%... you hope or NEED to pay off before end, not just because it's a cell phone.

other thoughts, look at best buy, they have 18 months I believe for buying Apple.

Discover has pre-approval on website, if you don't get pre-approved I would not apply.

Re: Apple Financing

YoungMoney06 — Tue, 12 Jun 2012 15:54:54 GMT

Actually, I believe Macs have a long-standing life as opposed to PC's, so even if it is a depreciative asset, it depreciates in small increments. As for the interest, there is none, assuming the financing is paid off within' 12 months. Afterwards, accrued interest begins to set in.

As for my utilization, I have none because I have no active cards right now so not sure if this fact applies to me. I been thinking of getting two secured cards, using less than 25% utilization and paying them completely off each month. Would this make my score skyrocket, or is the truth that carrying a balance will get my score to rise quicker/higher?

Re: Apple Financing

pizzadude — Tue, 12 Jun 2012 16:12:07 GMT

@YoungMoney06 wrote:

As for my utilization, I have none because I have no active cards right now so not sure if this fact applies to me. I been thinking of getting two secured cards, using less than 25% utilization and paying them completely off each month. Would this make my score skyrocket, or is the truth that carrying a balance will get my score to rise quicker/higher?

The best starting point to optimize your FICO score revolving utilization is to have several open CCs reporting zero balances and one CC reporting a small ( less than 9% ) balance. If you don't have any open CCs then you could open two or three secured cards initially and try the above approach.....

Re: Apple Financing

Revelate — Tue, 12 Jun 2012 16:57:38 GMT

@pizzadude wrote:
@YoungMoney06 wrote:

As for my utilization, I have none because I have no active cards right now so not sure if this fact applies to me. I been thinking of getting two secured cards, using less than 25% utilization and paying them completely off each month. Would this make my score skyrocket, or is the truth that carrying a balance will get my score to rise quicker/higher?
The best starting point to optimize your FICO score revolving utilization is to have several open CCs reporting zero balances and one CC reporting a small ( less than 9% ) balance. If you don't have any open CCs then you could open two or three secured cards initially and try the above approach.....

That's the key point. Get your tradelines established ASAP, and then simply don't be late on your payments. That's the path towards long-term FICO increasing, revolving utilization tricks are short-term as FICO has no memory of what your utilization was on past reports.

Re: Apple Financing

YoungMoney06 — Tue, 12 Jun 2012 16:57:45 GMT

Thanks pizzadude. Just curious, how long exactly, should I get 2-3 secured cards, would it take to raise my score from 600 to a 725. That's my ultimate goal is to get to 725 across the board.

Not to get off topic, but is there anything I should check with the secured credit cards before signing up? For example, do all secured credit cards report to all THREE bureaus?

Re: Apple Financing

Revelate — Tue, 12 Jun 2012 17:02:11 GMT

@YoungMoney06 wrote:
Thanks pizzadude. Just curious, how long exactly, should I get 2-3 secured cards, would it take to raise my score from 600 to a 725. That's my ultimate goal is to get to 725 across the board.

Not to get off topic, but is there anything I should check with the secured credit cards before signing up? For example, do all secured credit cards report to all THREE bureaus?

Assuming no negatives it's around a 2 year plan for most folks. You have a head start with your other accounts.

No, not all secured cards report to all three; stick with major banks and major CU's. There's lots of secured card postings both here and in the Rebuilding forum, if you have questions about a specific one as to whether it reports or not, ask.

Edit: As a quick starting point for you:

If you have a military connection - NFCU hands down

One of the best secured cards besides the above - BOFA

One of the easiest with good options that reports to all three - Capital One

Everything else roll your own, check with whatever bank you currently use for their offerings too. Think pretty much everyone except Chase and Amex offer a secured product of some sort.

Re: Apple Financing

pizzadude — Tue, 12 Jun 2012 17:02:02 GMT

@YoungMoney06 wrote:
Thanks pizzadude. Just curious, how long exactly, should I get 2-3 secured cards, would it take to raise my score from 600 to a 725. That's my ultimate goal is to get to 725 across the board.

Not to get off topic, but is there anything I should check with the secured credit cards before signing up? For example, do all secured credit cards report to all THREE bureaus?

It's really impossible to predict how many points you would gain from adding your first revolving accounts, but people typically reports a FICO gain from doing this. Most major banks report to all 3 CRAs, but you should check with them to be certain.

What are the negatives/derogatory items on your credit reports and when will they fall off ?