topic Re: Bank of America Counter Offer...should I bite?! in Credit Cards

Bank of America Counter Offer...should I bite?!

Anonymous — Thu, 05 Jul 2012 21:02:25 GMT

I applied for a Bank of America 123 credit card last week and did not receive instant approval, but today I received a couinter offer in the mail. They offered me a SECURED Bank of America 123 credit card. My issue is...I have an almost two year Secured Captial One credit card that has served me well because after one year I was able to get approved for a Chase Freedom, Discover More, AMEX Zync. All my accounts have perfect payment history and I have no baddies. So I thought my days of "secured" credit cards were long over......do you agree??! I mean, I thought about taking their offer, but a part of me feels getting a secured card at this leg of my journey is sorta going backwards.....any thoughts?

Re: Bank of America Counter Offer...should I bite?!

CreditPacMan — Thu, 05 Jul 2012 21:04:02 GMT

Call the backdoor # and try to recon. They were nice with me when I called after a denial.

Do you happen to know the reason the denied you the unsecured card?

Re: Bank of America Counter Offer...should I bite?!

Anonymous — Thu, 05 Jul 2012 21:07:13 GMT

They said on the letter Not enough accounts opened long enough to establish credit. Jeesh!!! My Cap 1 is almost two years old with perfect payment history! I also never maxed it out or anyting.....BOA just doesn't like me! LOL!

Re: Bank of America Counter Offer...should I bite?!

injustifiiable — Thu, 05 Jul 2012 21:08:43 GMT

Was it the $99/$500 version?

Re: Bank of America Counter Offer...should I bite?!

CreditPacMan — Thu, 05 Jul 2012 21:09:15 GMT

You'd probably get approved if you call and recon.

I had a late payment on my report that was the reason for the denial initially. I called and explained the reason I was late and they approved me. The limit is low but it a start

Re: Bank of America Counter Offer...should I bite?!

Anonymous — Thu, 05 Jul 2012 21:10:49 GMT

@injustifiiable wrote:
Was it the $99/$500 version?

Umm darn I'm not sure....the letter says "BankAmericard Cash Rewards" is what I applied for...and it says I've been preselected for the Secured version. I just assumed it was the 1,2,3 because the letter said accepting the offer is as good as 1, 2 ,3 ! LOL!!!

Re: Bank of America Counter Offer...should I bite?!

injustifiiable — Thu, 05 Jul 2012 21:14:10 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@injustifiiable wrote:
Was it the $99/$500 version?
Umm darn I'm not sure....the letter says "BankAmericard Cash Rewards" is what I applied for...and it says I've been preselected for the Secured version. I just assumed it was the 1,2,3 because the letter said accepting the offer is as good as 1, 2 ,3 ! LOL!!!

If it's the $99/$500 version I'd bite. With the 1,2,3 cash rewards, it's one of the better secured cards out there. Give it a year and it should unsecure itself and get a CLI. I'd try the recon on the unsecured first, though.

Re: Bank of America Counter Offer...should I bite?!

Anonymous — Thu, 05 Jul 2012 21:14:16 GMT

The letter also says my FICO score (Experian) is 677.

Re: Bank of America Counter Offer...should I bite?!

Anonymous — Thu, 05 Jul 2012 21:16:11 GMT

@altayar wrote:
You'd probably get approved if you call and recon.
I had a late payment on my report that was the reason for the denial initially. I called and explained the reason I was late and they approved me. The limit is low but it a start

+1....I agree! It's a good start! I will give them a call tomorrow when they open to see about a recon....what can it hurt...afterall, I already took the inquiry, right! :-)

Re: Bank of America Counter Offer...should I bite?!

Anonymous — Thu, 05 Jul 2012 21:28:10 GMT

@injustifiiable wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
@injustifiiable wrote:
Was it the $99/$500 version?
Umm darn I'm not sure....the letter says "BankAmericard Cash Rewards" is what I applied for...and it says I've been preselected for the Secured version. I just assumed it was the 1,2,3 because the letter said accepting the offer is as good as 1, 2 ,3 ! LOL!!!
If it's the $99/$500 version I'd bite. With the 1,2,3 cash rewards, it's one of the better secured cards out there. Give it a year and it should unsecure itself and get a CLI. I'd try the recon on the unsecured first, though.

Yeah, I'm thinking more and more and I may bite. Just trying to figure out how much I should open it with......My Discover More is $1500 so I'm thinking it should atleast be that......not sure.

Re: Bank of America Counter Offer...should I bite?!

-Cain- — Thu, 05 Jul 2012 22:11:55 GMT

Ask if they will use the same pull during recon or when you bite on the secure app. Sometimes they will do an additional pull.

Re: Bank of America Counter Offer...should I bite?!

Revelate — Thu, 05 Jul 2012 23:13:46 GMT

+1 to the advice posted above; with the new addition of the usual 1-2-3 rewards package to the BOFA secured products, it's WAY better than the standard card in the secured strata, and really it's every bit as good as a entry prime card assuming you can afford the deposit at all since BOFA reliably graduates at the 1 year mark. I think there's one poster who didn't that I've read about in the last six months, and in fairness his report was still ugly.

Personally I'd open it with as much free cash as you can tie up for a year. BOFA traditionally unsecures with the greater of two numbers: $1000 (usually if below that) or whatever your total deposit / CL was on the secured card. It's a short cut to the 5K CL if you can afford to do that too, I'm strongly looking towards doing that myself in short order before my graduation date with either of the two likely jobs i'm probably going to get at this point (one travel, another sorta well out of commuting distance).

Re: Bank of America Counter Offer...should I bite?!

Anonymous — Fri, 06 Jul 2012 01:14:49 GMT

@Revelate wrote:
+1 to the advice posted above; with the new addition of the usual 1-2-3 rewards package to the BOFA secured products, it's WAY better than the standard card in the secured strata, and really it's every bit as good as a entry prime card assuming you can afford the deposit at all since BOFA reliably graduates at the 1 year mark. I think there's one poster who didn't that I've read about in the last six months, and in fairness his report was still ugly.

Personally I'd open it with as much free cash as you can tie up for a year. BOFA traditionally unsecures with the greater of two numbers: $1000 (usually if below that) or whatever your total deposit / CL was on the secured card. It's a short cut to the 5K CL if you can afford to do that too, I'm strongly looking towards doing that myself in short order before my graduation date with either of the two likely jobs i'm probably going to get at this point (one travel, another sorta well out of commuting distance).

Good points Relevate I was actually just going over my budget to see if I could swing $1,000 because I want to show growth, not another $300 or $500 CL....one question I was thinking about...does the Bank of America secured card report as "Secured"?? If so, I think that would be a deal breaker for me. My CapOne Secured card does not report as "secured".

Re: Bank of America Counter Offer...should I bite?!

-Cain- — Fri, 06 Jul 2012 01:49:54 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@Revelate wrote:
+1 to the advice posted above; with the new addition of the usual 1-2-3 rewards package to the BOFA secured products, it's WAY better than the standard card in the secured strata, and really it's every bit as good as a entry prime card assuming you can afford the deposit at all since BOFA reliably graduates at the 1 year mark. I think there's one poster who didn't that I've read about in the last six months, and in fairness his report was still ugly.

Personally I'd open it with as much free cash as you can tie up for a year. BOFA traditionally unsecures with the greater of two numbers: $1000 (usually if below that) or whatever your total deposit / CL was on the secured card. It's a short cut to the 5K CL if you can afford to do that too, I'm strongly looking towards doing that myself in short order before my graduation date with either of the two likely jobs i'm probably going to get at this point (one travel, another sorta well out of commuting distance).

Good points Relevate I was actually just going over my budget to see if I could swing $1,000 because I want to show growth, not another $300 or $500 CL....one question I was thinking about...does the Bank of America secured card report as "Secured"?? If so, I think that would be a deal breaker for me. My CapOne Secured card does not report as "secured".

Go with as much as you can, every time you want to add later will be a hard pull. Also, while it reporting as Secured might sound bad, it shouldnt hurt your score in any way. It's not a bad card...

Re: Bank of America Counter Offer...should I bite?!

Revelate — Fri, 06 Jul 2012 01:50:40 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Good points Relevate I was actually just going over my budget to see if I could swing $1,000 because I want to show growth, not another $300 or $500 CL....one question I was thinking about...does the Bank of America secured card report as "Secured"?? If so, I think that would be a deal breaker for me. My CapOne Secured card does not report as "secured".

Yes it does. Personally it doesn't matter to me as it graduates and at that point the secured tag comes off (I can confirm that personally on an old secured card I had with BOFA and current reports are that's still the case); however, if you're applying for things short of a year, then perhaps that's a consideration from an underwriting perspective.

That said, FICO doesn't care at all.

Re: Bank of America Counter Offer...should I bite?!

Anonymous — Fri, 06 Jul 2012 02:09:14 GMT

My wife got denied with a 757 score and 23 accounts reporting (10 open) for the same " not enough history"... What? So she called the back door number and got approved.

Re: Bank of America Counter Offer...should I bite?!

Anonymous — Fri, 06 Jul 2012 23:51:39 GMT

did you give them a jingle today?

Re: Bank of America Counter Offer...should I bite?!

Anonymous — Sat, 07 Jul 2012 00:23:11 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
did you give them a jingle today?

Yup....fail! They said although I have an excellent payment history and no baddies etc...they like to see a bit longer credit history.... Whatever....smh!!!

Re: Bank of America Counter Offer...should I bite?!

Anonymous — Sat, 07 Jul 2012 00:48:39 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
did you give them a jingle today?
Yup....fail! They said although I have an excellent payment history and no baddies etc...they like to see a bit longer credit history.... Whatever....smh!!!

sorry to hear that. which number did you call? i was successful at my second recon not my first. also as mentioned if you accept their counter offer it may generate an addtional hp

Re: Bank of America Counter Offer...should I bite?!

Repo-ed — Sat, 07 Jul 2012 01:53:37 GMT

I've been a member of BoA for 15-20 years and they've never extended me a LOC.

I'd take your business somewhere else, if you really don't need them.