topic Re: Looking for Advice.. in Credit Cards

Looking for Advice..

Anonymous — Sun, 19 May 2013 19:33:51 GMT

I just received a letter from american express saying I'm pre-selected to apply for AMEX Green.. My FICO Transunion is 698, Experian Plus is 639, Equifax is 638.I have about 68,000 in Student Loan Debt. I have a paid CO from Verizon for Final Bill discrepancy. That became a paid CO in June 2012. I have a a few lates with Chase and FPB from back in 2006, 2007 and one 30 day in 2010 with Express Charge. I've been vehemently working to have the CO taken off for the past 10 months and have had no success. I send a letter a week to Verizon. The other lates I've given up on becuase they either say they wont remove or don't respond to letters. The Chase was closed and will fall off next year and the FPB (oldest account 7.4 years) will have the late fall off next year as well. I also opened up a secured BOA card in December 12' for $400.00. I havent missed a payment. Plan to go unsecured in September 2013.

With that being said I was kind of surprised AMEX reached out to me. I applied online with the code provided in the letter, and within 15 seconds I was approved for the AMEX Green. Does that sound surprising to anyone?

On a side note, First Premier Bank is the WORST company to deal with once you have graduated from bad credit and are looking to get CLI's. The only thing they did was lower my interest rate to 11.9% . They charge 6.00 monthly servicing fees, annual fee, and the BEST is the 25% CLI fee. They only give CLI's once a year, and $200 is their MAX. What a joke. I've been a customer for 7.4 years and they wont budge on CLI fee or caps on CLI. I havent missed a payment in 6 years!!! The only reason I keep the account is because they are my oldest account and keep my average at a decent number. Otherwise, I'd dump them. They have no plan for customers who build their credit over time.

As of right now, I have a BOA secured( $400), A FPB ( $550), A Express Charge ($250), and now an AMEX Green (not sure of the limit yet). Any advice on where to go next? Maybe sit and garden for a while? let my BOA unsecure before applying somewhere else? I have 3 inquiries on my report as of now. Verizon, BOA and AMEX.

Re: Looking for Advice..

jsucool76 — Sun, 19 May 2013 21:31:39 GMT

Personally i would close that FP asap.

Re: Looking for Advice..

webhopper — Sun, 19 May 2013 22:22:20 GMT

Personally, I would not apply for American Express given those scores. Even though they are FAKOs, I do not feel that you'd be approved at this time. Although, if you have a high income, or a great deal of investments, you might have a chance.

Re: Looking for Advice..

jsucool76 — Sun, 19 May 2013 22:25:38 GMT

Web, OP said they were approved xD

Re: Looking for Advice..

shanac — Sun, 19 May 2013 22:27:55 GMT

Congratulations on the Amex! Being that it's a charge card, you should have a very high or no preset credit limit, correct?

Re: Looking for Advice..

09Lexie — Sun, 19 May 2013 22:29:53 GMT

Welcome to the forum and congrats on your Amex! The Green is a charge card (Npsl) and all charges are due in full. Amex has been a little quirky with their approvals so its not surprising.

I would finish working on your baddies, cancel FP and work in getting your existing CL's with boa and Exoress increased.

Good luck

Re: Looking for Advice..

Anonymous — Mon, 20 May 2013 01:39:27 GMT

Thank you for your advice! I don't know if closing the FP would help my credit profile just because it my oldest account and my other cards are fairly new. My AAoA would drop off the table and I would lose almost half of my revolving credit limit. I know that my express is a charge card but it shows up as 250 credit available. What does amex show as on your credit report??

Re: Looking for Advice..

webhopper — Mon, 20 May 2013 01:52:42 GMT

I stand corrected!

Congrats and welcome to the Amex family!

Re: Looking for Advice..

09Lexie — Mon, 20 May 2013 01:57:32 GMT

Your AAOA would remain the same until the card drops of your CR's but Losing half of your revolving credit would be a bad idea. Your Amex will report your statement bal cause there isn't a CL.

Until you get your CL's up high enough so that you can close FP, then leave it open. Maybe when your boa graduates they will give you an increase!

Re: Looking for Advice..

Anonymous — Mon, 20 May 2013 02:14:30 GMT

If you have money at hand, you can always increase the deposit on your BOA card. Beware, its an hard inquiry if you want to add money. Then you can cancel the FPB card. It is your longest tradeline, but it will remain on your credit report after termination so don't worry about AAOA.

What is your income? Your situation isn't as bad as it seems. Although its a collection, its already paid. And I'll assume that the amount isn't really high because I have verizon too. You can explain the collection during recon. On the other hand, the lates will kill you though.

Apply for the generic cards aimed at the general population, i.e. Chase freedom, Discover IT (heavily promoted right now), etc.

Also, if you're opted in for preapprovals, try the shopping cart trick for comenity cards.

If you're content with your lineup, head to the garden. Haha

Re: Looking for Advice..

LS2982 — Mon, 20 May 2013 10:34:04 GMT

@jsucool76 wrote:
Personally i would close that FP asap.

Re: Looking for Advice..

Anonymous — Mon, 20 May 2013 11:17:12 GMT

Thanks again for the input everyone. I just graduated college last spring so I was fortunate to land a job right away. Entry level operations, 40k , up for review in September. Didn't really understand the importance of credit until I got to college. Lol can you explain the shopping cart trick?

Re: Looking for Advice..

Anonymous — Mon, 20 May 2013 12:58:49 GMT

LOL!

Re: Looking for Advice..

Anonymous — Mon, 20 May 2013 13:05:38 GMT

I requested a CLI on my Express Next Store Card this morning and they approved me to $550. I was at $250. I guess thats better than nothing. I need to start getting my cards up to a $2000.00 average CL. I know it wont happen with FPB in this lifetime. I hope BOA will give me a huge CLI at the end of the year. I would rather not provoke another inquiry from them to bump my deposit on my secured Bankamericard. Any thoughts?

Re: Looking for Advice..

09Lexie — Mon, 20 May 2013 16:30:07 GMT

Wait until it graduates you might be pleasantly surprised.

Re: Looking for Advice..

indiolatino61 — Mon, 20 May 2013 17:12:53 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I just received a letter from american express saying I'm pre-selected to apply for AMEX Green.. My FICO Transunion is 698, Experian Plus is 639, Equifax is 638.I have about 68,000 in Student Loan Debt. I have a paid CO from Verizon for Final Bill discrepancy. That became a paid CO in June 2012. I have a a few lates with Chase and FPB from back in 2006, 2007 and one 30 day in 2010 with Express Charge. I've been vehemently working to have the CO taken off for the past 10 months and have had no success. I send a letter a week to Verizon. The other lates I've given up on becuase they either say they wont remove or don't respond to letters. The Chase was closed and will fall off next year and the FPB (oldest account 7.4 years) will have the late fall off next year as well. I also opened up a secured BOA card in December 12' for $400.00. I havent missed a payment. Plan to go unsecured in September 2013.

With that being said I was kind of surprised AMEX reached out to me. I applied online with the code provided in the letter, and within 15 seconds I was approved for the AMEX Green. Does that sound surprising to anyone?

On a side note, First Premier Bank is the WORST company to deal with once you have graduated from bad credit and are looking to get CLI's. The only thing they did was lower my interest rate to 11.9% . They charge 6.00 monthly servicing fees, annual fee, and the BEST is the 25% CLI fee. They only give CLI's once a year, and $200 is their MAX. What a joke. I've been a customer for 7.4 years and they wont budge on CLI fee or caps on CLI. I havent missed a payment in 6 years!!! The only reason I keep the account is because they are my oldest account and keep my average at a decent number. Otherwise, I'd dump them. They have no plan for customers who build their credit over time.

As of right now, I have a BOA secured( $400), A FPB ( $550), A Express Charge ($250), and now an AMEX Green (not sure of the limit yet). Any advice on where to go next? Maybe sit and garden for a while? let my BOA unsecure before applying somewhere else? I have 3 inquiries on my report as of now. Verizon, BOA and AMEX.

I'd garden and build a solid pattern with AMEX before apping again. The best of luck to you.

Re: Looking for Advice..

Anonymous — Fri, 24 May 2013 01:14:31 GMT

So my AMEX green arrived today. Can't help but be giddy after opening the envelope and seeing the card. But then I see that I have another envelope that looks exactly the same as the offer I recieved last week for the Green Card. I opened it up and it reads, "you've been selected to apply for the American Express Gold Card." Now I'm confused. Why the hell are they sending me an offer for the Gold before I activated my Green? lol .. any ideas? Oh yea and I checked my Equifax Score on Myfico.com and it increased from 638 to 686! I'm on my way..

Re: Looking for Advice..

parakleet — Fri, 24 May 2013 21:20:50 GMT

I agree with the others regarding closing FPB. It has served its purpose for you. I don't think it's worth keeping just for the aaoa alone since it will stay on your cr for 10 yrs. The only thing you have to be concerned with is the effect on the util. Try to use the shopping cart trick to get some GE cards, which will help w the util. I just don't think it's worth paying all those fees just for the aaoa.

Re: Looking for Advice..

Anonymous — Sat, 25 May 2013 03:28:37 GMT

Before I close my FPB card, What is this "shopping cart trick" everyone is refering to? If I dump my FPB I lose $550 of my available credit. That leaves me with $400 on my BankAmericard, $550 on my Express Store Charge Card and my NPSL on the AMEX Green. I honestly dont need the FPB card (or the fees that go along with it.) I just dont want my score to drop because I closed my oldest account by far.

Re: Looking for Advice..

Anonymous — Sat, 25 May 2013 03:53:33 GMT

Do a search for the shopping cart trick. There is a whole list of stores that you might be able to get cards from by putting items in your shopping cart on their site and going to the checkout screen and after you enter your address you might get a pop-up that says your preapproved for a certain line of credit with them. They only do soft pulls which is great for your credit. There should be a list of the stores on another post - Victoria Secret, Pier One, Sports Authority and lots more.

Oh and you don't have to make a purchase to get the card. Good luck and congrats on the AMEX.