topic Re: Matrix makes it impossible to have a $0 balance..... in Credit Cards

Matrix makes it impossible to have a $0 balance.....

rearfanged — Wed, 26 Feb 2014 16:45:45 GMT

I've noticed my last two billing cycles that continental finance applies their $12 monthly charge literally moments before they turn over to the next billing cycle....so my balance is ALWAYS $12. My new statement came out today, and my balance yesterday was $0. Is this even legal? How can they make it impossible to pay off their card?

Re: Matrix makes it impossible to have a $0 balance.....

Anonymous — Wed, 26 Feb 2014 16:53:58 GMT

This same thing was happening to me with both Credit One and First Premier (until i closed them). It was very annoying.

The way I was able to avoid it was:

First Premier: They would not waive the fee, or allow you to pay more than the balance, which in our case would be 0$, BUT, they allow you to send via Western Union a payment that they must accept, and it negatives your account by the exact fee. For instance, you'd send them 12$ via western union right before your statement and when the fee is charged they will cancel each other out thus showing a zero balance. They do not let you pay any other way to get to a negative. I did this for about 6 months before cancelling the card after my score/utilization was high enough to not require the card anymore.

Credit One: Had to call customer service and plead my case and they credited me 3 months worth of fees, and you wouldnt want to make any charges on the card because you couldnt get it back to negative again. You would need to keep pleading and asking for supervisors and mention that it is impacting your credit score, and eventually it worked.

I would call them and ask them about the Western Union idea.

Re: Matrix makes it impossible to have a $0 balance.....

gdale6 — Wed, 26 Feb 2014 17:37:17 GMT

Use you banks bill pay to push the payment to them.

Re: Matrix makes it impossible to have a $0 balance.....

rearfanged — Sat, 22 Mar 2014 13:56:32 GMT

gdale6 -

Thanks for the idea.....it worked.

@gdale6 wrote:
Use you banks bill pay to push the payment to them.

Re: Matrix makes it impossible to have a $0 balance.....

Creditaddict — Sat, 22 Mar 2014 15:06:40 GMT

@rearfanged wrote:
gdale6 -

Thanks for the idea.....it worked.
@gdale6 wrote:
Use you banks bill pay to push the payment to them.

Close the acocunt... looks like your credit score is high enough to replace with "something" better with no monthly fee!

Re: Matrix makes it impossible to have a $0 balance.....

bigblue7722 — Sat, 22 Mar 2014 16:15:55 GMT

I dont understand why anyone would get a card with a monthly fee. Your much better off saving a little money up and getting a secured card.

Re: Matrix makes it impossible to have a $0 balance.....

fot1 — Sat, 22 Mar 2014 17:11:51 GMT

@bigblue7722 wrote:
I dont understand why anyone would get a card with a monthly fee. Your much better off saving a little money up and getting a secured card.

It is simple eveyone has different, needs and means. For me the choice of a Credit one card was a lot better then a secured card. It was quite easy to manage an 8 dollar monthly payment( skip one fast food lunch a month) vs $500-$1000 dollar secured cards ( sorry family no food for anyone for the next 4- 8 weeks)

Re: Matrix makes it impossible to have a $0 balance.....

bigblue7722 — Sat, 22 Mar 2014 17:20:01 GMT

@fot1 wrote:
@bigblue7722 wrote:
I dont understand why anyone would get a card with a monthly fee. Your much better off saving a little money up and getting a secured card.
It is simple eveyone has different, needs and means. For me the choice of a Credit one card was a lot better then a secured card. It was quite easy to manage an 8 dollar monthly payment( skip one fast food lunch a month) vs $500-$1000 dollar secured cards ( sorry family no food for anyone for the next 4- 8 weeks)

you can get a secured card for as little as 200 for fully secured or some people get cap one for 49 or 99 with a 200 dollar limit. When you close your secured card you get your money back think of it as a savings account. That 8 dollars every month your not going to see any of it back. how much was the anuall fee for credit one?

Re: Matrix makes it impossible to have a $0 balance.....

fot1 — Sat, 22 Mar 2014 17:26:43 GMT

@bigblue7722 wrote:
@fot1 wrote:
@bigblue7722 wrote:
I dont understand why anyone would get a card with a monthly fee. Your much better off saving a little money up and getting a secured card.
It is simple eveyone has different, needs and means. For me the choice of a Credit one card was a lot better then a secured card. It was quite easy to manage an 8 dollar monthly payment( skip one fast food lunch a month) vs $500-$1000 dollar secured cards ( sorry family no food for anyone for the next 4- 8 weeks)
you can get a secured card for as little as 200 for fully secured or some people get cap one for 49 or 99 with a 200 dollar limit. When you close your secured card you get your money back think of it as a savings account. That 8 dollars every month your not going to see any of it back. how much was the anuall fee for credit one?

The $8 is the annual fee.. you just pay it monthly.. And again not eveyone has the ability to pay that much in on shot for secured card.. And if somone is rebuilding and wants to open 2-4 cards that is a big chunk of change..

Re: Matrix makes it impossible to have a $0 balance.....

bigblue7722 — Sat, 22 Mar 2014 17:41:33 GMT

@fot1 wrote:
@bigblue7722 wrote:
@fot1 wrote:
@bigblue7722 wrote:
I dont understand why anyone would get a card with a monthly fee. Your much better off saving a little money up and getting a secured card.
It is simple eveyone has different, needs and means. For me the choice of a Credit one card was a lot better then a secured card. It was quite easy to manage an 8 dollar monthly payment( skip one fast food lunch a month) vs $500-$1000 dollar secured cards ( sorry family no food for anyone for the next 4- 8 weeks)
you can get a secured card for as little as 200 for fully secured or some people get cap one for 49 or 99 with a 200 dollar limit. When you close your secured card you get your money back think of it as a savings account. That 8 dollars every month your not going to see any of it back. how much was the anuall fee for credit one?
The $8 is the annual fee.. you just pay it monthly.. And again not eveyone has the ability to pay that much in on shot for secured card.. And if somone is rebuilding and wants to open 2-4 cards that is a big chunk of change..

I was looking at first premier banks site its like 95 for a processing fee. 75 dollars for the first year anuall fee. then 45 after that plus 6.25 servicing fee every month after the first year. So if you have the card open for two years thats 290 dollars. A cap one secured card for two years would cost you 258 but you get 200 back. Then i went to credit ones site its 75 for the first year then 8.25 a month after that. So thats 174 dollars gone after two years.

Re: Matrix makes it impossible to have a $0 balance.....

azguy13 — Sat, 22 Mar 2014 17:52:54 GMT

@bigblue7722 wrote:
@fot1 wrote:
@bigblue7722 wrote:
@fot1 wrote:
@bigblue7722 wrote:
I dont understand why anyone would get a card with a monthly fee. Your much better off saving a little money up and getting a secured card.
It is simple eveyone has different, needs and means. For me the choice of a Credit one card was a lot better then a secured card. It was quite easy to manage an 8 dollar monthly payment( skip one fast food lunch a month) vs $500-$1000 dollar secured cards ( sorry family no food for anyone for the next 4- 8 weeks)
you can get a secured card for as little as 200 for fully secured or some people get cap one for 49 or 99 with a 200 dollar limit. When you close your secured card you get your money back think of it as a savings account. That 8 dollars every month your not going to see any of it back. how much was the anuall fee for credit one?
The $8 is the annual fee.. you just pay it monthly.. And again not eveyone has the ability to pay that much in on shot for secured card.. And if somone is rebuilding and wants to open 2-4 cards that is a big chunk of change..
I was looking at first premier banks site its like 95 for a processing fee. 75 dollars for the first year anuall fee. then 45 after that plus 6.25 servicing fee every month after the first year. So if you have the card open for two years thats 290 dollars. A cap one secured card for two years would cost you 258 but you get 200 back. Then i went to credit ones site its 75 for the first year then 8.25 a month after that. So thats 174 dollars gone after two years.

By your logic, someone should wait 2 years to open a secured card instead of paying the fees and starting to rebuild. Yes, we get it, you pay more with a card like CreditOne. Your choices may not be the same choices as others.

I think the biggest point here is that a lot of people don't have $200-$1,000 to put down for a secured card, no matter if they get it back or not. It is just like financing something. It's not like CreditOne or First Premier is a lifelong card....

Re: Matrix makes it impossible to have a $0 balance.....

fot1 — Sat, 22 Mar 2014 18:03:11 GMT

@bigblue7722 wrote:
@fot1 wrote:
@bigblue7722 wrote:
@fot1 wrote:
@bigblue7722 wrote:
I dont understand why anyone would get a card with a monthly fee. Your much better off saving a little money up and getting a secured card.
It is simple eveyone has different, needs and means. For me the choice of a Credit one card was a lot better then a secured card. It was quite easy to manage an 8 dollar monthly payment( skip one fast food lunch a month) vs $500-$1000 dollar secured cards ( sorry family no food for anyone for the next 4- 8 weeks)
you can get a secured card for as little as 200 for fully secured or some people get cap one for 49 or 99 with a 200 dollar limit. When you close your secured card you get your money back think of it as a savings account. That 8 dollars every month your not going to see any of it back. how much was the anuall fee for credit one?
The $8 is the annual fee.. you just pay it monthly.. And again not eveyone has the ability to pay that much in on shot for secured card.. And if somone is rebuilding and wants to open 2-4 cards that is a big chunk of change..
I was looking at first premier banks site its like 95 for a processing fee. 75 dollars for the first year anuall fee. then 45 after that plus 6.25 servicing fee every month after the first year. So if you have the card open for two years thats 290 dollars. A cap one secured card for two years would cost you 258 but you get 200 back. Then i went to credit ones site its 75 for the first year then 8.25 a month after that. So thats 174 dollars gone after two years.

So you open a Credit one card. pay $8 a month for a year and get a years worth of Fico score building, or you you can put $8 a month in saving for two years then use that to put towrds a secured card and three years later get the fico increase and your money back.. I much rather lose $8 a month to get my scores going sooner.. Rebuilding credit scores takes enough time as it is..

Re: Matrix makes it impossible to have a $0 balance.....

bigblue7722 — Sat, 22 Mar 2014 19:21:56 GMT

But u still could get a cap one secured for cheaper than credit one if you get the 49 dollar version or even the 99/500 boa secured would almost be cheaper if you factor in rewards.

Re: Matrix makes it impossible to have a $0 balance.....

bigblue7722 — Sat, 22 Mar 2014 19:28:28 GMT

@azguy13 wrote:
@bigblue7722 wrote:
@fot1 wrote:
@bigblue7722 wrote:
@fot1 wrote:
@bigblue7722 wrote:
I dont understand why anyone would get a card with a monthly fee. Your much better off saving a little money up and getting a secured card.
It is simple eveyone has different, needs and means. For me the choice of a Credit one card was a lot better then a secured card. It was quite easy to manage an 8 dollar monthly payment( skip one fast food lunch a month) vs $500-$1000 dollar secured cards ( sorry family no food for anyone for the next 4- 8 weeks)
you can get a secured card for as little as 200 for fully secured or some people get cap one for 49 or 99 with a 200 dollar limit. When you close your secured card you get your money back think of it as a savings account. That 8 dollars every month your not going to see any of it back. how much was the anuall fee for credit one?
The $8 is the annual fee.. you just pay it monthly.. And again not eveyone has the ability to pay that much in on shot for secured card.. And if somone is rebuilding and wants to open 2-4 cards that is a big chunk of change..
I was looking at first premier banks site its like 95 for a processing fee. 75 dollars for the first year anuall fee. then 45 after that plus 6.25 servicing fee every month after the first year. So if you have the card open for two years thats 290 dollars. A cap one secured card for two years would cost you 258 but you get 200 back. Then i went to credit ones site its 75 for the first year then 8.25 a month after that. So thats 174 dollars gone after two years.
By your logic, someone should wait 2 years to open a secured card instead of paying the fees and starting to rebuild. Yes, we get it, you pay more with a card like CreditOne. Your choices may not be the same choices as others.

I think the biggest point here is that a lot of people don't have $200-$1,000 to put down for a secured card, no matter if they get it back or not. It is just like financing something. It's not like CreditOne or First Premier is a lifelong card....

if you cant save 50 dollars a month and wait 4 months i dont think you should be getting any credit card.

Re: Matrix makes it impossible to have a $0 balance.....

fot1 — Sat, 22 Mar 2014 20:18:42 GMT

@bigblue7722 wrote:
But u still could get a cap one secured for cheaper than credit one if you get the 49 dollar version or even the 99/500 boa secured would almost be cheaper if you factor in rewards.

Cheaper in long run.. but not cheaper up front..

Re: Matrix makes it impossible to have a $0 balance.....

fot1 — Sat, 22 Mar 2014 20:24:46 GMT

@bigblue7722 wrote:
@azguy13 wrote:
@bigblue7722 wrote:
@fot1 wrote:
@bigblue7722 wrote:
@fot1 wrote:
@bigblue7722 wrote:
I dont understand why anyone would get a card with a monthly fee. Your much better off saving a little money up and getting a secured card.
It is simple eveyone has different, needs and means. For me the choice of a Credit one card was a lot better then a secured card. It was quite easy to manage an 8 dollar monthly payment( skip one fast food lunch a month) vs $500-$1000 dollar secured cards ( sorry family no food for anyone for the next 4- 8 weeks)
you can get a secured card for as little as 200 for fully secured or some people get cap one for 49 or 99 with a 200 dollar limit. When you close your secured card you get your money back think of it as a savings account. That 8 dollars every month your not going to see any of it back. how much was the anuall fee for credit one?
The $8 is the annual fee.. you just pay it monthly.. And again not eveyone has the ability to pay that much in on shot for secured card.. And if somone is rebuilding and wants to open 2-4 cards that is a big chunk of change..
I was looking at first premier banks site its like 95 for a processing fee. 75 dollars for the first year anuall fee. then 45 after that plus 6.25 servicing fee every month after the first year. So if you have the card open for two years thats 290 dollars. A cap one secured card for two years would cost you 258 but you get 200 back. Then i went to credit ones site its 75 for the first year then 8.25 a month after that. So thats 174 dollars gone after two years.
By your logic, someone should wait 2 years to open a secured card instead of paying the fees and starting to rebuild. Yes, we get it, you pay more with a card like CreditOne. Your choices may not be the same choices as others.

I think the biggest point here is that a lot of people don't have $200-$1,000 to put down for a secured card, no matter if they get it back or not. It is just like financing something. It's not like CreditOne or First Premier is a lifelong card....
if you cant save 50 dollars a month and wait 4 months i dont think you should be getting any credit card.

So no credit scores for poor people? Why stop there? How about no mortgages is you can't put down %20? Or no unsecured credit cards if you don't have a 700 fico score?

Re: Matrix makes it impossible to have a $0 balance.....

juggalo9er — Sat, 22 Mar 2014 22:18:33 GMT

@fot1 wrote:
@bigblue7722 wrote:
@azguy13 wrote:
@bigblue7722 wrote:
@fot1 wrote:
@bigblue7722 wrote:
@fot1 wrote:
@bigblue7722 wrote:
I dont understand why anyone would get a card with a monthly fee. Your much better off saving a little money up and getting a secured card.
It is simple eveyone has different, needs and means. For me the choice of a Credit one card was a lot better then a secured card. It was quite easy to manage an 8 dollar monthly payment( skip one fast food lunch a month) vs $500-$1000 dollar secured cards ( sorry family no food for anyone for the next 4- 8 weeks)
you can get a secured card for as little as 200 for fully secured or some people get cap one for 49 or 99 with a 200 dollar limit. When you close your secured card you get your money back think of it as a savings account. That 8 dollars every month your not going to see any of it back. how much was the anuall fee for credit one?
The $8 is the annual fee.. you just pay it monthly.. And again not eveyone has the ability to pay that much in on shot for secured card.. And if somone is rebuilding and wants to open 2-4 cards that is a big chunk of change..
I was looking at first premier banks site its like 95 for a processing fee. 75 dollars for the first year anuall fee. then 45 after that plus 6.25 servicing fee every month after the first year. So if you have the card open for two years thats 290 dollars. A cap one secured card for two years would cost you 258 but you get 200 back. Then i went to credit ones site its 75 for the first year then 8.25 a month after that. So thats 174 dollars gone after two years.
By your logic, someone should wait 2 years to open a secured card instead of paying the fees and starting to rebuild. Yes, we get it, you pay more with a card like CreditOne. Your choices may not be the same choices as others.

I think the biggest point here is that a lot of people don't have $200-$1,000 to put down for a secured card, no matter if they get it back or not. It is just like financing something. It's not like CreditOne or First Premier is a lifelong card....
if you cant save 50 dollars a month and wait 4 months i dont think you should be getting any credit card.
So no credit scores for poor people? Why stop there? How about no mortgages is you can't put down %20? Or no unsecured credit cards if you don't have a 700 fico score?

exactly how i feel! you left out that your not supposed to have nice limits on your cards if your poor as well

Re: Matrix makes it impossible to have a $0 balance.....

bigblue7722 — Sat, 22 Mar 2014 22:34:57 GMT

@fot1 wrote:
@bigblue7722 wrote:
@azguy13 wrote:
@bigblue7722 wrote:
@fot1 wrote:
@bigblue7722 wrote:
@fot1 wrote:
@bigblue7722 wrote:
I dont understand why anyone would get a card with a monthly fee. Your much better off saving a little money up and getting a secured card.
It is simple eveyone has different, needs and means. For me the choice of a Credit one card was a lot better then a secured card. It was quite easy to manage an 8 dollar monthly payment( skip one fast food lunch a month) vs $500-$1000 dollar secured cards ( sorry family no food for anyone for the next 4- 8 weeks)
you can get a secured card for as little as 200 for fully secured or some people get cap one for 49 or 99 with a 200 dollar limit. When you close your secured card you get your money back think of it as a savings account. That 8 dollars every month your not going to see any of it back. how much was the anuall fee for credit one?
The $8 is the annual fee.. you just pay it monthly.. And again not eveyone has the ability to pay that much in on shot for secured card.. And if somone is rebuilding and wants to open 2-4 cards that is a big chunk of change..
I was looking at first premier banks site its like 95 for a processing fee. 75 dollars for the first year anuall fee. then 45 after that plus 6.25 servicing fee every month after the first year. So if you have the card open for two years thats 290 dollars. A cap one secured card for two years would cost you 258 but you get 200 back. Then i went to credit ones site its 75 for the first year then 8.25 a month after that. So thats 174 dollars gone after two years.
By your logic, someone should wait 2 years to open a secured card instead of paying the fees and starting to rebuild. Yes, we get it, you pay more with a card like CreditOne. Your choices may not be the same choices as others.

I think the biggest point here is that a lot of people don't have $200-$1,000 to put down for a secured card, no matter if they get it back or not. It is just like financing something. It's not like CreditOne or First Premier is a lifelong card....
if you cant save 50 dollars a month and wait 4 months i dont think you should be getting any credit card.
So no credit scores for poor people? Why stop there? How about no mortgages is you can't put down %20? Or no unsecured credit cards if you don't have a 700 fico score?

Ive never seen someone get so defensive over 50 dollars. How can you compare it to a down payment on a mortgage? thats kinda sad to be honest.

Re: Matrix makes it impossible to have a $0 balance.....

fot1 — Sat, 22 Mar 2014 22:46:13 GMT

@bigblue7722 wrote:
@fot1 wrote:
@bigblue7722 wrote:
@azguy13 wrote:
@bigblue7722 wrote:
@fot1 wrote:
@bigblue7722 wrote:
@fot1 wrote:
@bigblue7722 wrote:
I dont understand why anyone would get a card with a monthly fee. Your much better off saving a little money up and getting a secured card.
It is simple eveyone has different, needs and means. For me the choice of a Credit one card was a lot better then a secured card. It was quite easy to manage an 8 dollar monthly payment( skip one fast food lunch a month) vs $500-$1000 dollar secured cards ( sorry family no food for anyone for the next 4- 8 weeks)
you can get a secured card for as little as 200 for fully secured or some people get cap one for 49 or 99 with a 200 dollar limit. When you close your secured card you get your money back think of it as a savings account. That 8 dollars every month your not going to see any of it back. how much was the anuall fee for credit one?
The $8 is the annual fee.. you just pay it monthly.. And again not eveyone has the ability to pay that much in on shot for secured card.. And if somone is rebuilding and wants to open 2-4 cards that is a big chunk of change..
I was looking at first premier banks site its like 95 for a processing fee. 75 dollars for the first year anuall fee. then 45 after that plus 6.25 servicing fee every month after the first year. So if you have the card open for two years thats 290 dollars. A cap one secured card for two years would cost you 258 but you get 200 back. Then i went to credit ones site its 75 for the first year then 8.25 a month after that. So thats 174 dollars gone after two years.
By your logic, someone should wait 2 years to open a secured card instead of paying the fees and starting to rebuild. Yes, we get it, you pay more with a card like CreditOne. Your choices may not be the same choices as others.

I think the biggest point here is that a lot of people don't have $200-$1,000 to put down for a secured card, no matter if they get it back or not. It is just like financing something. It's not like CreditOne or First Premier is a lifelong card....
if you cant save 50 dollars a month and wait 4 months i dont think you should be getting any credit card.
So no credit scores for poor people? Why stop there? How about no mortgages is you can't put down %20? Or no unsecured credit cards if you don't have a 700 fico score?
Ive never seen someone get so defensive over 50 dollars. How can you compare it to a down payment on a mortgage? thats kinda sad to be honest.

Actually a lot of people feel that way about %20 down for mortgage.. And i am not defensive.. just trying to show the other side of the coin..

Re: Matrix makes it impossible to have a $0 balance.....

mrgoattoo — Sat, 22 Mar 2014 23:11:28 GMT

"if you cant save 50 dollars a month and wait 4 months i dont think you should be getting any credit card."

Thats sort of what was going thru the back of my mind while reading.

If I ever NEED my credit cards Im cutting them up immediately. We use them for convenience and for a little protection when we buy online.

One thing I did find out when I was in my previous marriage is that credit cards can be dangerous if you NEED them because you dont have enough cash to get what you want anyway. Theres little that we normally buy with a CC that we couldnt just pay cash for. I did get my car loan on my citibank two years ago, but that was just so I could get 0% APR and not take a hard pull on my CR.

If I were rebuilding credit now and couldnt just pay out a couple hundred for a secured card I honestly think I'd question whether I should get one at all for fear of 'needing' it at some point and getting back into trouble with it.