topic Re: Orchard Rant in General Credit Topics

Orchard Rant

Tuscani — Sat, 07 Jul 2007 00:56:22 GMT

I debated posting this thread considering I have had nothing but good things to say about Orchard. Like many sub-prime cards, the atrocious fees are nothing out of the norm. It's fair to say that any or all of the following fees are to be expected:

- Annual Fee

- Monthly Fee

- Processing Fee

- Over the limit Fee

- Late payment Fee

- CLI Fee

- BT Fee

Now, with that said I feel Orchard has recently crossed the line. My brother decided to close his Orchard card a few months ago since he now has several prime cards. No need to pay a $49 annual fee that Orchard won't waive. This month he gets an alert that a late payment has been added to his reports. Since he is an educated brother of a credit freak, how could this be??

He calls me in panic insisting that he closed the account (keep in mind the card has had a $0 balance for several months). Sure enough, the late is from HSBC. He called HSBC looking for answers. Unbenounced to him, Orchard charged a closed account fee but never billed him (so he says). Maybe one of those "lost in the mail" deals. The monies owed are $2.50 for the closed account fee and a $29 late payment fee. Orchard waived the late fee and agreed to delete the derog from his reports. But he still had to pay the $2.50.

Always remember to read your terms for hidden fees like this!

- Tusc

Re: Orchard Rant

Anonymous — Sat, 07 Jul 2007 01:19:40 GMT

Jeepers! One of my first cards for establishing credit was Orchard that was opened back in 1999 and I still have just for the history but don't use. I've never had to pay any fees and they cli automatically throughout the years. What type of Orchard card was this?

Re: Orchard Rant

Neblett — Sat, 07 Jul 2007 01:26:14 GMT

This is exactly why I HATE Orchard, and they are at the bottom of my list to pay/PFD. They get their money DEAD LAST.

They wouldn't let me close my account, and they kept charging me late fees, and when the late fees took me over my limit, they charged me monthly over-the-limit fees, until I just ignored it long enough that they charged it off and stopped adding fees. I asked them, and they said that was the only way they would stop adding those fees.

Hate 'em.

Re: Orchard Rant

Anonymous — Sat, 07 Jul 2007 01:56:57 GMT

Neblett,

Wow. I plan on closing mine out sometime next year but for now I keep it just for the history since it was one of my first starter cards so many years ago. I've never had any problems with them and they've been super nice to me so I hope they don't give me any drama when I do close it out. What do you mean when you say they wouldn't let you close it out?

Re: Orchard Rant

Anonymous — Sat, 07 Jul 2007 02:03:03 GMT

Orchard puts out a rather broad spectrum of cards from the "stinkeroos" that charge Statement Viewing and Envelope Opening fees to some decently respectable near-prime cards with $29 annual fees. So Orchard is definitely an example of "YMMV".

Re: Orchard Rant

SoulSmilen — Sat, 07 Jul 2007 02:26:53 GMT

TheNewWorldMan wrote:
Orchard puts out a rather broad spectrum of cards from the "stinkeroos" that charge Statement Viewing and Envelope Opening fees to some decently respectable near-prime cards with $29 annual fees. So Orchard is definitely an example of "YMMV".

Yup, all I have is the $29 annual fee.

Re: Orchard Rant

Anonymous — Sat, 07 Jul 2007 05:11:39 GMT

There's a place for companies like Orchard, and I don't mean federal prison.

Oh wait, here it is.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Divine_Comedy#The_Circles_of_Hell

Ninth Circle. Traitors, distinguished from the "merely" fraudulent in that their acts involve betraying one in a special relationship to the betrayer, are frozen in a lake of ice known as Cocytus.

Re: Orchard Rant

Anonymous — Sat, 07 Jul 2007 05:22:55 GMT

i was approved for the platnium card with them

Re: Orchard Rant

smallfry — Sat, 07 Jul 2007 06:30:42 GMT

Thanks for the heads up Tuscani. I imagine once you close the card you can't log in to see the closing fee if there was one. Slick.

Re: Orchard Rant

SmartCookie — Sat, 07 Jul 2007 07:10:23 GMT

TheNewWorldMan wrote:
Orchard puts out a rather broad spectrum of cards from the "stinkeroos" that charge Statement Viewing and Envelope Opening fees to some decently respectable near-prime cards with $29 annual fees. So Orchard is definitely an example of "YMMV".

After reading this, I'd be scared to test drive.

Re: Orchard Rant

Anonymous — Sat, 07 Jul 2007 08:05:18 GMT

Believe it or not, Orchard has at least one CC with a standard of approval (705 FICO) that would make it a prime CC. However, 15.99% APR ain't all that much to get jazzed over.

http://www.financeglobe.com/Finance/index.php?p=getitem&db_id=33&item_id=785

Re: Orchard Rant

Anonymous — Sat, 07 Jul 2007 09:02:00 GMT

Why I hate Orchard? Or any HSBC, really.

Stupid two days for a standard payment and a rush charge for a same-day payment.

Uhh, why not offer ONLY free payments like the rest of the world?

Re: Orchard Rant

Anonymous — Sat, 07 Jul 2007 14:15:37 GMT

**bleep** so are their cards really that bad?

Re: Orchard Rant

Tuscani — Sat, 07 Jul 2007 14:21:29 GMT

Remember, I created this thread to help educate. It's not my intent to influence people away from Orchard. Orchard has helped many out of sub-prime hell. Like I said, the same situation could apply to any card.

Bottom line: KNOW YOUR TERMS

Re: Orchard Rant

Anonymous — Sat, 07 Jul 2007 14:56:03 GMT

Tuscani wrote:
Remember, I created this thread to help educate. It's not my intent to influence people away from Orchard. Orchard has helped many out of sub-prime hell. Like I said, the same situation could apply to any card.

Bottom line: KNOW YOUR TERMS

okay, well i know my terms the interest rate is a lot better than what ive been offered and i only have an annual fee. I dont like this payment thing where you have to pay for same day payment though that i really dont like. I was approved with a small CL of $300, its a start. Are they pretty good with reporting and everything? Because as i know it takes time to rebuild or build up your scoore i need mine to increase by as much as soon as possible :/

Re: Orchard Rant

Anonymous — Sat, 07 Jul 2007 15:35:12 GMT

Yes, Orchard is a great sub-prime card IF YOU PAY ATTENTION TO IT. Read the legal mumbo-jumbo carefully, never be late with a payment, and just monitor it closely. I started with a $200 CL and $79 AF back in the day and by the time I paid it off the CL was up to $1900 and AF was $29. Granted, they rate-jacked me to 27.99 APR and they added this stupid fee when I closed it but hadn't paid it off:

CLOSED ACCT SERVICE FEE FINANCE CHARGE

Transaction Date 12/14/2006

Post Date 12/15/2006

Transaction Amount $3.50

Fortunately, I am now in the 680 range and I can kiss off Orchard (hopefully) FOREVER

Re: Orchard Rant

Anonymous — Sat, 07 Jul 2007 17:42:56 GMT

Phouchg wrote:
Yes, Orchard is a great sub-prime card IF YOU PAY ATTENTION TO IT. Read the legal mumbo-jumbo carefully, never be late with a payment, and just monitor it closely. I started with a $200 CL and $79 AF back in the day and by the time I paid it off the CL was up to $1900 and AF was $29. Granted, they rate-jacked me to 27.99 APR and they added this stupid fee when I closed it but hadn't paid it off:

CLOSED ACCT SERVICE FEE FINANCE CHARGE
Transaction Date 12/14/2006
Post Date 12/15/2006
Transaction Amount $3.50

Fortunately, I am now in the 680 range and I can kiss off Orchard (hopefully) FOREVER

did that go to colletion over 3.50?

Re: Orchard Rant

Anonymous — Sat, 07 Jul 2007 19:33:43 GMT

Avoid their SECURED card. Do not apply for it. Tuscani is familiar with my rants about Orchard Bank.

Here's my history with them:

19 months, perfect pay, never over-limit, never late. I made about 20 requests for an increase in my credit line. Denied! My fico went from 525 to 605 while with them...still no cli. After poking around on this site I discovered no one who has had their secured card has EVER had a cli on the secured card and no one had EVER been graduated to an unsecured card. This is in contrast to what their customer service people told me every time I called for a CLI.

They then increased my APR to 30%. But I was never late on ANY of my credit cards nor did my balances on those cards increase. I called and was referred to the "because we can" clause.

So I cancelled on May 15, 2007. Their terms say my secured amount ($200) would be returned within 30 days. I called every day from June 16-26 demanding my check. June 27 I called again and told them that I was going to take them to small claims court (even though every card has an arbitration clause, they would still have to answer a Complaint, and this alone would cost hundreds of dollars)

Two days later I got my check.

They're terrible (the secured card, at least).

Re: Orchard Rant

Anonymous — Sat, 07 Jul 2007 20:07:18 GMT

Key thing to look for in any CC offer is the table where by federal law ALL fees and terms must be disclosed. They can bend the truth and glitz the rest of the offer letter up, even tell you their card will give you whiter teeth, but that's the one section where they MUST come clean with all fees and rates. Nothing else matters except that section.

Re: Orchard Rant

Anonymous — Sat, 07 Jul 2007 20:21:51 GMT

wow im starting to think this is one of those cards i may not use much at all