topic Re: Should I activate the CreditOne Card in Rebuilding Your Credit

Should I activate the CreditOne Card

Anonymous — Fri, 12 Jul 2013 17:03:22 GMT

Hello all!

Quick question, my BK7 was discharged on 6/20/13. I have pulled reports and verified all is reporting correctly.

I applied and received a CAPONE Secured card with $49 deposit and $200 CL and bumped it to 300 with a deposit.

Also approved for a CreditONE 300 CL and Cap One Quicksilver 500 CL.

Should I activate this CreditOne card or cancel it (can i even cancel it)?

Thanks

Re: Should I activate the CreditOne Card

rckstrscott — Fri, 12 Jul 2013 17:08:56 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Hello all!
Quick question, my BK7 was discharged on 6/20/13. I have pulled reports and verified all is reporting correctly.
I applied and received a CAPONE Secured card with $49 deposit and $200 CL and bumped it to 300 with a deposit.
Also approved for a CreditONE 300 CL and Cap One Quicksilver 500 CL.

Should I activate this CreditOne card or cancel it (can i even cancel it)?

Thanks
_M

Credit One is a rebuilder / no credit kind of card.. I had one. Had no issues with at all -- steep annual fee, like 79 bucks.

I closed it when I didn't need it. Got some limit increases as I went (had to pay 20 bucks lol)

They are a nickel and dimer, but they reports faithfully every month and they have a visa/MC logo

-scott

Re: Should I activate the CreditOne Card

Anonymous — Fri, 12 Jul 2013 17:19:54 GMT

So I guess if i can put up with the fees its not a bad thing to have?

-Mark

Re: Should I activate the CreditOne Card

Anonymous — Fri, 12 Jul 2013 17:25:34 GMT

I received a pre-approval letter from CreditOne in the mail today. I read the annual fee and interest information and immediately shredded the notice. The fees are outrageous. How long have you had the CapOne cards?

My advice would be to let the CapOne cards age a little. There are many more folks on here that have greater knowledge about rebuilding credit than I do so they may also chime in. Rebuilding your credit takes time and if your CreditOne fees were as steep as mine, then you are better off avoiding that one.

Re: Should I activate the CreditOne Card

Anonymous — Fri, 12 Jul 2013 17:32:11 GMT

I had a capital one card for many years with no lates and closed it prior to my divorce a few years ago.

I got the secured cap one in may before discharge and was just approved today for the cap one quicksilver rewards card

So if I dont activate the creditone what happens?

Re: Should I activate the CreditOne Card

Anonymous — Fri, 12 Jul 2013 17:42:14 GMT

I would call CreditOne and find out what they have to say about not activating the card.

Re: Should I activate the CreditOne Card

Anonymous — Fri, 12 Jul 2013 18:02:46 GMT

Creditone says i have 14 days to activate or the card is automaticly closed...

Just not sure if i should keep this card.

Will my two cap one cards be enough to get me started on rebuilding?

Re: Should I activate the CreditOne Card

Countingpennies — Fri, 12 Jul 2013 18:13:40 GMT

The CreditOne card charges fees every month whether you use the card or not. Since you have CapOne cards, I would cancel the CreditOne. If you do cancel the card before activating, make sure there are no charges on it already. It has happened to others.

Re: Should I activate the CreditOne Card

RobertEG — Fri, 12 Jul 2013 18:23:35 GMT

The account is legally open, and thus reportable, as of the date they approved the credit.

Activation is a business measure related to ensuring the consumer received the card. Failure to activate does not equate with no open, reportable account.

They may choose not to report if the card is not activated and they close it, but are not precluded from doing so.

Re: Should I activate the CreditOne Card

Anonymous — Fri, 12 Jul 2013 18:43:28 GMT

Oh the confusion!

I spoke to a creditone rep they there would be no charges if i didnt activate! hey it could get lost in the mail right?!

Anyway i wont activate and ensure there are no charges. I never thought that cap one would approve a non secured card it wasnt an option when i applied for it.

But after the first month of using it my scores sky rocketed just wish i would have tried the cap on again instead of credit one

Wish me luck

EDIT

Robert so do you think it would be bad to not activate and have this shown as opened and then closed if thats what happens?

-Mark

Re: Should I activate the CreditOne Card

Anonymous — Fri, 12 Jul 2013 20:41:46 GMT

When it comes to stuff as important as this: NEVER take anybody's word for it - look at your documentation.

First, take a look at your Credit One agreement. Since you have not activated the card yet, keep this in mind:

"You may still reject this plan, provided that you have not yet used the account or paid a fee after receiving a billing statement. If you do reject the plan, you are not responsible for any fees or charges".

In other words, you've applied for the card, got approved for the card (and reasonable to assume Credit One has an account made up for you and has or is in the process of reporting the account to the credit bureaus) and you shall receive the card.

Obviously don't activate it. By not activating it, you're "rejecting the plan".

But don't leave it at that. You'd be a great fool to think that just by not activating it, everything is going to go according to plan.

See Section 21: Termination of Account: "This Account may be terminated by you at any time by giving notice in writing to Credit One Bank..."

Don't activate the card.

Photocopy the card, keep it for your records and:

1. Certified letter sent to Credit One advising them that their card is being returned to them, that you did not activate the card (thus "rejecting the plan"), did not use the card in any and wish to CLOSE the account immediately. Obviously request written confirmation that this has/will be done.

After that, you're in the clear regardless of what happens.

Don't take this stuff lightly and put a little effort into making sure things are done correctly.

As an aside: looking at your scores, beggers can't be choosers. Rebuilding credit is a challenge and in some cases you should be prepared to pay for the process. If that means getting some crappy card with high fees, then consider those fees "payment" as part of the process of establishing a credit history. Yes, I have this card (started at $300 limit, then gave me a $150 increase four months after opening the card - CLI didn't cost me anything) and it's helping me. After a year I will dump this Credit One card so as to avoid the high annual fee.

Thus, I totally disagree with everybody here who says you should dump this card. My vote is to activate it and use it. Get what you can out of it and stop worrying about the fees and interest. Otherwise, read your paperwork and do everything by the book so that you are SURE this card will not come back to haunt you later...Good luck!

Re: Should I activate the CreditOne Card

Anonymous — Sat, 13 Jul 2013 13:09:46 GMT

Thank You!!

I will activate this card and use for 11 months and cancel to avoid another large fee

Mark

Re: Should I activate the CreditOne Card

Anonymous — Sat, 13 Jul 2013 13:35:19 GMT

Whether you activate the card or not, it will still report to the credit bureau. If you recall, when you applied for the card, it told you what the rate would be, the annual fees, yada yada yada, so there's no "rejecting" this card because you knew what you were applying for when you hit submit. It's not the creditors problem if you are now having second thoughts about the card.

The information was disclosed to you prior to being approved. It will just show open and closed with a zero balance and reported for 1 month.

Re: Should I activate the CreditOne Card

Anonymous — Sat, 13 Jul 2013 13:43:04 GMT

got it thanks...

Re: Should I activate the CreditOne Card

tld409 — Sat, 13 Jul 2013 19:39:32 GMT

I would recommend not activating Credit One. I believe interest is charged starting the day of a purchase. In other words, there isn't a 'grace period' like your cap one cards will have. Stick with your 2 cap one cards and within 6 months, you should be able to receive limit increases. Just use capone cards regularly and only leave around 9% or less on one of tthe cards monthly so that it post on your reports. This will help improve your credit score quicker than having credit one in your profile. I then would suggest joining a good credit union and applying for one of their cards once your scores are in the mid 600's.

Re: Should I activate the CreditOne Card

Anonymous — Sat, 13 Jul 2013 20:58:01 GMT

ive had one for 6 months now. I'm in the rebuilding phase, of my credit carrer too(lol)! they are a decent enough company. the fees are high but like most other people have said the report faithfully. start with a 300 limit...and get regular increases....which you have to pay for(nickel and dime)! If you need the credit for something use it.....but if not then try to keep the balance low and the reason you get charged every month is they split the annual fee up for you....not just charge you for no reason. If you pay the fee up front =no charges each month. activate it use it then dump it later! thats what im doin with it....i needed brakes for the car so when that is paid it will be dumped.....better than a small installment loan on the credit.