@Anonymous wrote:
Could be a glich - maybe the suggested pre-qualified card wasn't the appropriate one for your credit profile. Another possibilty is the information you entered couldn't be fully verified (name variant, address match issue, wrong / old phone number, have moved in past 2 years, etc). I wouldn't interpret the message as a denial, but rather a try again with the mailer.
As for all the disparaging (think that's spelled right; why doesn't this forum have spell-check?) comments about Credit One. It's not a bad card for what it is - a rebuilder for those with poor to bad credit.
The annual fee is pricey, but not totally out of sight, considering the risk they're taking. The max interest rate is currently 23.99%, which while high, isn't that far out of what other better cards also charge. More to the point, Credit One is far better than First Premier, which charges an application fee of up to $95 before one can even get the card, and then up to another $75 on top of that and up to 36% interest. Credit One has no application fee and max rate is currently around 23.99%.
While there are many credit card choices, there are virtually no unsecured cards options for someone with FICO scores of 507-513 at all three bureaus...
Credit One is working fine for me; no problems, and doing the job along with Fingerhut (regular acct, not a Freshstart; surprised the heck of out of me) - my scores are steadily rising, though still a long way to go before I can get much else other than a secured card, which I likely will soon. SCT isn't working for me - I try frequently at HSN and Overstock, but know it's likely just a waste of time until more baddies fall off and new cc history builds.
If you already have any unsecured revolving cards and/or FICOs above say 580-600, skip Credit One. Try for something better - visit Capital One pre-approval page and give that a go, if you haven't already.
You are right in the sense that it is a card geared to those with lower scores, allowing people who might not otherwise qualify to obtain unsecured credit. It can be a manageable card, as long as you know what you're getting into, and have the time/patience to babysit the card.
The biggest marks against it are the annual fees/high APR, and the inability to pay on it more than 4 times in a time period (I can't recall if it's a rolling 30 days, or in a billing cycle.) That second item makes it a particularly bad card because it impedes your ability to run a lot of spend through it and pay in full multiple times before the statement cuts, and thus grow it (justifying CLI requests, which, IIRC, you have to PAY for, though I admit I might be confusing it with FP.)
The other reason the limit on number of payments you can make is bad is that Credit One offers NO grace period - interest begins accruing the second you make the purchase. I know of no other card that does that; the only time I've heard of that happening on a major CC is when you take out a cash advance. The only way to mitigate the interest is to pay early and often. Limiting how often you can pay ensures they will squeeze every possible cent from you.
The good feeling of an unsecured approval may sound alluring, but, is the cost worth it? That's a decision each consumer must make for themselves, but for me personally, I don't think I'd find it worthwhile.
There are still products out there that are smarter choices for rebuilders. Secured cards, while not as "prestigious," get the job done, and Capital One's secured card offers only a partial deposit in some cases (I paid $50 for my $200 limit.) And, with responsible use, they will also offer unsecured increases (my card is now at $600.) It's slow, and not much, but it did open other doors for me, qualifying me for other Capital One cards in less than a year. (The downside is their secured cards don't graduate, and although you'll quickly qualify for their unsecured cards, you'll have to apply and spend the triple pull.)
Other secured offerings (Wells Fargo, BoA) do require full funding, but these products I do know offer a chance for graduation, in about a year for both I believe. If funding the deposit on a secured card is a struggle, then it might just yet be a little soon in the building journey to go for a card (I do not mean that judgementally, I speak with some modicum of experience on this point - if $300 - $500 is going to throw your finances so out of whack, then it's going to be very easy to rely on that card as float, and not use it as responsibly as you should, and caring a balance. This is what I did at first, and luckily, nothing major happened to me that prevented me from quickly paying it down when I finally learned and started thinking critically about credit. But, if that deposit is a struggle, you're really better served building an ER fund to cover contingencies, and then getting a secured card.)
