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Hi, I received a pre approved offer in the mail for a merrick bank visa with only 1200 cl and after 6 payments they automatically double limit. It says there is no annual fee. Forgive me for being ignorant but I ' know much about Merrick Bank or their products. Does anyone have this card and if so what do you think of it?
Yes. Started out with $1100 and offer to double it to $2200 in 7 months. It is an ok card if you have a credit score in the 600's and don't qualify for the rewards cards at other banks yet.
What are your scores and what other cards are on your bureaus?
700 tu/705 experian/685 equifax. I defaulted on cc with citi, am ex and chase back in 2007 so they are all cahrged off now on my credit reports. Making improvements from mistajes I made in past. I have a secured cap one mc, quicksilver visa and mastercard, barclays rewards mc, discover it student, fnbo am ex,total rewards visa, target store card and walmart store card. 8 inquiries each on all 3 cra. Thanks to these boards went on spree the past couple months. not sure if I want to go to garden but I think i need to.LOL
@Anonymous wrote:700 tu/705 experian/685 equifax. I defaulted on cc with citi, am ex and chase back in 2007 so they are all cahrged off now on my credit reports. Making improvements from mistajes I made in past. I have a secured cap one mc, quicksilver visa and mastercard, barclays rewards mc, discover it student, fnbo am ex,total rewards visa, target store card and walmart store card. 8 inquiries each on all 3 cra. Thanks to these boards went on spree the past couple months. not sure if I want to go to garden but I think i need to.LOL
We all make mistakes. If I were in your shoes, I'd garden as you have some good cards to really build on. Yes, it is a pre-approval but be aware all pre-approvals do not result in approvals. They are often marketing techniques to entices you to bite.
Garden your current cards and work on cleaning your reports and you will be in the drivers seat when it comes to cards...
Merricks Pre-Approvals are solid.. Had one, granted by the time it doubled I alread pretty much outgrew it, so all in all it is a no thrills CC, but I think you are well on your way to getting good cards again, but if you want the available credit then go for it if nothing really changed in your TU report you will be approved. They are invite only for non-secured. I agree it is marketing, but very targeted.
So you gotta sk yourself do you think you will need this card in 7-12 months down the line? I cancelled mine after 13 months. The APR is pretty nasty as well, but if you PIF then not a worry. Just food for thought
IMO if your ficos are in the 700's you probably already outgrown this card. it is meant for the 620ish crowd.
Edit #2: also read you above post about cards you have, you have deffinetly outgrown them if you are with Barclay's, FNBO, etc.
@Anonymous wrote:Hi, I received a pre approved offer in the mail for a merrick bank visa with only 1200 cl and after 6 payments they automatically double limit. It says there is no annual fee. Forgive me for being ignorant but I ' know much about Merrick Bank or their products. Does anyone have this card and if so what do you think of it?
I have it. Started at $1250 and, as promised, doubled to $2500. No annual fee, but it also has no rewards. It's getting nuked after my next apps.
If I were in your shoes, I wouldn't do it! My DH has had the merrick card for 2 years. It was his first card after his BK so it served a purpose. He gets a $100 increase every 6 months. The main problem is they refuse to charge an annual fee once a year. They charge $3 a month. It is a pain in the you know what. He has called and they refuse to change it. Their response has been, it is how we bill it and it is in our terms of agreement. On one of those calls, he asked for an increase and they told him that they do auto increases every 6 months. He will get another increase in "x" months". He literally laughed. He has other big limit cards and doesn't need the Merrick any more. He is waiting until after we buy a house to close it out.
I got mine in December. As Credit Curiosity mentioned, they are invite only for unsecured (you can't go to their s website and just apply.) So, unless something drastically changed in your report, it's about as close to a sure thing as you can get with CC approvals.
Based on your scores and recent cards, I don't think you need this one. While it will serve a purpose for me right now, you've already hit the milestones. There are no rewards, and by all accounts I've read, they are slow to grow because CLIs, while somewhat frequent, are small (however, I can't fully confirm this, as I'm still in my first few months, and my line had not doubled.) I might be wrong, but I believe their cards cap out at around 3k or 5k. It won't ever have the distinction of being your highest limit card (well, maybe, but it will be quickly overtaken by another card, I'm sure.)
I suppose you could get it for utilization purposes, if you're nervous about apping elsewhere due to your inquires, but honestly, I think you could get yourself a card that will give you more benefit if you're really itchy to app.
Another thing to consider: they are somewhat slow to post transactions (purchases and payments.) It's not unusual for it to take 3 or 4 days, and I know it's not the merchants being slow to process batches. And their website, while serviceable, is a little archaic. No whistles and bells there.
One good thing is you get your FICO8 score, though I can't figure out which one. I get the 3 score monitoring here, and the Merrick FICO doesn't match any iteration of the ones here since I've subscribed.
I agree with the other posters that with your scores you shouldn't get this cards. I've had this card since August, score in the high 500's to low 600's and got the pre-approved letter for a guaranteed $700 starting limit that would double at 7 months, well it did double at the beiginning at this month but nothing special about this card. I just use it to make small purchases and PIF to show usage. Mine came with an annual fee only of $48, once the times comes for the annual fee I'll call and see if it can be waived, which doesn't seem possibe, if not I'll close it since it won't serve me any good now that 3 Synchrony accounts have a limit of $3500 each.