Another Love BoA Thread

[Anonymous]

Thanks!

I am happy that I read this thread. Had passed it over several times.  I just was not a BOA fan when I had the card years ago.  But back then, credit was prestine and I had my choice of cards so I could close whatever cards I thought I did not need.  Especially with bankruptcy sitting on my CRS for another 5 years, going with the secured BOA even if it is fully secured, sounds like the best way to eventually get some quality cards with good rates.

I am planning to close Orchard in August, $400.00 limit with a $79.00 annual fee. Other than that I have 2 other no annual fee HSBC cards, one Visa from my CU and one Capital One Visa $1000 CL with $29.00 annual fee.

Perhaps I will wait until the fall when I am able to put down a greater deposit than 3 or 500.00 to secure the card.  Do you think that will matter, having a $2000.00 secured line vs. just a 3 or 500.00 line or should I  just save my money and let time work for me.

Message Edited by Changingmantra on 05-11-2008 05:14 PM

[Anonymous]

Hi again CM,

It doesn't matter if you start with $300 or $10,000.

What matters most is your payment history and keeping

your overall utilization very very low.

Always pay early....worst case, on time. Do that

and all of BofA's doors will be opened to you.

Just start where you feel most comfortable. But get started.

CanDo

"The right attitude is everything"

[Anonymous]

Great points.  I have gotten 11 new accounts this year, 6 of them being store cards from GEMB.  Most accounts are not even a month old, the oldest are just 4 months old.  I am making my payments early and keeping my utilization low.  My scores have improved because of it.  Of course, I have taken some inquiries score drop hits, but I think the new TLs have helped more than the inquiries have hurt.   I will wait a few months and let the new TLs work for me.  I expect to be above 670 on all of my FICOS before the end of the year.  By then all revolving accounts will be at $0 balance.   Then I will get started on BOA.

  I am quite excited since, although I am happy with the HSBC cards, I have been reading that it is very difficult to get them to grow with you.  So a few months secured to get to great CLIs in a year or two is definately worth the inquiry and a few hundred bux.

Your help is much appreciated! 

[Anonymous]

---

@Anonymous wrote:

Hi fevmlo,

First of all, Welcome to the States!

Secondly, as a longtime customer of BofA (10+ years)

I must agree that their customer service and willingness

to go the extra mile without asking is very refreshing these

days.

Thirdly, your testimonial is the exact opposite of some of the

negative press BofA has endured recently. Just as they took initiative

to raise your hubby's credit card limits, they also have not hesitated

to lower or eliminate home equity lines of credit when the situation

dictated. What BofA giveth, they also taketh away.

And lastly, it must have felt nice to pay down your husband's

balance after converting your super-strong GBP's to US Dollars!

It's nice to see someone getting extra mileage from the greenback these days...

Thanks again for sharing your story. Enjoy the weekend!

CanDo

"The right attitude is everything"

---

Thank you for the welcome!! You can't imagine how happy I (still) am, after several years of plotting & scheming to get the two of us actually living on the same continent, to be here!

Credit-wise, for me, it's weird... at the age of 32, and having had endless amounts of time to read up on this stuff, it's like getting to start again from year zero (which, I guess, it is) armed with knowledge your average teenager/college-aged kid has little clue about. The massive importance placed on credit history etc here is MUCH greater than in the UK, but it's good to start the whole thing off without the whole 'a store is offering me free money to buy their clothes? WOOHOO!' card-maxing attitude that might blight the average fledgeling credit history (yeah, mine in the UK included).

Anyway... everything you've said about BoA's habit of reducing limits, etc, is EXACTLY in line with the stuff I've read that makes me so wary of them 'in general' - obviously closing someone's HELOC would be infinitely worse than merely lowering my husband's CL, but that is what I honestly expected them to do after we paid it off... the fact they've kept increasing the limit (and now reduced the interest limit unasked) came as a VERY nice surprise indeed! I'm glad I know we need to play very carefully with these people (especially in the economic climate right now), but still, it's nice when they DO take actions that are the opposite of the nasty 'adverse' kind!

As for the paying-off-the-credit-card, yep, after seeing the horrible minimum payment/huge interest/minimum payment vicious circle that had been going on, that felt VERY good, despite the considerable savings-depletion involved! Took me a while to get him to see the point of it (i.e. not feeling bad and that I was 'bailing him out' - ridding ourselves of a nasty monthly CC payment was very definitely a good thing 'for us', it just made sense !), and not feel like I was 'wasting' money, but a year later, it's definitely made a difference. And as for the exchange rate... well, let's just say that historically I've not been that great at the saving money game, but found that the "two dollars to the pound, two dollars to the pound!" mantra going through my head for the 6-12 months before I moved here was a HUGE incentive in convincing me to squirrel away every last penny I could possibly manage!

OK, thread-hijack OVER, I promise... but thanks loads for the welcome - I love this forum, and have learned SO much since I first discovered it!

[nicemann]

No kidding.  I learned tons from this forum.  Two months ago when I signed up I would not have even dreamed about buying a house.  Now I signed the papers on Friday and loan should fund Monday or Tuesday.  So I can move in very soon.  Thank you FICO Gods and all of the angels that are posting here to help educate everyone!

[Anonymous]

Super Congrats nicemann!

It feels good to own a piece of Americana, doesn't it?

It's easy to win the game when you understand the rules. I'm so

thrilled that our collective knowledge played a role in helping you

achieve home ownership. From now on starting next week, whenever

you come home after work you can say to yourself, "This is MY house!"

Congratulations once again, nicemann!

CanDo

"The right attitude is everything"