@NonSufficientFunds wrote:My participation with this site has introduced me to some extremely valuable bits of knowledge, which in turn, has helped raise my own FICO scores from the low 600s to the high 700s in less than two years. And I am grateful.
Recently, my brother (who is, what we might consider "credit naive"), recieved a pre-approved offer from CreditOne for a $300 credit card.
He submitted the application and was approved - and is now the holder of a CreditOne credit card - with all of it's attendant usurious fees, charges, and traps.
At the time, he believed that this was a legitimate subsidiary of CapitalOne - after all, the name and even the company logos are nearly identical, and the credit offers from both companies arrived within two days of eachother.
I explained that, since he has already taken the inquiry hit, and is now officially in-debt to CreditOne, that he might as well keep the card for a year (but not actually use it), and allow them to report a positive history, regardless of the stupid monthly fees.
After a few months of positive reporting, he will qualify for a real credit card, and can dump the CreditOne account.
I am so outraged that such a bullsh!!t company like "CreditOne" is able trick people into thinking that they are dealing with a real company like CapitalOne (even down to mimicking the appearance of the logo and mailings).
Is there any other option for someone who has innocently fallen into their trap, other than to do as I have suggested above ??
Yeah a lot of people fall into that trap 
it's so sad
yes really sad....I tried to see what would happen on their pre approval site with a score close to 800 and this was my very first denial letter I ever received....ha ha...but wanted to trigger my EX score only and this worked..
@longtimelurker wrote:I would close it. A single HP hit is much less important than a year of terrible fees. Close the card and get a secured one if need be.
+1 i guess I will never understand someone who would even do business with Credit One as they are owned by a CA (Sherman Financial Group, LLC)
@NonSufficientFunds wrote:My participation with this site has introduced me to some extremely valuable bits of knowledge, which in turn, has helped raise my own FICO scores from the low 600s to the high 700s in less than two years. And I am grateful.
Recently, my brother (who is, what we might consider "credit naive"), recieved a pre-approved offer from CreditOne for a $300 credit card.
He submitted the application and was approved - and is now the holder of a CreditOne credit card - with all of it's attendant usurious fees, charges, and traps.
At the time, he believed that this was a legitimate subsidiary of CapitalOne - after all, the name and even the company logos are nearly identical, and the credit offers from both companies arrived within two days of eachother.
I explained that, since he has already taken the inquiry hit, and is now officially in-debt to CreditOne, that he might as well keep the card for a year (but not actually use it), and allow them to report a positive history, regardless of the stupid monthly fees.
After a few months of positive reporting, he will qualify for a real credit card, and can dump the CreditOne account.
I am so outraged that such a bullsh!!t company like "CreditOne" is able trick people into thinking that they are dealing with a real company like CapitalOne (even down to mimicking the appearance of the logo and mailings).
Is there any other option for someone who has innocently fallen into their trap, other than to do as I have suggested above ??
Before I found myFICO, I would have sworn that Credit One was a Capital One subsidiary of some sort. It is really unfair to those starting to rebuild.
