Impatience

[Anonymous]

So about a week or so ago, I got impatient, and bored, and decided that since I have no real/open revolving credit (unless you count the Cap1 charge off that still figures into my utl) I should bite the bullet and get a secured card. 

Being a BofA customer for almost 3 years I applied for a regular card with them hoping to get the 99/500 offer.  I didn't, in fact, it didn't even offer me the regular secured card.  I got pretty annoyed to say the least, so I app'd for one against my better judgement with Orchard (only put $200 down because I really don't want to put a lot into them).  I know they won't grow with me but it seemed that BofA wasn't going to approve me for anything so SOMETHING was better than nothing since my only positive TL is a student loan.

Well, yesterday in the mail I got a letter from BofA for the regular 300 min Secured card... why couldn't they have just offered it to me online!

Now my lack of patience has led me to the question do I:

1.  Keep the Orchard and ignore the offer from BofA

2.  Cancel the Orchard asap, wait for the check to come back to me, and open only the BofA

3.  Cough up the extra cash, get the BofA, and keep both, and most likely get rid of the Orchard in a year when they won't waive the AF for me

I don't particularly have a lot extra cash to throw around, but I don't know if having two cards as opposed to just one, reporting in good status, low balances, always on time, in conjunction with my SL which is in perfect standing *knock on wood* would be significantly better than just having a single card reporting while I work on cleaning up all my baddies (CO's and collections).

I know BofA would be the one to pick out of the two, but Orchard already has my money and I'd imagine it takes forever to get it back lol

Thanks in advance,
Ja' Net

[haulingthescoreup]

Definitely keep the BofA. Regard the secured cash as a savings account. And if you have the cash, try to increase your secured deposit and thus the CL through the year, if they will let you.

I can see dumping the Orchard immediately, but I think that I've read that they know all about buyer's remorse, and they suck the fees out before you even get the card.

If you're stuck with the Orchard, just do like you said, grit your teeth, and hang on to it until 6 weeks before the AF is due again. Then make sure it's PIF'd, print out your statement/ online screen showing a $0 balance, and kill it off.

But if the Orchard turns out to have MONTHLY fees as well (yes, these do exist), I'd kill it off immediately.

[Anonymous]

I agree with Hauling 100%. Heed her advice.

Well put Hauling.

[Anonymous]

hehe yeah, that's pretty much what I figured I'd get as feedback.  Would saved a lot of hassel if BofA had just made the secured offer online after the first app instead of mailing it.

I didn't see anything on the Orchard app/disclosures about a monthly fee, but I wouldn't put it past them.  The first annual fee is waived, and no other fees were listed anywhere.  I looked repeatedly before completing the app.  I'd call customer service to double check, but I'm not on record yet, even though they have my money because "secured cards are for people with bad credit so we don't get their info in the system until up to two weeks after the money has been transferred to our bank". 

Plus they spelled my name wrong in the email they sent me, which probably means it'll come wrong on the card.  (Which is why I've called already and emailed, and that's how I got that response haha)

[haulingthescoreup]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I didn't see anything on the Orchard app/disclosures about a monthly fee, but I wouldn't put it past them. The first annual fee is waived, and no other fees were listed anywhere. I looked repeatedly before completing the app.

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Well, that's not bad then. I can't fathom monthly fees when the first annual is waived, so you've got a pretty good deal there.

Two cards without fees (other than the secured deposit on BofA, which you'll get back.) And after a year, you'll have perfect payment history on both, won't you? , and you can dump Orchard, because it probably won't grow with you, and convert the BofA to unsecured, probably getting a CLI in the meantime.

It's just a question of time, now, which I know doesn't work well with impatience! Good luck

[Anonymous]

Hopefully I'll regain some of my patience, I just got antsy about the idea of working on my baddies and working on getting some good revolving TL's at the same time instead of waiting around... it should be out of my system now though hehe!  Now to wait for those darned DV's to come back, I thought about checking the USPS site for an update earlier, then I remembered I just sent them on Friday

Thanks again!

[Anonymous]

You will....you will. One of the hardest things I had to deal with when I started repairing my credit is the waiting game.

When you focus on a complex problem, it seems the time it takes to see progress on your efforts is slow as molasses. Time stands still on a day to day basis. We are so wrapped up in our desires to see a quick change, that when nothing happens we want to take additional action, to force a quicker change.

Unfortunately it doesn't work like that. I found out the hard way too! lol.

You'll get there. When your focus is on credit, channel your energy in other areas than cc's. Like read the articles in Credit In The News.

Understanding FICO scoring provides endless hours of fun trying to figure out how the FICO animal behaves. What ever you are doing, you are improving the quality of your credit life.