Be impressed. This is totally from memory and in order in which I received each card. And wouldn't you know I forgot two of the most controversial.
But I do this to try and help those who are considering one card over another. Obviously some cards are no longer offered. Red cards are bad cards.
- Target RedCARD (known then as the Target Guest Card) (1996): This was a decent card but I mistreated it. The APR was high and the limit was low, like $200. I got this fresh out of high school so that might have contributed.
- Mervyns Card(1996): Same thing as Target since at the time they were owned by the same company.
- Robinsons May Card(1996): Company closed down, this was a decent card but same as Target/Mervyns, high APR and low limit, $500. Bought my first stereo with this card. Don't know what happened to said stereo. I think it was left in a car that got repossessed when I was younger.
- Providian Visa (1997): This was a REALLY good card. I was sad to see them go and I mistreated them. Some school bought out the accounts and then tried to come after me but the records were not transferred correctly, so they had no leg to stand on.
- Net 1st Visa (1998-1999): Another really good card. People complained about this one but I had no issues. I had 5 of their cards due to a glitch with their web application that didn't check for existing accounts, $500 each.
- Purpose Advantage Discover Card (2000): Oh my. A $50 (that's NOT a typo) credit limit with no increase potential. A $3 transaction fee. What's worse, they were not authorized to issue cards to California consumers yet gave me one anyway.
- Wells Fargo Secured MasterCard (2003): Did it for $1,500. I didn't have an issue with the card while using it, but when I was going to close it, that's when I had to go to the BBB. I closed it with a $1490 balance, they claimed I had to pay up. I'm like, "uh, no, that's what the SECURED part means, take it out of the account and use it to pay off the card like your card agreement says you will." They refused, I had to run it up the chain to get it resolved. I swore never to do business with Wells Fargo ever again. Too bad too, I actually did like their regular banking services for the most part.
- Capital One Platinum Visa (2003): The first card to actually do me right and the last card I got before I filed Ch.13 (best move of my life, BTW). $500 limit but they were good to me and I to them. I was really upset when the lawyer said they had to be included in the BK, as they were at the time my only positive tradeline besides an overpriced student loan.
- First Premier Visa - Gold (2007): This was right around the apex of issuing credit limits with only half available, so they gave me a $300 card with $150 available and a $49 annual fee. But I kept it and made payments on it. I asked for a credit limit increase, and they declined me, only to then send me in the mail...
- First Premier Visa - Platinum 2007): Again, $300 with $150 available and $49 annual fee. I called the activation number and read the chick the Riot Act about how stupid it was to issue me another card when they could have just bumped up the limit. Never did activate the card.
- Continental Finance Mastercard (three total: two standard, one gold) (2005 -2007): $500 with $250 available and an annual fee. At the time they had a program where if you made monthly payments - every 3, I believe - on time, you got a credit increase of like $200 or something. SO my credit limit skyrocketed, peaked at around $2000. Plus every year they sent a new card with a new card number and left the old one reporting on your credit report as a paid off transfer, by the time I was done I had like three positive tradelines from them. The annual fee wasn't a lot, but when I started getting better cards, I had to dump Continental.
- Imagine Visa (2006): $500, I believe, with $250 available and an annual fee. No credit limit increases that I can recall, but they along with Continental were my longest revolving tradelines ever, peaking at 3 years, then Imagine closed the cards suddenly and changed it to a Tribute card number until it was paid off. Very frustrating, but I would have closed them eventually.
- Aspire Visa (2006): $600, with an annual fee. Same story as Imagine, but less lengthy on the history.
- Rewards 660 Visa (2006): started $300, up to 700, with an annual fee. This one pissed me off. It started out a decent card, every 3 months or so you got a small automatic increase. Then it sold off to MetaBank who not only had a higher fee, but no credit limit increases AT ALL. Closed that bad boy quickly. When it was Rewards 660 it was one of my longest revolving tradelines.
- TOTAL Visa (2007): $250 limit with an annual fee and they billed everything but $50, so that was your starting limit. I couldn't stand this card. However I hadn't the heart to close it, because it was one of my longer tradelines - got up to 2 and a half years before I closed it because of the fee.
- Orchard Bank Platinum MasterCard (2007): $300 with an annual fee. This card wasn't that bad, but I didn't keep it long because I couldn't stand the fee and they were stingy with credit limit increases to boot.
- CLC Platinum MasterCard (2007): If you don't recognize the name I'm not surprised. This card was actually created by a student loan company that got hit hard by the changes in the Federal loan program. The card wasn't offered beyond the first year and got shut down. $500 credit limit with no increases. Was offered by Fifth Third Bank.
- HSBC Platinum MasterCard (2008): $300 with annual fee. I have no idea why I bothered applying for this card after the debacle that was Orchard. I closed it like two weeks after I got it.
- Citibank Checking Plus Line of Credit [OPEN] (2008): $500, offered with no credit check from Citibank with the Citigold account I once had. Similar to the Wells Fargo offering but Wells' did not report to the credit bureaus. Right now this is my longest revolving tradeline, I've had it over 4 years now. I hardly ever use it, I don't write checks against that account, but it serves as overdraft for my debit card, which is rarely needed these days with my current salary level. Love this account, but as long as the bankruptcy shows on my report, they will not consider a credit limit increase.
- Firestone Credit Card (2009): $1,200, or so I thought. They have a policy, buried in their fine print, that says that if you are late on a payment, even if just one day, they will cut your credit limit in half AND not notify you that they have done so. The did this to me twice, because the electronic payment would always post a day late and I never got any notification from them about the issue. Closed it once I found out this little tidbit.
- Hooters MasterCard (2009) [OPEN]: $1,500, no annual fee. Great card. I never hear from them, they just take and process payments and it just works. Not a single problem in the 2 years I've owned the card. I got this one with really bad credit, so I have taken great pains to make sure the card is taken care of in return. After a year of paying timely, they gave me an increase, and recently in the second year, I got my second increase, both without having to ask for them. Too bad I'll likely never use the Hooters rewards since I don't go there. Current limit is $2,000.
- HSBC Weekend 2% Rewards MasterCard [OPEN] (2010): Program discontinued, credit limit of $750 with no annual fee. This card irritates me for one reason: basic spending patterns (i.e. Amazon) will cause it to get flagged and you get some not-quite-clear-English speaking personnel calling you to verify the purchases. I HATE cards that do this, especially when all of the purchases are from a store I've always shopped at. I was on the verge of closing the card, given their refusal to increase credit limits either automatically or on request, but at the last minute I logged in and notice they'd bumped me up $200. They are my lowest limit. This happened at the same time as other cards, so I'm wondering if HSBC just doesn't want to be dead last...I will find out in a few months. I kept it because of the increase and because it's a fairly good length tradeline. Beware on their rewards: The checks HSBC issues are non-traditional, they put the transit number after the account number which confuses automatic scanners. I tried to deposit the rewards check into USAA and it was rejected, now I have to drive 40 miles to a local branch because they force you to write "FOR USAA DEPOSIT ONLY" on the back without knowing of this issue. Current limit is $950.
- Chevron/Texaco Credit Card (2010): $500 with fuel credit rewards. This was the first of many GE Money Bank cards that I got approved for during a spree I did around this time. I love this card, because I don't have to necessarily care about the rising gas prices as long as there's a Chevron nearby - which there almost always is. It also helps me budget how much I'm actually spending on gas per month, and the amount was a lot higher than I thought it was. Unfortunately they refused to increase the limit more than $100 which was an auto CLI, and I got later approved for the Visa which has ongoing fuel rewards, so I closed this card recently.
- JCPenney Credit Card (2010): $150. I think I bought like one shirt with this card, kept it for 3 months and then closed it. It just wasn't worth the AAoA hit at that low a limit and there never was anything at JCPenney that I wanted. I was going to do Kohls but then they went to Chase. SO I just started buying stuff from the local Macy's with cash.
- Best Buy Reward Zone MasterCard (2010): $300 with no annual fee. I actually applied for the store card since I'd read that the store card has higher credit limits, but they rejected me and instead offered me a second RZMC with a fee (??). Never any credit limit increases and they didn't seem to understand that such a limit was useless for shopping at Best Buy. I didn't have this card long, maybe 4 months, then closed it. It wasn't worth it - in fact, it was insulting, being that I'm a Premier Silver member (which basically means I waste a lot of money at the store).
- Amazon Store Card [OPEN] (2010): $600, now $1100. Of all of my credit cards this one gets the most transactions, because almost all of my shopping is on Amazon.com. I wish they had some sort of rewards program, but oh well. I just charge all of my Kindle and MP3 purchases to this card which makes it really convenient. Only negative, and this is GE Money Bank in general, is the lack of a grace period for payments. One day past due and you're nailed with a late fee of $29. Normally this isn't a problem, but because you can't change the due date, it means you have to pay closer attention to all of the due dates for GE Money Bank cards. With the rest of them I can just issue the payment from my bank whenever the cash is ready, and it gets paid with no issues. Would love the Visa but it's trapped in Chase land which means it's never going to happen. Got a manual soft CLI last month to $1,100.
- Capital One No Hassle Rewards MasterCard (2010): $500, was increased to $750 recently, no annual fee. Decent card. I don't use it for much due to the low limit which is currently the lowest of all of my credit cards. It's also the newest of my cards. I keep them because of how fast they gave me a credit limit increase, and I don't think I'm Credit Steps because I never got a letter to that effect. I was happy to get a Capital One card back though, and it seems they will start to overlook bankruptcies after around 3-4 years from discharge. Unfortunately being the lowest limit of all of my cards, refusal to increase said limit, being the "non-prime" version of the card, and the infrequent use, I decided reluctantly to close the card last month when I got approved for the Chevron Visa.
- Discover More Card [OPEN] (2011): $1700. New to the family. I was quite surprised to be approved for this card after having tried so many times and failing. They were declining due to the bankruptcy but seem to look the other way after at least 4 years from discharge. I did go for the 0% APR and they countered with 3.99% APR, but I can live with that. Third highest credit limit behind Hooters.
- Cabrillo Credit Union Classic MasterCard [OPEN] (2011): $3,000 and my highest, newest card. I wasn't really surprised to get this card, as I had a good auto loan with them before, but the limit did surprise me. I think it maxes at $5,000. With the credit union they take the application and then call you, and they may ask for docs, but they didn't ask any questions. Just a copy of my pay stub. Since I've had a good experience with them so far on credit cards and auto loans I am considering doing my first home loan with them to see how that goes. I had a bad experience with Chase on that front. I notice they do soft every so often, so I'll be keeping an eye on what they do. If they close it it won't really impact me too much, I took a steep AAoA hit getting that card and it doesn't have any rewards.
- Chevron/Texaco Visa [OPEN] (2011): $1,350. Given it was GE Money Bank who seems keen to offer me credit these days and given they would not budge on the private label card, I took a risk and got auto approved for this one. The timing was perfect - Discover gets 5% gas rewards this quarter up to $300 spent - I can send $300 across three months easily, just fill up twice a month using the Discover card, then use the Chevron card to take advantage of the 10 cents per gallon PLUS the percentage for buying stuff in the Chevron store itself. Current limit is $1,700.
- Chase Slate (2011): $500. You know, I applied in May and got declined due to Experian's faulty data. I got reconned in June, they approved based on Equifax, but still based terms on the old Experian report. The limit on this card was so piss poor and the terms so unappealing I didn't even bother activating. Chase will never get my business operating the way they did. Gave them the opportunity to at least just match HSBC's limit, and they said they could not without yet another hard pull - crew that.
Now, for those considering any of the above cards that are still being offered there is one thing you should be aware of besides what I've stated: your credit report.
The statute of limitations on revolving accounts is 7 years from the date the account is closed. That means that of what I have listed there, all but 8 of those cards should still be reporting on my credit report, yet the number is significantly lower. So for a total # of cards where I have averaged 1 credit card per year I have been on this earth approximately, quite a few of the closed ones just deleted themselves from the report prior to the 7th year. That obviously impacted my credit score, especially since some cards were closed without my approval. So when hunting for cards, pick ones that you know or believe will be around for some time, and will do you right.
Credit Cards:
| Cabrillo Credit Union MasterCard @ $3,000 | Chevron Visa @ $2,000 | Amazon Store Card @ $1,800 | HSBC 2% Rewards MasterCard @ $950 (redeemed themselves)
Starting Score: TU 595 EX 600 EQ 585
