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Orchard Credit Card

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Anonymous
Not applicable

Orchard Credit Card

Hello,
 
My husband and I are begining the long road of rebuilding our credit.  We do not have any cc's currently and are activly paying off old debt that should be taken care of soon.  My question is this, should I apply for an Orchard cc?  I am concerned about being denied (my score 485) and the hit on the cr.  We are planning on refinancing our home through FHA Secure in a few monhs and I am not sure if I should chance it, but if I am approved than the positive credit would be a blessing.
 
I would love to hear other peoples experience and opinions.  Thank you for your time!
 
Tiffany
Message 1 of 10
9 REPLIES 9
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Orchard Credit Card

If your score is 485 and you plan on getting a refi in a few months I seriously hope that you are doing PFD's on any baddies that you are paying on.

Message Edited by Towser44 on 05-04-2008 08:49 PM
Message 2 of 10
heirophant
Established Contributor

Re: Orchard Credit Card

Before you are approved for an Orchard, you are preapproved for whatever card you would best qualify.  Just fill out their initial application.  If you have a decent chance of getting approved for their unsecure, it should tell you...and it is very accurate.  It is a soft to get preapproved and will not count against your score.
 
If it comes back with a secured offer, I would not accept and I would try to get a secured card through a prime bank like Wells Fargo, BOA, or Citi...you see, Orchard secured cards will never convert.  After a year, the others normally convert to unsecured and you get your money back. 
 
And I would refinance until I got my scores above 650 or so.


Message Edited by heirophant on 05-04-2008 10:37 PM
Scores: TU (FICO8): 781, EQ (FICO8): 798, EX (FICO8): 788

In my wallet: Chase Sapphire Preferred: 16,000 | Chase Slate Edge: 8,100 | Bilt World Elite Mastercard: 16,000 | Fidelity Rewards Visa Signature: 8,500 | PenFed Visa Gold: 12,500 | Penfed Pathfinder: 15,000 | Apple Card: 6,500 | Lowe's: 35,000 | Northern Skies FCU Platinum: 15,000 | Kohls: 3,000

Mortgage 11/20
Message 3 of 10
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Orchard Credit Card

A bit of advice for you...

1. If you do get approved for an Orchard Card, don't expect it to grow with you. You'll likely start off with a $300 limit and it will STAY there no matter how often you pay your bill on time or how much your scores improve. The entire Orchard Card program appears to be a "bottom feeder" type of card... one where they market to the desperate masses of credit-damaged applicants, only to bring them in at high interest rates with predatory fees and low limits... and then they leave you there, even if your scores improve 100 points or more. They've as much admitted this from their executive offices.

2. You might consider sitting down with an officer where you bank and explaining your situation. Be up-front and honest, and ask them to work with you on a low-limit credit card from your bank or a low-limit line of credit. Ask them to go to bat for you and if they approve you, this can go a long way in helping you get those scores up.

Good luck to you!
Message 4 of 10
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Orchard Credit Card

If you are refinancing in a few months, a cc probably wont significantly help you in time for your refi.  It may not even report in time depending on how soon you want to do it.  You need to tell us what baddies you have so we can offer suggestions.  Like for instance, if your uti is jacked up from $1000 OC charge off, a crown jewlers account would help with that.  Or maybe you can get a bunch of GW's flowing if you have alot of lates.
Message 5 of 10
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Orchard Credit Card

Orchard will report to all 3 CRA. If you do the right things, this will help.
Message 6 of 10
FretlessMayhem
Senior Contributor

Re: Orchard Credit Card

Orchard won't grow with you, and has a lame AF, but I would recommend them to you over First Premier or Credit One.

You can try the preapproval on their website to get a good idea if you will be offered an unsecured card or not.

Have you tried Capital One?
Here we go again...
Message 7 of 10
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Orchard Credit Card

Thank you for your feedback!  Most of the baddies on our cr are from late mortgage payments.  We have just finished a repayment plan with our mortgage company to bring our account current.  Even though we were current on our repayment plan the mortgage company reported us late because we were not current until now.  We do have a ARM that is going to start adjusting in June and than every 6  months afterward.  The FHA Secure is a refi that the government is offering to back through 2008 for people with this type of mortgage and bad credit.  My husband and I look at this as a very expensive lesson that we have learned.  So the credit card would be to build our credit, not necessarily for the refi, but for the sake of improving it, but at the same time I do not want it to look like we are getting cc's to build up a balance when a cr is pulled for the refi.
 
Thank you for all the feedback so far!
 
Tiffany
Message 8 of 10
UpNComing
Established Contributor

Re: Orchard Credit Card



Tiffany1971 wrote:
Hello,
 
My husband and I are begining the long road of rebuilding our credit.  We do not have any cc's currently and are activly paying off old debt that should be taken care of soon.  My question is this, should I apply for an Orchard cc?  I am concerned about being denied (my score 485) and the hit on the cr.  We are planning on refinancing our home through FHA Secure in a few monhs and I am not sure if I should chance it, but if I am approved than the positive credit would be a blessing.
 
I would love to hear other peoples experience and opinions.  Thank you for your time!
 
Tiffany


My experience with Orchard Bank was uneventful.  Nothing bad, nothing good.  I knew I wasn't getting around the AF, but that was expected.  They served their purpose for what they are, a stepping stone.  I would recommend them to anyone in need.
CSP ($5k); Chase MileagePlus Explorer Visa Sig. ($6k); Chase Freedom Visa Sig. ($6k); BankAmericard Cash Rewards Visa Sig. ($5k); Amex PRG (NPSL); Amex BCE ($1k); Citi Thank You ($5.4k); Barclay Apple ($4.2k) CapOne Cash ($2.5k) CapOne Platinum ($2.5k) Wells Fargo Home Project Visa ($10.3k) Discover IT ($1.5k) WalMart ($3k); Lowes ($3k); Amazon ($5k); Kohls($1.5k)

Scores: Equ Fico 715 ~ Exp 724 ~ TU Fico 682
Message 9 of 10
creditreformer
Frequent Contributor

Re: Orchard Credit Card

Like the others said, the card won’t grow w/you, but that’s true of just about every other subprime cc.  I have 2 orchard golds- perfect history w/them for 1+ yrs, no automatic CLIs (though they did offer $100 CLI IF I paid $20 LOL no thanks), nothing really outstanding, BUT the APR is low on my accts.  I’m going to combo the 2 ccs into 1 to cut my # of ccs down and hopefully orchard will @ least keep the total CL.  @ this pt, they’re sockdrawered w/a 0 balance.  Keeping them through @ least early 09, my 2 yr anniv b/c orchard (and first premier) is my oldest + cc tradeline @ this point.  I’m definitely firing first premier!

 

In hindsight, I wish I’d have thought of going for BA’s (or another prime lender) secured cc.  you have to put $ upfront for those cards, but they WILL grow w/you.  btw, if you can’t put the $ up for BA/another secured cc, consider Capital 1…some of their cards WILL grow w/you and they have fewer fees than first premier etc.

Message 10 of 10
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