Edit: this should have probably been posted in the "Rebuilding Your Credit" section. If it could be moved there, that would be great. Thanks!
I'd been receiving credit card offers in the mail from Orchard Bank for at least a few months, and had been throwing them all away. I recently decided to complete one of the offers. I went to their website and entered in the offer # from the mail that they had sent me. Luckily for me, their website was screwed up (errors about missing files - real nice for the website of a bank..). To make a long story short, I ended up just applying directly on their website (instead of using the information from the offer they had sent me),
As a result, I will not be paying a $59 annual fee, nor will I have a 25.99% APR (I don't remember the exact number, but it was very close to this one). Instead, my annual fee is $39, and my APR is 14.99%.
Maybe I got the lower rates because my credit score had increased in between the time that they first started sending me offers, and when I actually decided to apply for a card (and I have no idea if my credit score increased during that time). If not, then perhaps it is better just to apply directly.
Perhaps this is a known "trick", but it is one that I just happened to stumble upon through sheer luck. I have no idea if this will work for other banks. I decided to post this here because I have learned virtually everything I know about building good credit from these forums. Thanks to everyone who posts here and shares their tips and other helpful information.
