@Anonymous wrote:Ally’s Bet on Subprime Consumers Mints a Credit Card Billionaire
"Merrick Bank, a CardWorks subsidiary, charges annual percentage rates of as much as 31.95%, compared with the 14.87% national average. The cards also can carry account setup fees of as much as $75."
It's expensive being poor.
True but what's even more disappointing than that is that 31.95% is a bargain compared to some, there's at least two non-trivial tiers below that: ~100-120% APR, and then then PDL space.
I think more people are aware of it similar to how more people know of credit card rewards at the start of this decade than at the start of the last one.
To your point though, after the success of Prosper and Lending Club in the early part of last decade, there has been a blitz on others coming up with newer financing options to try to cash in on the bonanza that is the American consumer, especially in the formerly blue ocean market that was the sub-620 borrower. Until maybe 2005 or 2006 nobody was servicing that market but by 2010 there were a bunch of companies some of which are still quietly around though you hear their ads on some city radio stations still.
It's probably a mix of both but most of the bottom two tiers you don't hear much of at all except when a state Attorney General is filing a lawsuit. End of the day though when I had a cashflow shortfall and was sub-600, I could get a loan from one of them.
Of course that decision still haunts me as a CFA nearly 10 years later for all that I paid it off in six months. Also I used to work for that company too, twice. :/
@Jannelo wrote:My APR rate on my Merrick Bank cc is 26.95. There is no AF attached to the cc nor was there a set-up fee. They've been a great addition to my small line-up in my rebuild, easy to work with. I don't keep a balance on the cc, though.
My question to anyone on this site who has a Merrick credit card is: With Ally buying Merrick, are those auto CLIs every two or three months going to end? I've read on here many people get auto CLIs pretty frequently from Merrick. I doubled the CL after seven months to $1,400. At the end of April, I will hit three months since the double your line CLI, and I was looking forward to receiving an auto CLI. They only give out auto CLIs. You can't request one.
Has anyone had an auto CLI in the past month or so since this acquisition was announced, or have you called and asked about the CLI process going forward?
I don't have the card but based on observing other card buyouts it's going to depend on what the new buyer wants to do. You'll have to wait and see, unfortunately.
