Prime rate Credit Cards

[dlm0820]

When will I finally be able to get a prime credit card.  I'm at a mid FICO of about 650.  I applied to Chase a couple of weeks ago thinking I was close enough to get it.  I was wrong.  I also applied to Cap One and of course I got that one cause they approve everyone.  Dont' know what the limit is on it, but I'm sure it's low.  So, does anyone know when I would actually be able to get a prime card?  I have a tax lien that is about 3 years old on my report, late payments in the past that are about 2-3 years old and a collection account that I just paid off.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks

[Anonymous]

dml,

It depends on the bank - keep working to raise your score.

[Anonymous]

When the collection account is reporting as paid, try Amex One.

[Anonymous]

AMEX is an excellent creditor, but the idea to get the One card is a bit dubios. In some ways it's almost a **bleep** child between the credit and the charge products. You can't convert it to anything else, and it's benefits are somewhat lacking compared to other amex products. Granted it's one of the easier amex cards to get, but then again there's the question of why not get a delta (also another one of the easier ones) and convert to something else later.

Message Edited by okrogius on 03-18-2007 06:54 PM

[dlm0820]

for that info, I appreciate it.  I'll try that Delta one when I get the collection account status to paid.  Hopefully it should go to paid status with the next reporting update in April.  If not, I'll have to try and call them and see what is going on.  I got my Cap One card with a lmit of $500.  Not bad, but not great either.  Hopefully it can work out for me in the short one, and assuming they start reporting credit limits this year, it should be better.

[Anonymous]

I've had a One card for over a year and never had a problem with it (and I use it a lot). However, treat it like a charge card and pay it off every month -- if you're going to carry a balance, pay off a big chunk and pay the rest off the following month. Amex really seems to prefer people who pay in full over people who revolve.

I'd only get an airline card if you really think you'll get your annual fee back out of it. The One savings benefit paid for my annual fee several times over, plus they effectively waived $25 (of the $35 AF) this year. While I do have other airline cards, Delta's just not on my map. If I lived in one of their hub cities, I'd feel differently.

[Anonymous]

The entire idea behind my post was essentially that the Delta card is one of the easier amex credit cards to get approved for, as opposed to say blue/clear/etc. While there are some people for whom those cards could be worthwhile, by all means convert to one of the other products as you get the card and before the year without the fee expires.

While there are some exceptions, generally any charge card can be converted into another charge. Similar for credit. The one card, while may be appropriate for some, was thought up as a mix of credit/charge, and in a way is neither. Thus, you won't be able to convert it to anything. If it works for you, great. Although if you're just looking to get a foot in the door but don't like the card (as you can get better than the 1%, and the apr they pay on the savings account), it may not be the best choice.

[dlm0820]

the info about the One card and it does sound appealing in a way.  The $35 fee doesn't bother me that much as I'm already paying fees on the two other cards I have.  I probably won't apply for another card for at least 6 months.  Hopefully by then, my credit will be inching up towards 700 and I'll have more choices available. 

I appreciate the responses to my post.  They were all very helpful and informative.

Thanks

[Anonymous]

Dude, run from the Capital One card. Here's the issue...Capital One does not report your credit limit to the bureaus. This is extremely bad!! The vast majority of credit scoring systems, including FICO, use your ratio of utilized credit to available credit when figuring your score. So, if you charge $100, and the bureaus don't know your limit, they assume it's $100 and consider your ratio to be 1 or 100% utilization. When you go to apply for new credit that looks like crap. So, you have to go running back to Cap One for another card. They have been the subject of numerous lawsuits due to predatory lending practices. They attempt to force you into the situation of having numerous Cap One cards with low limits thus increasing the chances that you will exceed your credit limit multiple times and end up paying them huge fines as well as ruining your credit score. If I were you I would close that account. Sure, it will ding your credit in the short term to close it, but is it worth all the bull crap for $500 worth of credit? Hardly! I made the mistake of filling that application two years ago and I would not do it again if the opportunity presented itself.

[Anonymous]

"Here's the issue...Capital One does not report your credit limit to the bureaus. This is extremely bad!!"

Believe they're planning on changing this policy later around september this year. In either case, this is very very easy to fix. Charge/bt the card almost to the limit, wait for it to report, pay in full. Problem solved.

The only real problem with them is that once you're using one of their less than prime cards, they're extremely hesitant to give you the better prime products.