Scared--Credit One

[Anonymous]

My girlfriend, I don't know if inadvertently or not signed up for a Credit One Credit card this afternoon, and was approved for a $500 limit. So she tells me when I get home, and do a little research, and now I'm scared to death. I really don't have a lot expereince with credit cards, mainly because of bad choices earlier in life, and the lessons learned from said mistakes. 

That said, has anyone had any success in actually cancelling this card before it's even activated? If it were a reputable company, I wouldn't be worried. But, with this outfit, I'm scared to death we are going to be charged obscene amounts for nothing and without ever using it. 

[ddemari]

hi there, so about 3-4 years ago I opened up a creditone card and then received it in the mail and before activating it, closed it up. 

I definitely felt like the rep. was a swindler of some type, it was very strange feeling after the convo. But, they did just report the card as closed and I did not have any trouble with them. 

[Anonymous]

I appreciate the response and it does give me a glimmer of hope we can get out of this unscathed. If it were to get her to call and cancel tomorrow, you think that would make much difference? I did read on their website that if you don't activate within 14 days they will cancel your account. I just have to wonder if they would still charge the 75 fee?

[NattyPButter]

I'd keep the card since you already got the HP. On top of that when you try to canel they will drop the 1st annaul fee down to $50 instead of $75. I wanted to cancel after reading about them on this board, but kept it open after they offered the $50 fee because I didn't trust them closing out the account. Glad I did too because I saw they charged me the original $75 annaul fee before I even got the card. They took the $25 off within a week or so. I've used the card with no problem and never been charged interest since I pay before statement cut date. They are not as bad as ppl make them out to be as long as you don't carry a balance from month to month. I rather pay $50 then a few hundred dollors for a secured card and have my money all tied up and don't know when i'd get it back. They also gave me an auto increase  within a month without paying a fee. You better make sure you can qualify for another card before you cancel or end up having to dish money towards secured cards. I'll be canceling my card at the 11 month mark and get a Chase Freedom since I already qualify for one. Need to have a Visa credit card so I can do my Costco shopping in the next few months; since Costco will only take Visa credit cards and my Credit One card will take care of that until I apply for the Freedom. 

[Revelate]

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@NattyPButter wrote:

I'd keep the card since you already got the HP. On top of that when you try to canel they will drop the 1st annaul fee down to $50 instead of $75. I wanted to cancel after reading about them on this board, but kept it open after they offered the $50 fee because I didn't trust them closing out the account. Glad I did too because I saw they charged me the original $75 annaul fee before I even got the card. They took the $25 off within a week or so. I've used the card with no problem and never been charged interest since I pay before statement cut date. They are not as bad as ppl make them out to be as long as you don't carry a balance from month to month. I rather pay $50 then a few hundred dollors for a secured card and have my money all tied up and don't know when i'd get it back. They also gave me an auto increase  within a month without paying a fee. You better make sure you can qualify for another card before you cancel or end up having to dish money towards secured cards. I'll be canceling my card at the 11 month mark and get a Chase Freedom since I already qualify for one. Need to have a Visa credit card so I can do my Costco shopping in the next few months; since Costco will only take Visa credit cards and my Credit One card will take care of that until I apply for the Freedom. 

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It's simply not a good card, not certain I agree with the "Bought ticket take ride" approach with Credit One and similar strata institutions.

@OP: does your GF even need the card, does she have other tradelines currently?  One can build credit with this card, but there's usually better options though as the quoted poster suggests, if she's a no file or a negative one, credit one is an option and there's worse things in the world than a $75 AF.  Admittedly a non-trivial number of options do require a security deposit but if it's just a no-credit one, can likely get an unsecured Cap 1 card and that's in all ways better... I'd certainly have her check the pre-qual tool there if needed.

If she has other credit cards though, just cancel it and go on with life.

[Anonymous]

I have a Credit One card...have for almost a year or so...

I really can't complain, haven't had a single issue. Pay my bill once/twice per month online and everything clears perfectly well. They've offered CLI at reasonable intervals and levels.

That being said...I only used them as a stepping stone and will probably the close the card later this year now that I have better options in the stable.

[Anonymous]

I've had a CreditOne card for several years now, and never had an issue with them.  They have raised my limit multiple times without my asking, and really helped me to rebuild my credit.  Of course, I've never missed or had a late payment, which I'm sure helps matters.  I've since gotten several cards that are much better, so I'll be cancelling CreditOne within the next few weeks, but it's not because they mistreated me in any way.

[BallBounces]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I have a Credit One card...have for almost a year or so...

I really can't complain, haven't had a single issue. Pay my bill once/twice per month online and everything clears perfectly well. They've offered CLI at reasonable intervals and levels.

That being said...I only used them as a stepping stone and will probably the close the card later this year now that I have better options in the stable.

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You've done it right.  But, based on the cards in your signiature, it's time to close Credit One and Merrick right now. 

[BallBounces]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I've had a CreditOne card for several years now, and never had an issue with them.  They have raised my limit multiple times without my asking, and really helped me to rebuild my credit.  Of course, I've never missed or had a late payment, which I'm sure helps matters.  I've since gotten several cards that are much better, so I'll be cancelling CreditOne within the next few weeks, but it's not because they mistreated me in any way.

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You haven't tried cancelling yet.  

I kid.

Mostly.

[Anonymous]

They were my first unsecured credit card post-bankruptcy, so I appreciated them for that, but once I got a couple of Cap 1 cards, a BarclayCard, and a few store cards, they weren't really necessary to keep. It was also my lowest CL, even with a couple of CLIs. Added to the fairly monstrous annual fee and interest rate it wasn't worth keeping, especially after getting CLIs on both of my Cap 1 cards. I think they get a bit of a bad rep, but they are willing to take the plunge with folks when they probably don't deserve it.

Set aside a few a extra minutes before calling and canceling. They will try very hard to keep your business and transfer you "up the chain". I think it was a good 15 minutes of them talking non-stop before they realized I wasn't keeping the card. They're spamming me now trying to get me to come back with a higher CL, but I'm good with what I have right now.