What Banks are considered Prime Credit Card Providers?

[antredd67]

   Call me stupid or just plain ignorant, but I don't know what banks are considered prime credit card providers vs sub prime (if I am stating this correctly).  I didn't know that those types of credit cards existed.  These are credit cards I have from various banks, and can anyone tell me which bank is Prime or not that I have accounts with?

Bank of America

Wells Fargo

Citibank

Direct Merchants (HSBC)

WaMu

Discover

Also does having many sub prime credit cards on your report hurts you getting better credit with prime credit card banks? Just curious since one of the posts I read stated that sub prime credit card banks tend put a ceiling on how high your credit limit can be.  This could be a reason why my Direct Merchants MC limit has not been raised over $4,500. But all of the rest of my cards are as high as $22,000.

[Anonymous]

Bank of America - PRIME

Wells Fargo - Should be prime not sure

Citibank - Prime

Direct Merchants (HSBC) - Sub/Near Prime

WaMu - near prime

Discover - prime depending on who the issuer is

That's my current take on it. 

[Anonymous]

Surprised AMEX name isn't mentioned above.

Personal opinions:

most prime - citi/amex (depending if you want visa/mc or amex)

runner up 1 - boa

runner up 2 - chase

(discover is also prime, but somewhat limited acceptance, so not grouping in the ranking per se)

I'd equate well fargo/wamu/hsbc about the same personally.

Those are the big issuers at least. Nordstrom while not a big bank, has amazing customer service, easily on par with citi/amex, and competitive rates too. Plus of course there are various specialty things you find in odd cards here and there (e.g. bmw visa has no foreign transaction fees).

[antredd67]

    I had an AMEX that I recently opened, after realizing that new accounts hurt your fico score, I closed it raising my score 7 points.

[Anonymous]

Even though new accounts will initially lower your score, you'll recover quickly with on time payments.  If you need to expand your portfolio, do it now instead of later because the older the account the better.  That being said, I was so hoping to get the Blue Cash next tear but got an offer from HSBC with better interest rates and a higher cash back. 

The only card I'm interested in now is Citi Upromise but I'm not yet ready for prime time.

[Anonymous]

Most large banks offer a mix of prime and subprime products.

Bank of America has prime and subprime offerings, though they tend to pick the better subprime. Since the MBNA merger, they are moving away from the subprime offerings.

Wells Fargo has no subprime offerings that I know of. Their secured card is hard to get, and tends to be for new-to-credit rather than blemished-credit customers.

Citibank: prime, though they did buy the old Associates National Bank portfolio of subprime cards.

HSBC: everything from deep subprime (Orchard) to subprime (Household) to near prime (Direct Merchants) to prime (HSBC-branded).

WaMu's credit cards are all from Providian (WaMu wasn't offering cards before the Providian acquisition). While they have some prime offerings, historically they were subprime.

Discover: more prime than it used to be (it used to be more for average credit, now they're looking for better-than-average).

In addition I'd add (from my own wallet):

Amex: no real subprime offerings, except for their Oasis ("I screwed up but I want to make it right") card.

Capital One: though they were subprime for a long time, they really do have some nice cards at the other end of the scale.

Chase: minimal subprime offerings, many prime ones.

Juniper: near prime, tends to prefer credit that has a blemish or two. Quirky.

National City: not big and flashy in the credit card world, but they offer solid, basic cards. They are mostly known as a mortgage lender.

There's also some retailers that have some prime major credit cards, specifically Nordstrom, Macy's, and Target. Both offer store cards to subprime and near-prime customers, but their major credit cards are prime only.

Message Edited by Skiffy on 03-24-2007 04:00 PM

[Anonymous]

Is that card available through their site or by invite only?

[Anonymous]

WaMu did take over Providian but most of th really subprime accouns were sold of to other banks. They skmmed from the top.  Since they are an up and coer they are seriously remodeling that portfolio.  They are now offering near pime with the same perks.  Never seen subprime offer the types of deals you get from WaMu nor some of their upper limits.  They also have a lot of co-branded cards.  Maybe they're just trying to get the word out.

BTW Wamu was offerin co-branded cards BEFORE the Providian takeover.  This is their first stand-alone card

As far as Target is concerned, I don't kow about being strictly prime.  I have thier Visa.  Hey maybe that means I'm Prime now?

Message Edited by Brammy on 03-24-2007 08:17 PM

Message Edited by Brammy on 03-24-2007 08:18 PM

[Anonymous]

WaMu actually offered a co-branded card through Associates National Bank, but that deal ended about when Citibank bought Associates. For a number of years, WaMu didn't offer credit cards at all. I agree that they are moving up in the world.

Target doesn't offer their VISA card to customers with FICO scores below 660. The average FICO score for their VISA card holders is 785. There's a presentation Terry Scully did on their criteria, and I was like, "wow."

Their store card limits are a total of 1% of their issued limits, which basically means that while they do extend credit in the subprime market, it's a very small percentage of their portfolio (but what you tend to hear most about on the various consumer credit forums).

So yes, I guess that means you're prime.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the compliment Skiffy.  I alwayd thought prime was 720 and above.  Subprime anything below 600. Near prime about 600-720 and above and of curse uber-prime 750 and up

Message Edited by Brammy on 03-25-2007 07:47 AM