christoofar

Discover is a horrible card.  Not only do retailers have difficulty in accepting it, but the rotating categories caps and limits on the card are enough to make sure it's always in the back of your wallet or in a sock drawer.   I'm not sure how this company manages to remain profitable.   NFCU's cashRewards cards are straight forward, fair credit limits for your FICO score, since it's a CU it has low APRs compared to the bank market cards, I have no problem using it anywhere, and the cash reward has no caps on it.     Discover is an inferior product at all levels of credit quality.

I like Target's ability to download without having to go through their tiny-font website (i.e. Mint.com and Quicken).   The site doesn't update itself on the same day a purchase is made, some times it took 2 days.   I do the same thing... I pay the bill in-store or I send a bill pay check from home if the line at Guest Services is too long.     Decent credit limit $1,000.   It was stuck at $200 for a couple of years before they finally raised it.    So I still use it when I'm in the store to get the new 5% discount.

You are running a high risk if you keep a balance on any revolving line with Citi, especially over the long haul.   APR jacks and balance chasing are not uncommon.   Citi looks at each customer as a profit center.  Loyalty is not rewarded at Citi.   Why reward that with your business?

First Premier's bread and butter are their very high fee, very high interest credit cards with pitiful credit limits.    Remember, you lose FICO points when your utilization is over 10%.   So if you get a First Premier card, you can't show a balance more than $20 on a $200 CL on this card or your FICO score is going down.    Do you want a credit limit increase, then?   First Premier charges a fee for that, too.   If you are rebuilding, get a secured card with someone else!

You are so much better off getting a secured card with somebody else.   This is a fee-harvesting bank.

Navy is very friendly and helpful over the phone every time I have called them.   No Indian call centers, either.  It's all handled in Virginia.   I've called them from overseas at odd hours and always got help.   Decent turnaround times on transactions and no crazy account holds they never tell you about.   Fraud department is a bit overzealous, but they will try to call your cell phone automatically when you try to put through something that triggers their fraud alerts.   I love their billpay system.   I can both see and pay all my utility bills without leaving their website and it updates on Quicken and Mint.com easily.

A car loan is not required to be present in order to get a mortgage, and car loans are not considered helpful in approval.   If you just recently opened a car loan, this could actually hurt your chances at approval if it brings your scores down---you might be paying higher APR, or have to pay points to get the loan.    If you carry debt showing on your credit report, the monthly payments will be used to calculate your debt to income (DTI).  If this figure is above 34%, you may find difficulty getting approval, either with FHA or through conventional loans.

This card is worthless.

707 is not considered a high credit score anymore to not get questioned and risk getting turned down for loans. 707 is still a good score, but it's not a "decision proof" score.

That dividing line in the sand that you're looking for that separates good credits from excellent credits is now at 750.

Don't despair. 750 is not that far away from 707 and as you get your credit improved.


Here's one tip for figuring out if lenders like your credit scores---get off the OPT OUT prescreen list if you're on it. The junk mail you get in your name coming from insurance companies, credit cards and real estate brokers is a good way to determine how desirable your credit is.

Credit card offers from sub prime cards like Credit One and First Premier is a sign that your credit needs some work. If you start getting lots of offers for car insurance then your credit has definitely improved. When you get PRE APPROVED offers from major banks and credit unions, it's probably because one of your credit reports is now over FICO 750.

The only way to get Capital One to stop putting holds on your payments is to pay through your bank's billpay feature, which usually is ACH. By law, CapOne has to post that and recognize it immediately. If you pay through their site for the first two months the account is open your payments can be put on hold as long as 7 days.

Even after years, sometimes my payments through their site, even ones made on a non-Holiday Monday before 3PM EST, are put on hold. If you don't revolve a balance with them and they're not my primary card, then the hold doesn't matter much.

A secured credit card is a good way to add more positive history to your credit reports. You don't need excellent credit to get one and most report as normal credit cards on your reports.

Adding authorized users (AUs) to your credit cards does not reflect on your credit reports, nor does it change your FICO scores. However, it will start reporting on the AUs credit reports and will start influencing their scores.

Scores usually drop with new mortgages because of the hard inquiry(ies) you incurred to get the mortgage approved, and the new tradeline reporting, which lowers your Average Age of Accounts (AAoA). Most people recover the points lost (anywhere between 0 and 35+ some-odd points) within a few years or even sooner.

Typically, people who already have thick credit files with long histories will see less of an impact on their FICO than someone longer with a relatively short credit history.

Over time this impact on your scores will lessen as the loan to value ratio of your mortgage improves over time which makes you look better to other lenders, as long you make prompt timely payments.

Mortgages (and any other installment credit) factor in your credit applications in the future because those payments subtract from your stated income used to pay off any new loans or new credit card debt. These days obtaining a large mortgage can directly influence your standing with other creditors as a large mortgage impacts your ability to handle larger loan sizes. Large mortgage payments relative to your income can also influence what sort of credit limits you receive in the future even though the balance of the mortgage is being paid down (mortgage payments don't decrease over time). For example, a person with a stated income of $55K with a $350,000 mortgage balance will look unfavorable compared to an individual with $75K salary with a $140K mortgage.

In the long run, if your income keeps pace with inflation it will diminish the impact a mortgage payment has on your income. A long-standing mortgage with no late payments will enhance your FICO scores and improve your standing among other creditors, particularly mortgages that have long payment histories. This also also improves your AAoA.

BTW, I thumbs-up this card for the No Foreign Transaction Fees. I travel out of the country often and I hate it when $75-$150 of my own money disappears down the hole in currency exchange.

The annual fee is a turn-off as well as the bottom-most interest rate (13%) which is about the going average rate, meaning most people will likely receive a higher APR than this as only those with the highest scores and clean files will get the base rate.

Navy Federal cashRewards card is a better deal, has a base APR of 9.5% and no annual fee plus the cashback increases to 1.5% from 1% once your spend goes over $10,000 with no cashback limit. Revolvers and non-revolvers both get a good deal.

When Iberia says "perfect credit" what they mean is a CLEAN report.

That means not a single late payment showing on any tradeline, zero collections, zero public records, nothing in IIB, no BKs in the past, and ideally---zero or one hard inquiries on each of the 3 credit reports and low utilization (below 25% on any account).

I'd also avoid them if you don't have a thick file (i.e. new to credit; younger than age 26).


Not many folks meet this criteria, so unless you do--don't waste a hard inquiry on these people.

Orchard gives out spectacularly low credit lines. Still higher than First Premier ever gave out but it's still not that wonderul.

If you see yourself frustrated by a $400-$800 credit limit that won't budge for years, rebuild with a secured credit card instead. You can get secured cards now at many different credit unions including all the big ones like NFCU.

Public Savings Bank does secured cards w/o a hard credit pull.

For a card that demands excellent credit, their APRs sure aren't that excellent.

For a card that has a high APR and an annual fee, it's not something you want to keep around in your wallet for a long time.

I do not EVER revolve a balance, ESPECIALLY with Capital One. If you revolve a balance with them you are literally playing with fire.

Even though THIS card has a low rate, it's probably only temporary. CapOne has a tendency to charge the highest overall rates among the largest 5 card issuers.

On the positive side, Capital One is the best card to have for international trips or in any instance (like online) where you have to charge something in a foreign currency. CapOne used to never charge a currency conversion fee on top of what Visa/MC charge. Even though they changed their fee schedule they still come in lower for foreign currency fees than anyone else.

Most card companies including Chase/AMEX/HSBC and most CUs will tack on a separate currency fee on top of what Visa/MC have already charged.

Navy Federal Credit Union's cashRewards card is way better than this and it has no annual fee. I've had the same experience with blackouts in the past as DragonBoss has had /w AMEX's air mile rewards.

It is just way easier to pay for airfare with cash back. Plus you can run the charge for the airfare on the cash back card itself to amply the bonus you are getting.

Navy Fed offers 1.5% after you spend over $10,000. So, if you are paying for a $1,000 ticket with $600 in cash back you already earned after a year of running routine purchases through the card, you will wind up only paying $385 out of pocket ($400 - $15 in cash back for the flight).

Discover gives out low lines even for folks above 720. Credit unions have cash rewards cards just as good as Discover and are taken by more merchants than Discover. Save yourself the hard inquiry and go for a major CU instead like Navy or Penfed.

Navy Federal got me a cashRewards $25,000 Visa card @ 12.25% APR and NO ANNUAL FEE. I'd like to see AMEX beat a credit union credit card any day. Oh wait, they CAN'T.

For a TU FICO 761 Chase only offered me $2,500. I declined the card and closed without activating. Navy Federal Credit Union gave me $25,000 at 12.25% APR.

Why would anybody want Chase's "Freedom"?

When you call to open the card, you will get a US cell center. Then from then on, all your calls will go to India. When you call to close the account? You will get the US call center again. Apparently they only care about you when you're calling to open the account, and to keep you from closing it.

That speaks volumes.

DECLINED TU FICO 761 EXP FICO 747