The good, bad & ugly list for high credit risks & la

[toomuchdebt]

We had good credit until last year, from paying ccs in full each month w/zero balance to a balance of rising six figures.

Late on car payment twice, missed all ccs payments one month, a few twice in a row.

Here's our list:

Amex closed some accounts and keep decreasing our limits. One account CL of $5000 reduced to $3000 with $2600 balance, they did have a 50cents finance charge for six mos so it was good for a short time. After returning some big purchases, still have 1800 -just got their letter CL reduced to $2000 due to high credit risk. Spouse's account CL has been reduced to $500, they sent a BT offer for 3.9% for one year, transfer what?? They want to bust us for exceeding credit limit.

Bank One suck, reduced CL, used the excuse to raise interest rate from 9.99-19.99%. Accidentally lost our statement and rates increase notice, unexpectedly our last extra payment was all sucked up by the 20% interest. Told them to close the account, still open to this date.

Citibank suck, unforgiving, was late twice consecutively, interest rate to 19.99% and lectured by CSR, detected as Unwanted, they quickly closed over 6 good accounts -Closed by credit grantor. Sold one account to the shark - Bank One. CL remains same.

First USA, was late too, closed a few accounts- by credit grantor. Again, sold account to the shark - Bank One, CL has not been reduced.

Fleet, never late, but closed some accounts - by credit grantor. One account open with 1.9% BT and 13.75% thereafter.

Household/Best Buy - late twice consecutively. Account with $600 balance closed by credit grantor. Probably closed for the next decade. Who cares, we got Master, Visa & Discover.

Sears/Citi - CL remained but denied my request jt a/c for BT 5.9 til paid off. Citi sent the "unwanted" high credit risk ltr. Then realized it's a jt a/c, proceeded to BT.

Walmart/Sams - late twice, 24.99% w/2500 balance, they closed the account.

Good List:

Chase - increased CL 1500 for jt a/c at 9.4%. Latest statement is now 9.9% not too bad. On individual a/c 3.9 till paid off CL 1500.

Discover - was late twice, reduced CL by 1000 only once, other CLs (& balance) remained high, rate at 16.24%, one a/c from 13.99- 16.24%, one remained at 11.99%. Recently we BT 2 a/cs to other cards, Discover was calling us this week for BTs. Feeling good. Now all a/cs are offered low BT rates for 6 mos. unfortunately, after promo period, is at 16+%.

Fleet 1.9% on jt, no rate increase.

MBNA, ind a/c 0% will expire soon, never sent any nasty letters, hope to remain 9.9% for remaining balance. Another 0% for 12 mos for spouse' a/c, fabulous.

Providian reduced CL once by 1500 at 13.99%, no rate increase for high balance since last year.

USBank-offered me a decent CL at 3.9% for one year 12.99 thereafter, by phone, almost fell off my chair, like winning the CA lottery.

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We can relax til next year, and keep up with timely payments, pay down the six figure as much as we can..

[credithelp]

Here is my list.

Providian- took them forever to post a payment to my account which often gave me late fees when i mailed the payment off in plenty of time. Other than that not too bad.

Discover-overall was not too bad either. When i was late they would call all of the time and the 2 cylce billing gets expensive when you have a large balance. Once you are late and go over your limit, it takes alot of cash to get out of the hole you are in.

Citibank- Loan sharks. What more can i say.

Bank one- loan sharks. What more can i say.

Mbna- many people told me to get this one since it was a prime card, but it was one of the worst ones. They played around with the rates,credit limit, etc and i was never late, not even once. I consider mbna to be an upscale type of loan shark.

Capital One- Been with them for 6 years and never had a problem. They do have high late fees and high over the limit fees and will sock it to ya even if your one day late. So far they have treated me the best. High credit limits stay high and the interest rates have never increased.

Ive never used american express since i have heard many bad things about them.

[toomuchdebt]

Correction - Bank 1 raised the rate to 27.99% from 9.9% (19.99% would still have been reasonable for them). Watch out for Bank 1 if you ever slipped payments to other creditors.

Discover so far did not report the 30 day late on our credit report, they sent a letter like they understand and call them to make arrangement. Sounded friendly.

Dear Chase had a 7.9% for new purhcase and 9.4% now 9.65% for previous balances. They sent some good offers few months ago, 3.9 til paid off, didnt take advantage of it because we were paranoid back then, BK on on our mind and Chapter 13 is defintely a no no.

It seemed to me the big mistake was calling the creditors & alerting them you are in trouble. Was on time this year, called Discover twice for rate reduction & hardship program, one lady told me to go to credit counselling. Since then they raised rates to 16+% on individual accounts. Inquired w/Bank 1 when my credit monitoring service sent an alert on a negative on my credit report in Feb/March. Bank 1 sent a copy of a "late" for July 2003. Immmediately raised the rate to 27.99 on the March statetement. Which they purposely lost it in the mail, in the hopes that I forget to pay on time again.

It was a wise move for me to sign up for the credit monitoring service last year. Someone claimed I broke a contract owing over 10 grand and the crappy collection agency proceeded to put me in public record after I paid a hefty penalty. That was a real ding, wrote to the credit bureaus and they took it off. I would have never found out for years until one day 10 yrs later apply for a loan!! and a real pain to take it off my credit report.

On every cc application, they asked if you own a house, now I got it they wanted to take your house if you dont pay. Lesson learned.

Another wise move was signing up for bill pay so we are always on time.