Orlando-917

Use Mint.com (website or app). Another one is Pageonce Bills. They run my financial life!! I get notifications on upcoming due dates, budget performance, APR changes, utilization alerts, etc. I used to take notes and use Excel to manage the mess. Now I log into one app that has all my card logins securely saved and shows me everything in real time!!

My experience has been best when I paid my highest APR credit cards down as much as I could. Does not matter which one because the overall ratio of debt to income is what matters. CREDIT cards before STORE cards too. I went from 580 to 682 in FOUR MONTHS, yes FOUR MONTHS by simply disputing a late payment and paying off my cards from 95% usage to 35%.

I have an Orchard Bank card from 7 years ago and it is my oldest revolving account. The age has helped me improve my score, but as my fixer card it came with terrible terms and not a single increase since it opened... Now that I qualified for a Chase card with zero APR for balance transfers, I transferred the Orchard balance over to pay it down along with 2 other cards, but it still charges me a membership fee of $8 monthly, which is an annual fee increment. With terrible APR and the acquisition by Cap One, I am very tempted to close it out. But I hear that tradelines should be kept open to help with account age and overall available credit. It is only a $400 card so I am not sure it would really matter as far as available credit (my total is 10k). My second oldest account is 1 year newer. Feedback would be great from anyone who has seen the effects of doing this. Would my score drop for losing the age or tradeline? Is it a smart move in the long term? Can I negotiate dropping the annual fee and keeping it or does that never happen?

UPDATE: As planned, I called the activation line when i received the card and asked to be transferred to a credit officer. Before being transferred, they tried to activate "then talk about it" but I refused, and insisted that i talk to the officer before activation. The officer asked what's wrong with my approval terms, I complained that I want to transfer balances to Chase Freedom and make it my exclusive card for all purchases as well as balances, but the initial $1500 limit is not enough to do that. She thanked me for considering them my primary card, put me hold, came back, and informed me that she increased my approval to $3,000 after reviewing my credit report and seeing my revolving balances that would be transferred. She then transferred me back to the activation line and I was in!!

They pulled Equifax for me, both initially and at recon.

I didn't catch this part :-) Thank you!! I have a feeling that JetBlue is a dream card and that Zync is the furthest I can go with a manual review... Worth asking!

Thanks for the reply. I found a link in your thread to check application status but nothing about recon with Amex. Let me know if you find anything, please. Looking everywhere!

I want the JetBlue card so bad...... I called it in specifically so I can explain the baddie I have to a human being. The app analyst reassured me she has a recon number. As expected I got denied. The recon line she gave me is apparently for EXISTING members who want a LIMIT INCREASE! I was furious. I told the CLI guy that I only spent an inquiry counting on a recon line. He said Amex only does "executive re-review" which he explained as a second hard inquiry on Experian where the same criteria is considered (without me on the line) with a mail response. He said a denial now is probably a denial for this team as well. Is there really no recon line at all??! Any feedback would be great.

I absolutely hate this merger. Has anyone else noticed that their FAQ is basically designed as a wish list of items that all have the answer NO?!! Will payments be easier? No. Will you benefit from being a Cap One member? No. Will points and rewards correspond to increased balance? No. Will card designs be updated? No. Will statement features be consolidated? No. Will off-shore customer service improve? No. Will Cap One customer guarantees and features apply? No. Will the 800-number be the same? No. Will fees improve? No. Can you transfer balances? No.

Thanks. Absolutely agree. You can't count on some machine gauging a flat number. The fact is that any decision can be improved by a conversation to prove worthiness or increased worthiness. I plan on asking for a CLI at activation, since I heard that Chase is famous for pleasing you when you hold them by the b@lls : )

I learned that persistence is key - and having facts laid out in front of you is even more key. I applied for the Chase Freedom card and expected a denial online - I got the "pending review" message. I called the recon line (and I will spell it out because I hate it when people don't: 1-888-245-0625) and got a serious, stern rep on the line within 5 seconds. She got my SSN and told me it's denied - the letter will explain. I beat her to the reasons and said I understand it looks like I have a lower-than-average account age of 7 years, 2 delinquencies related to revolving credit, and exactly 65.8% utilization. She was impressed with how well I know my report, and asked me why it shows these things since I am obviously "savvy with this stuff". I explained my 2 delinquecies - she appreciated it when I said "I'm going to be direct, brief, and honest". I said my first delinquency was irresponsible college behavior. I took the card to town and spent spent spent. When I graudated, "as you can see I grew up, got a career, paid it full, and moved on to a much better card with the same creditor, who approved me just fine (Capital One)". The other delinquency I have is from an old Regions Visa that failed to send me statements. The card was acquired by Bank of America and they failed to transfer my paperless setting over, so I literally had no way to log into my account and maintain it until a collections vulture got a hold of ME to tell me how to pay it! Anyway - she asked why i want a card, and why Chase. I said i want "prime credit" and that i am consolidationg - spring cleaning - by bringing my auto loan, checking, savings, and credit over. I stressed that I am not looking for a big credit line (using $8,000 as an example because I really just want $1k or so to start off with them). She put me on hold. She came back saying that, because I am well informed about the reasons why I LOOK bad, and have a clear plan to credit management and cleanup, she went ahead and approved me for $1,500 to get me started with their Freedom program. She said it's a great card with rewards and balance transfers, and APR as well as CLIs are considered constantly. She wished me luck and said "Welcome to Chase". I feel great - this is probably my first real card. I don't consider my $3k Cap One as real card honestly, not at 23 APR!!!!!!!!!!!!

wow thanks for the feedback. that resolves it. Moving on!

if so, please share some info; is it considered sub prime? is it normal for it to start off at 20+ APR? do terms get better with time (CLI, APR, more premium features)? The impression i have is that they offer one type of card, 23% APR on average, always an annual fee, and the only way to progress is to leave it. Please let me know how right/wrong this is. Thank you for any info.

The last payment of the settlement was August 2005 so i should have used that date... i am at 65% utilization, 3 cards, $3700 total limit