Rogue

Just a reminder!! They LAST day to request a CLI from U.S. Bank for the REI World Elite MasterCard is June 30th!! For further information regarding the transfer of REI cards from U.S. Bank to Crap One see below: REI | Capital One - Get ready for a new card and rewards that go further

FTFY!

My only dealings with U.S. Bank involve my REI World Elite MasterCard, however I only use it at REI. As most of you know, U.S. Bank is "quirky" to say the least and I had a couple of questions for them to see if they had yet entered the 21st century. Then I got wind that all new applications for the REI card have been suspended until August! REI Co-op World Elite Mastercard® | Home (reimastercard.com) We apologize for the inconvenience, but applications for the REI Co-op Mastercard are currently unavailable. Please check back in August. This motivated me to call as something was obviously going on and I assumed the portfolio was either being sold to another bank or the agreement with REI was expiring and a different lender won the account due to the fact that all new applications were suspended. This was not a mere change of card benefits. So, I called U.S. Bank! Let me begin with addressing just U.S. Bank issues. You still can't add 2FA to your account logins or add a Security Password to your profile for use when you call them. When you do call, they will still ask for your zip code, Blood Type, etc. But rest assured, U.S. Bank makes your account security a priority, LOL! There is still NO PC of credit cards, even cards in the same family (i.e., Altitude GO, Altitude Connect, Altitude Reserve) and there is NO re-allocation of credit limits between any cards! I also asked if there are any plans to offer a real FICO Score when we login? Nope again! Now I have a PIN for ALL of my credit cards and can use my cards and PIN's to make payments at ATM's on the very rare occasion where this is my best option. That is except for U.S. Bank! I can us my REI card and PIN to get a cash advance at an ATM (never would), however I can't make a payment, even at a U.S. Bank branch ATM! For that I would have to open a U.S. Bank account and do a transfer from that account to my credit card, hard pass, no thanks! Okay, now on to the REI card not currently accepting applications? Exclaimed how I had been referring REI members to this card but that they could not apply, LOL! I straight out asked if the REI credit card portfolio had been sold to another bank or if U.S. Bank had lost the account and the card portfolio was being transferred to another bank as those were the only two scenarios that made sense to me in light of suspending new card applications, This really caught the CSR off-guard and he really stammered a bit, told me there was a change to the card pending, he is aware of the change but could not disclose the info! However an email would be sent with the announcement on June 11th. Sure enough, I did receive that email this weekend and.......Crap One will now be the new issuer of the REI MasterCard effective 08/05/2022. Yeah, just great. I have avoided Crap One my entire life and now here I am, BARF! This prompted a subsequent call to U.S. Bank! Since the email did not clarify what happened, I asked. The REI credit card portfolio was NOT sold, the agreement was up for renewal and REI selected Crap One! Sounds like the REI board has spent a bit too much time outdoors in the sun! My questions continued, in light of this change I asked, if I got another U.S. Bank card right now, could I re-allocate some of my REI CL to the new card or even just PC my REI card? Still a big NO and effective July 1st, there will be NO more CLI's on REI cards from U.S. Bank! Now I currently have a $35K limit on my REI card and have been considering the Altitude Reserve card, however I didn't want to get stuck like CV did, where he had big limits stuck on useless U.S. Bank cards and subsequently received a weak CL on a new Altitude Reserve card due to existing limits on other U.S. Bank cards with NO ability to re-allocate those limits. The apparent silver lining for me here is that Crap One will further diversify the lenders in my credit card portfolio, granted it's with a sub-prime lender and the fact that I will soon have zero CL's with U.S. Bank and can then app the Altitude Reserve knowing that existing CL's will no longer inhibit my initial CL approval while also having a solid history with U.S. Bank hopefully helping with the approval process. I guess my best strategy here is to try and max the CL on my REI card before it transfers to Crap One and once that is complete, go ahead and app the Altitude Reserve. Any input here would be appreciated as I have absolutely no experience in dealing with Crap One!

The fintech reported a loss of $748 million last year and last month announced that it was laying off around 10% of its workforce as part of an effort to cut costs. LOL! Let's see how long this trend lasts... Can you now fill your gas tank using Klarna? (I just paid $6.72/gallon for Regular! LGB!)

Alliant Credit Union (Chicago, IL) which anyone can join, also provides a free quarterly TransUnion VantageScore 4.0! Alliant is popular here on CB as a HUB and for loan hacks to boost FICO scores. https://www.alliantcreditunion.org/

I am not sure about any other Synchrony cards, but the Chevron card provides a free monthly TransUnion VantageScore 4.0 (Range: 300 - 850).

PenFed is not very clear on their website, however you can qualify with the FREE checking, however: Members with a Free Checking account must also 1) maintain a minimum $500 daily balance OR 2) set up monthly direct deposits of $500 or more in order to maintain Honors Advantage Eligibility. A minimum balance or direct deposit is not required to maintain a Free Checking account.

I highly doubt that this is true as it would be completely contrary to all prior FICO models. And I am not aware of anybody utilizing FICO 10 as it was just announced last year and transitioning to a new FICO scoring model is a major undertaking for any financial institution and who would want to transition to a new model during a pandemic and staffing shortages? I know of several credit unions that recently transitioned from FICO 8 to FICO 9 and this all happened just prior to the pandemic, so I don't really expect to encounter FICO 10 anytime soon.

Just wanted to update this info posted by PotO regarding PenFed as it was correct as of about a week ago. However PenFed just changed their checking accounts to FREE and there is NO longer a requirement for any type of minimum balance or direct deposit. PenFed Checking Accounts - Checking Made Simple | PenFed

Navy changed their policies this year, I believe it was the end of March. There is NO more combining of cards or re-allocating credit limits between credit cards. This change was primarily due to some bimbo posting tons of videos online on how to game the system at Navy, so they simply shut it all down!

Where have you been? Alliant went to an all digital business model in 2018 and closed all of their branches that year. There are NO more branches including at their corporate HQ. And Alliant still makes for a great hub.... Alliant also enhanced their VISA Signature card by dropping the AF. Not sure why Alliant just dropped the Platinum Rewards VISA (Effective 10/13/21, but you can still request CLI's) however I suspect their focus is shifting to higher net worth/higher spend members and they will now be directed to the VISA Signature card with 2.5% cash back. Alliant Visa® Signature Credit Card with Cashback (alliantcreditunion.org) And Alliant still maintains a stellar Five Star financial rating from Bauer Financial, whereas Citibank has a Four Star rating from Bauer. https://www.bauerfinancial.com/

I don't know how long that online form has been available, however there has been a procedure for the last several years to contact AMEX and express your desire for an invitation to apply for a Centurion Card. Once submitted, AMEX would typically review your credit, total spend and spending patterns and reply with measures that could be taken to enhance the chance for a Centurion Card invitation. The most common recommendation was an increase in total spend with AMEX. Had a client who did this, he was averaging $40K/month on his Platinum card and surely thought he was worthy of an invitation, AMEX told him they wanted to see a minimum of $500K/year in spend and that he had to up his game, LOL!

All of my low rate CU cards are currently SUB 5% and part of my highly diversified credit card portfolio strategy. Never had to use them or carry a balance, however it's available. If I do want to ever carry a balance, I have plenty of zero fee 0% APR BT offers or if there is a decent SUB, I will open a new card with a 0% APR offer such as this card, however I am not stupid enough to engage in ANY banking with wHells Fargo!

I suspect that cv is a HUGE Suze fan......

What a moron! Whenever I open a new card, I always immediately establish online access, set-up alerts and add to my Password Manager......