16 replies to this topic

[StellaRose]

I find myself in need (okay, want) of a credit card from BOA. 

 

Unfortunately, BOA happened to be one of the cards I was holding when my divorce, and subsequent financial meltdown, occurred.  It was never charged off.  They got paid in full eventually, though there was at least 1 30-day late in November of 2010 (which has or should fall off any day now).  I thought that there was also a 60 and 90 day-late in spring of 2008, but looking back on some older reports I have, it looks like that might have been the other card and I was able to keep the BOA card mostly current.  A couple of my reports show that the card was cancelled at BOA's request in May of 2011.  I don't really remember the details of why it was closed.  I was paying it, but not using it, so it's possible that it was closed for non-use, but I was still pulling myself out of the trainwreck that had been my former life and it's possible that they got nervous.  There was also a kerfluffle at the end when I tried to pay it off.  The February auto-pay went through fine, but 10 days later I attempted to pay the balance with my tax refund using the same payment account online.  It got kicked back and I got hit with a $25 returned payment fee.  I double checked the routing/account number with BOA and it was the same as the auto-pay that had been successful a few days before.  I talked to my credit union, who said that they never received the request for payment from BOA.  I paid the balance, along with the fee, with a phone rep and it successfully went through.  A few days later I called a second phone rep who agreed with me that the screw up was somewhere on their end and she ended up being able to get BOA to cut me a check for the $25.  For the record, I swore I'd never use BOA again, but I guess you never can tell.  

 

If it makes any difference, in my former life, I also had two BOA cards that were closed for non-use (like I don't think they ever had a balance), and a car loan that was paid off.

 

Today, I find myself with much, much better credit (815 EQ, 783 TU) and a good job.  I have 6 open cards, none that carry a balance month-to-month, and none from BOA.  Though one or two may show a small balance based on when the payment went through vs. when it was reported to the CRAs.  I'm 5/24 until January with the newest one being opened in April of this year.  AAOA is just 18 months with the oldest open account being 2 years, 7 months, so I'm kind of concerned about that.  I know opening a new account won't help that, but it is what it is.  

 

So, what are my chances with BOA?  The creditpulls dB doesn't have much in the way of information about the exact card I'm looking at (Amtrak), but some of the similar cards seem to have mixed results regarding approvals.  I don't want to take a HP just to end up with a secured card.  Should I wait until the 30 day late falls off of all my reports?  Or until January when I'm under 5/24?   I kind of need to either have the card or know that I'm being denied by February so I can start working on another gameplan for the trip I want to take.  

[shifter]

No CO means you're fine. A few lates doesn't mean anything.

[MP80]

If you had a derogatory account with them in the past that was not paid by you is what counts. They keep this on file indefinitely and when you apply for credit, the first they do, even before checking your credit report, is run an internal inquiry to see your previous history with them--if it is bad, no go. 

[StellaRose]

If you had a derogatory account with them in the past that was not paid by you is what counts. They keep this on file indefinitely and when you apply for credit, the first they do, even before checking your credit report, is run an internal inquiry to see your previous history with them--if it is bad, no go. 

 

I have preapproved offers from them, so I don't think I'm blacklisted exactly.  The preapprovals aren't exactly what I'm looking for though.  One's not bad, but another is the secured card.  Do they offer that to everyone as a preapproval?

[AustinGuy907]

pre-app's are a decent sign you're going to get your foot in the door when you decide to apply for something.  W/O applying though you never will know whether or not you will get an approval.  The secured app though seems like you'll likely get a low end approval or counter for the 99/500 card or in the least a fully secured card option.

 

While I wasn't really tempted to do BOA in the past and would run through all of the major card pre-app links and wait for what shows up in the mailbox I never got anything but the beige card app from BOA w/ a 18-21 month 0% period.  Back in June I bit the bullet and apped for the cash rewards card and got a 10K approval and 90 days later the CLI link showed up and they shelled out another $8800 bump to the CL.

 

Looking at your scores though I think you might just be getting some generic marketing junk mail from BOA.  If you want the Amtrak card it's probably going to be in another realm of UW requirements like most co-brand cards.  Even if you did burn BOA in someway the co-brands tend to not be as stringent as a primary card being offered from the bank.  For instance plenty of people get approved for Macy's which is DSNB aka Citi.  If those same people go apply for Citi cards that aren't co-branded offerings they would probably get a denial if they didn't have a good relationship with Citi in the past.  

 

Since it's Amtrak and not a full blown BOA account there's about a 0% chance you would get a counter for a secured product with the Amtrak name on it.  I would just find your inner confidence and pull the trigger on the app if you're going to go long term with the card.  If it's just for the SUB / benefits they're offering for the $79 AF then it's a coin toss.  I would suggest though maybe picking up another BOA CC at the same time to let them age together and if you find you don't use it as much as you thought you would then roll over the CL to the other card and mitigate the AF.

[JeffeVerde]

 

If you had a derogatory account with them in the past that was not paid by you is what counts. They keep this on file indefinitely and when you apply for credit, the first they do, even before checking your credit report, is run an internal inquiry to see your previous history with them--if it is bad, no go. 

 

I have preapproved offers from them, so I don't think I'm blacklisted exactly.  The preapprovals aren't exactly what I'm looking for though.  One's not bad, but another is the secured card.  Do they offer that to everyone as a preapproval?

 

 

Are these offers pre-Approvals, or pre-Qualifed ?  (they're not the same).  A pre-Approval means "we've looked at your credit report and we're ready to send you a card right now - just say the word".  A pre-Qualified offer means "we know your general demographics, and from a distance, we think you look like someone we might want to give a card to (but we'll have to pull your credit report to make a final determination)".

Edited by JeffeVerde, 26 September 2017 - 04:40 PM.

[hegemony]

BOA credit cards are mostly ho-hum. If you're desperate for a SUB go right ahead, but there are tons of better products out there.

 

moreover, there is no difference between "pre approval" and "pre qualified" they are both commonly used as language for pre-screened offers of credit and both mean the credit has reviewed your consumer credit report. either guantee an approval

[JeffeVerde]

BOA credit cards are mostly ho-hum. If you're desperate for a SUB go right ahead, but there are tons of better products out there.

 

moreover, there is no difference between "pre approval" and "pre qualified" they are both commonly used as language for pre-screened offers of credit and both mean the credit has reviewed your consumer credit report. either guantee an approval

 

I've received "pre-qualified" offers that had language stating specifically that they were not  "pre-approved offers of credit", and that approval would be dependent on a review of my credit profile.  I think I've got a BOA prequal letter on my desk.  I'll check tonight

Edited by JeffeVerde, 26 September 2017 - 07:01 PM.

[hegemony]

the pre-qual language can vary but the question is, is it a preSCREENED offer or not? the only way to know is whether or not there is opt out information in the offer disclosures. if there isn't, it is merely an ITA.

[mendelssohn]

BOA let me back in after 7 years with an unpaid charge off in the 5 figure range and I was approved for $15K.  They definitely let me know at the time that they could not go higher because of the previous account, but that card is now over $50K.

[BlackKnight1983]

BOA let me back in after 7 years with an unpaid charge off in the 5 figure range and I was approved for $15K.  They definitely let me know at the time that they could not go higher because of the previous account, but that card is now over $50K.

 

I burned them for around $4K IIRC, and I'm back in now, you can see my limit in my siggy. I'm thinking about getting the travel rewards card from them for me and my wife.

[StellaRose]

Since it's Amtrak and not a full blown BOA account there's about a 0% chance you would get a counter for a secured product with the Amtrak name on it.  I would just find your inner confidence and pull the trigger on the app if you're going to go long term with the card.  If it's just for the SUB / benefits they're offering for the $79 AF then it's a coin toss.  I would suggest though maybe picking up another BOA CC at the same time to let them age together and if you find you don't use it as much as you thought you would then roll over the CL to the other card and mitigate the AF.

 

The only reason for Amtrak is that my husband and kid really, really, really want to take a train trip.  And we live near a station, so it's somewhat convenient as long as you want to go somewhere between New York and New Orleans (and I could think of worse places to go).  Ideally, I'd apply for both the AF and non-AF versions at the same time and eventually downgrade the AF version since I don't see the perks of the AF version being useful beyond the SUB.  

 

 

I think I've decided to wait until January to pull the trigger for a couple of reasons.  First, I have a Freedom and the 5% category for the 4th quarter is Walmart.  Since I live in BFE, 90% of my grocery shopping is at Walmart so between that and the 5% at Amazon through Discover (which ironically enough was the other card I held during the divorce fiasco) I think that I'll rack up on the points/cash with the cards I have already between now and the end of the year.  Second, I'll be under 5/24 in January.  I'm not sure that matters for BOA, but it doesn't hurt.  There's also nothing I really *have* to have from Chase right now and even if there was, I would be back under 5/24 in February unless I got both versions and then I'd be at 5/24 until May.  At that point I'd probably go ahead and try for one of the SW cards.  Finally, I have a couple of deposits on my next trip due in March/April, so that will be a quick way to make minimum spend and get the 2X points on travel.

[STC]

BOA Rocks!

[graymidday]

If you had a derogatory account with them in the past that was not paid by you is what counts. They keep this on file indefinitely and when you apply for credit, the first they do, even before checking your credit report, is run an internal inquiry to see your previous history with them--if it is bad, no go. 

This is not entirely accurate... yes they do remember all previous accounts, but that does not always matter. I foreclosed on a 300k house with them and they gave me credit afterwards.

[ronsetoe]

 

If you had a derogatory account with them in the past that was not paid by you is what counts. They keep this on file indefinitely and when you apply for credit, the first they do, even before checking your credit report, is run an internal inquiry to see your previous history with them--if it is bad, no go. 

This is not entirely accurate... yes they do remember all previous accounts, but that does not always matter. I foreclosed on a 300k house with them and they gave me credit afterwards.

 

two separate divisions. FIA does credit cards

[graymidday]

 

 

If you had a derogatory account with them in the past that was not paid by you is what counts. They keep this on file indefinitely and when you apply for credit, the first they do, even before checking your credit report, is run an internal inquiry to see your previous history with them--if it is bad, no go. 

This is not entirely accurate... yes they do remember all previous accounts, but that does not always matter. I foreclosed on a 300k house with them and they gave me credit afterwards.

 

two separate divisions. FIA does credit cards

 

Might be, however the credit card department absolutely knew I had a mortgage with them.

[cv91915]

 

 

 

If you had a derogatory account with them in the past that was not paid by you is what counts. They keep this on file indefinitely and when you apply for credit, the first they do, even before checking your credit report, is run an internal inquiry to see your previous history with them--if it is bad, no go. 

This is not entirely accurate... yes they do remember all previous accounts, but that does not always matter. I foreclosed on a 300k house with them and they gave me credit afterwards.

 

two separate divisions. FIA does credit cards

 

Might be, however the credit card department absolutely knew I had a mortgage with them.

 

 

We have only been banking and credit card customers of Bank of America for 3-4 years.

 

I had a mortgage from Countrywide that was originated in 2004, and refinanced elsewhere well before Bank of America scooped up Coutrywide during the collapse of the real estate and mortgage businesses a few years later.

 

Yet when I’m on the phone with a B of A CSR they routinely thank me for being a customer since 2004.

Edited by cv91915, 01 October 2017 - 08:35 PM.