A ho-hum classic visa card
Written: Jul 10 '02 (Updated Jul 10 '02)
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Pros: no telemarketing, no annual fee
Cons: not many extras
The Bottom Line: If like me, you want to upgrade from a secured card, this will keep you happy for sometime.
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| sgd1077's Full Review: Associates (Mastercard/Visa) |
Why I went for this card:
After having established some credit with the Washington Mutual - Associates Bank Secured Credit Card (FYI: I've written a review on that too), I decided to pull out because of the colateral that they were holding against the credit they extended to me. Since the experience I had with them was not too bad, I decided to stick to the same series of cards. On epinions, everyone had a mixed review about just every classic card so I resisted the urge of experimenting with something new.
I already had a bank account with Washington Mutual (FYI: I've written a review on that too). That's the reason I went for their credit card. Wamu has tied up with Associates as their "credit card provider". The cards are basically Associate cards only but they've got the Washington Mutual logo on them. I suspect they would also have to pay Wamu a small amount for bringing the business to them.
Here are some figures:
Min credit line: $750
Max credit line: dont know if there's one
Increments: they increased it to $1000 after 3 months without my requesting them
Annual usage charge: free -- I like this part!
My APR was: 22% (I never did care (and still don't) about APRs. I solely use this card to build credit and I always paid full balance every month. This rate had gone down now to 15% in my case and then up to 17% -- perhaps it had to do with the fed interest rates last year.)
Greater of $4 / 4% on cash withdrawals.
The website:
Compared to the secured credit card, thankfully this one does have a website, although it's no speed demon.
Last year, I believe Associates was bought over by Citibank. The execs at citibank must have gasped at the fact that these guys don't have a website and they seemed to have quickly put this one up. It works on and off. Occasionally you get site-down errors. Sometimes logins take for ever. However, once you are in, there is a decent amount of information presented.
Shows you detailed account activity for upto 3 months, unbilled activity, credit line increase request (this will require another credit check), bank account setup for automatic deduction/amount transfers, e-mail form to customer service. I'm reasonably satisfied with it.
Extras:
There's some accidental travel insurance if you purchase the ticket using the card. There's also a credit watch that you have to purchase separately and they'll keep a watch on your card activity. Another addition is supplemental rental car insurance. Not too much in the offering here, otherwise.
Customer service:
This is a different department from their secured credit card customer service. The one time I asked them to delay my payment by 2 weeks as I was going to be out of time when the bill came in, they turned it down. I haven't had any other reason to contact them as yet. They are polite. Can't really judge them as I haven't run into any major problems with the card as yet.
Other stuff:
They'll like many financial institutions be giving out your personal data and will send you opt-out letters whenever there is a change (for the worse) in their privacy policy.
As a rule, whenever I get a letter from any institution having my SSN and more, like financial, insurance which goes like this "We really value your privacy, that's why...", I look straight for an opt-out page, (there's usually one, because like I said, the change is for the worse ;-) ) and fill it out.
They provide convenience checks with every bill they send you. It's kind of irritating because I don't want to use them and I can just imagine them gleefully going "go ahead, use it, it's credit you need {nice wide smile}, aha, thank you very much, whack! that's a 4% charge for using it!"
They'll report your activity to credit services regularly. Definately equifax because I've seen it there.
Upshot:
Not a lot to offer apart from the basics. If like me, you want to upgrade from a secured card, this will keep you happy for sometime, until you are deemed worthy of more credit!
I give it 3 stars as I have had a reasonably good experience with the card provider on two occasions and they've got a useful, albeit quirky website in place.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
sgd1077
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Reviews written: 11
Trusted by: 0 members
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