A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing!
Written: Jun 18 '06 (Updated Jun 20 '06)
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Pros: They report timely payments to all the credit bureaus, low introductory APR.
Cons: Sneaky business practices, APR's raised without good cause, no toll-free number, $79.00 dollar annual fee.
The Bottom Line: Do not get this card unless you have terrible credit that needs rebuilding. Even then, keep it for 1 year, pay it off, and get rid of it.
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| rcarv's Full Review: Orchard Bank Credit Card |
I suffered from bad credit for years. A lot of bad decisions from my youth. Now that I'm in my 40's I needed to start thinking about good credit for a future home purchase, etc. I started a couple years back paying off old debts, and thought I need a credit card to help my credit rating. Ironically, credit cards are what got me into trouble in the past. Well, one day my saviour came in the mail named Orchard Bank aka HSBC, Household Bank.
Here is my experience with them. I opened the letter and read it front to back. It seemed like a great deal. They boasted a 3.9% APR for one year, and after that 17.4%, kinda high I thought, but manageable. The usual conditions were attached, $29.00 dollar late fee, high default APR, $29.00 dollar overlimit fee, the usual. I applied online with my invitation code. The usual questions were asked, how much do you make, how long have you lived at current address, can we have your first born if you default ! Ha-ha! I had to pay a non-refundable $19.00 dollar processing fee. After about a week or so I was notified by mail I was approved! About 2 weeks later the card arrived. To my shock I only got a $300.00 credit limit, and an outrageous annual fee of $79.00 dollars. By the way, they will NOT waive the annual fee once you agree to it. I have tried numerous times to no avail! So, I figured I need this card to repair my credit, and accepted the card.
I used the card, and for about a year everything was on the up and up. I made timely payments, my APR was 3.9% as advertised, the APR went up to the advertised 17.4%, and they reported me to the big 3 credit bureaus as a good payer. That alone is worth having this card. It helped my credit rating tremendously. OK, this is where the road turned.
I was tired of having only $300.00 to work with. So, I wondered why they did not increase my credit limit. After all, I was a good payer. I called to have it increased and was shocked to hear they would increase it for a $35.00 dollar fee! I was stunned, what kind of company is this I thought? I declined and called back a couple of weeks later to talk to a supervisor. By the way, anytime you call this card you are routed to an India call center with people that can barely speak English, and totally without a clue to Americans sense of business concerns. The supervisor turned out to be an American. He was very sympathetic and gave me a $100.00 dollar credit increase at no charge. I was grateful and thought this is a pretty good card......
Until..... after I requested the credit increase, about 3 weeks later I got a postcard in the mail from Orchard Bank. I opened it up and just about dropped dead. The postcard said, we are raising your APR from 17.4% to 27.24%!!! The card was very vague saying something about a recent credit report of mine influenced their decision. Well, I immediately got an updated credit report from Equifax and Trans Union. My credit is better now than it has ever been. They are lying plain and simple. It is a scam just to get more money. They prey on the credit-challenged. They lure you in, treat you right for awhile, and then screw you royal!
Well, I then started my barrage of phone calls. By the way, Orchard Bank does not have a toll-free number, so you can rack up quite a long distance bill while holding, etc. All the agents and supervisors told me the same thing. They had no authority to reverse this, and I would have to WRITE Orchard Bank to request reasons for this increase. OK, I wrote and about a MONTH later I received my reason: Limited satisfactory credit history---Length of time accounts have been established. Huh? According to my new updated credit reports I am a model citizen! I have made timely payments to these jerks for over one year! Why the hell did they give me the card to begin with if I was such a risk? I started my calls again, this time I had to WRITE to the credit department. I mailed that off a week ago. I sent in my new credit report, a strongly worded letter, and a demand to have the APR lowered, and a threat to leave. So, we will see what happens. I will update this column with the results when I get it.
In the meantime, I have 2 new credit cards. One from National City and one from Citibank. They both have very attractive APR's and seem very reputable. Funny, neither of them had a problem with my credit worthiness. I have low APR's, high credit limits, and no annual fees. My advice is this: stay away from Orchard Bank, unless you have really rotten credit. Keep it for one year, pay it off, and get rid of it.
Recommended:
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Epinions.com ID:
rcarv
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Member: Ron Carver
Location: Crawfordsville, IN USA
Reviews written: 1
Trusted by: 0 members
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