I’ve had 2 cards for some time now and not too long ago one got bought out by BankAmerica. Since past dealings with them have left a bad impression I’d like to close that account and open a new one elsewhere. I don’t care about rewards or money back or any of that crap since it will normally be paid off every month and be just for emergency use and to have the second account on the credit report.
The best deal I found searching was with Capitol One and unfortunately I applied for that before realizing that they don’t report limits so they tend to draw down the credit rating (I canceled before using it so hopefully it won’t have too bad of an impact).
Bottom line, I’m looking for leads on Visa card in the US with no fees and enough of a grace period on new purchases that I don’t get interest charges. I’d also be interested in warnings about other companies to watch out for because they do things like Capitol One or have lots of unexpected fees associated with them.
Have you considered American Express? While their basic cards don’t report limits, the ones in the Blue line do. If those “so and so don’t take American Express” commercials put you off, there’s also Discover.
If you pay your balance every month you want one with some reward, if not you want a low interest rate.
But if you only use it for emergencies, any no fee card will do, and with such low usage you will most likely do Bankamercia a favor by leaving.
I like USAA - and not just for credit cards - the only caveat one has to be or have been military or spouse/child of same. Very well run organization, they offer banking/checking, mutual funds/brokerage/mortgage/etc
The better card offers are going to be directly related to your FICO scores. Do you have any idea what your scores are? With such a thin credit file, they may not be as good as you think, even if you have a good track record in terms of on-time payments.
To get a sense of how successful people have been in getting various cards, the credit limits they were approved for, and the scores needed, play around with this database.
Also, if you are interested in building a strong credit file, you might well want to start reading all the information on the forums at that site. It takes a fair amount of time, but you will learn tons about what factors go into determining whether you have good credit or not, and the things you can do that will either help you or harm you.
For example, that card you say you want to close? If it has no annual fee, and you have had it for several years, you should just stick in a drawer and only use it every 3 months or so, then pay in full. The reason for not closing it is that you might very well tank your FICO scores by drastically reducing the average age of your open accounts (anything less than 7 years is considered a short credit record). Should you need to get a car loan, mortgage, or even another credit card, you will not then be eligible for the lowest interest rates, etc.
There are also tons of threads about people’s experiences with various cards and banks.
Thanks all, some great info there. My score is 790 and the history isn’t quite as thin as the thumbnail may have implied but the average account age is something I hadn’t considered so I will look into what effect that may have.