Credit card-Ollo Platinum Card

[Carmella]

Ok I hadn't posted about this. One day about 6 weeks ago I opened one of the credit card offers. I decided to apply even though the interest is through the roof on it because if I use it I plan not to keep a balance so the interest wasn't really relevant and would also discourage me from keeping a balance.

It was easy just scan the code on the letter which I did and I was approved for $1,000. Then in about a week the credit card came. I was hesitant and thought WHY did I do this. I still haven't activated it, yet. And I have had it at least a month. There's no yearly fee on the card.

Our BK was still active at that time.

I guess I should activate and figure out what to use it on. After all of our debt and BK 13 I really do not want to charge anything. But I feel like rebuilding credit is a necessity. At the moment we have a car loan and the HELOC is still being paid so there's some credit through loans.

I really only want to have the credit card incase we need to rent a hotel or something like that, but I will find something to charge and then pay it off when the bill arrives just to show that I can use/pay a credit card.

[Zombie13]

One suggestion Carmella - follow shipo 's tutorial/recipe for rebuilding credit / doing the AZEO thing, etc.

[Barbisi]

Carmella , keep us posted about the Ollo card!
We were always getting offers from them during our BK13, but the interest was always over 26+% so I just decided to ignore them.
Lately, we haven't got any letters from them at all. It will be interesting to see how it goes after you activate their card and use it.

[Carmella]

Barbisi I haven't used the card yet, but I might sign up for automatic internet payments. I was finally able to reduce my internet/cable bill. I was stuck in a contract when I needed to upgrade when my daughter was living here and working from home. Wasn't it nice a company that never had contracts all of a sudden had them during the pandemic. Well now they have sold out and I decided to stay with the "new" company and my bill is lowered by 2/3 the cost. I almost cut the cable cord, but I signed up at least temporary (no contract) for the "local" package so we can see the local TV channels--the most basic cable plan.

I really haven't wanted to use the card.

The interest rate is 26.99, I think. I know it's around 26% so I definitely don't want to run up a balance on it. I know there is ratio of debt to available credit better for building credit, but I am not going to worry about that right now.

We are getting a lot of offers and they all have interest in this range.

The credit card people probably haven't found you at your new address yet, LOL!

[jaffy83]

Just to chime in since my partner had the Ollo Rewards card. She found it very useful when she needed it, however we learned that Ollo will lower your CL if you aren't fully utilizing it, and then they also closed her account after a few months of not charging any items on it. Seems to correspond to a few peoples' experiences on various message boards as well. Outside of the reduction in CL and the eventual closing, my partner said everything else was fine and no issues.

[Carmella]

jaffy83 that's interesting! I am putting the internet bill on it and maybe I should put the cellphone on it? I will see what happens. The credit line is $1500 so if I only charge $200 ish they might not be happy with me!

[jaffy83]

Carmella , Oddly in today's mail came a pre-approval solicitation from Ollo for me haha!

[Carmella]

jaffy83 Ollo was very persistent we received numerous mailings from them and I finally decided to try for it. My husband hasn't gotten any credit cards yet and Ollo keeps mailing more and more offers to him.

The interest is horrendous on it so that's not good, but since I am paying it off. I did charge a few things that I will pay off on Friday a week before the due date. I just wanted to use it since it was sitting inactive for a few months. I didn't sign up my internet service yet, since I just switched the service and it's prorated cost this month. I guess I really do not want to charge anything, but I feel obligated to get the credit score back.

[jaffy83]

Carmella it really is a damned if you do, damned if you don't kind of thing haha.... need credit cards to really help reestablish credit, but also don't want credit cards for obvious reasons. I did see the horrendous interest rate, but I feel like that's going to be par for the course for a little bit. And, at the end of the day, my plan would be to only charge what I have the cash to otherwise buy so my sincerest hope is that I'll never need to worry about the interest rate

[shipo]

If you can afford to plunk down some security money I've found most, but far from all, secured credit cards have lower interest rates compared to some of the high interest rebuilder cards.

[BxRcvor]

I have an Ollo as well. Unsecured. I probably will keep it (I've been closing out some of the lower line cards) just to reduce my open credit a bit. But I still see the need for some credit cards. For things like hotel stays or car rentals, etc. etc. You don't have to keep a high balance on the card, but showing that you do pay it properly each month is very good for building your credit history.

[shipo]

I have an Ollo as well. Unsecured. I probably will keep it (I've been closing out some of the lower line cards) just to reduce my open credit a bit. But I still see the need for some credit cards. For things like hotel stays or car rentals, etc. etc. You don't have to keep a high balance on the card, but showing that you do pay it properly each month is very good for building your credit history.

There can be negative consequences to reducing your credit line; from my perspective, the single most impactful consequence is when one or more cards report a balance on the monthly statement, the total value of balances is calculate as a percent of credit used; the lower your overall credit limit, the higher the percentage for any given amount. If you step over 8.9% utilization, your credit scores will drop.

[jaffy83]

shipo In your view, is the TD secured card still a very worthwhile option to aim for after discharge? And regardless, should I go that route, but can't put a significant amount down as security at the start, is it something that I can increase later - ie: I can put $2,000 at the start, but a few months later I can put down more to increase it?

If you can afford to plunk down some security money I've found most, but far from all, secured credit cards have lower interest rates compared to some of the high interest rebuilder cards.

[shipo]

shipo In your view, is the TD secured card still a very worthwhile option to aim for after discharge? And regardless, should I go that route, but can't put a significant amount down as security at the start, is it something that I can increase later - ie: I can put $2,000 at the start, but a few months later I can put down more to increase it?

It has been more than two years since I got my secured TDCash card and I know the rules have changed since I got mine; that said, I recall language in the agreement which stated something to the effect, "Once the security savings account is established, you cannot increase your credit limit by adding to it."

[jaffy83]

shipo confirming your understanding - I tracked down the agreement which stated that you cannot increase the credit limit after you establish and fund the security savings account.