Got a CC offer from Capital One - should I bite?

[ohiogal]

Hi all,

My BK was discharged about a month ago, no problems.

Yesterday I get a piece of mail from Capital One, offering me a "get back on your feet after BK" credit card with no annual fee and a 0% APR until April 2011. After that, it's 22% variable APR.

On one hand, it WOULD be nice to have a CC in case of emergencies, and I could just put gas or something on it and pay it off every month so I could rebuild my credit.

On the OTHER hand, I'm a little nervous about having another "snake in my pocket" so soon after discharge. We all know how quick it can go from 'I'll just use this card in case of emergency' to 'Hm, that Blu-Ray player is a good deal, I'll just buy it and pay it off in two months...' and before you know it, you've maxed out your card and are right back in the debt hole again.

And, according to the fine print on the offer, I won't find out what the full terms of the card are until I'm approved. So I'm thinking, "That's when they'll tell me that the percentage 'may vary', or that I'll be charged for things like not using the card or paying off my balance every month."

Has anyone else received this offer? Any thoughts? Thanks!

[ForumReader]

And, according to the fine print on the offer, I won't find out what the full terms of the card are until I'm approved. So I'm thinking, "That's when they'll tell me that the percentage 'may vary', or that I'll be charged for things like not using the card or paying off my balance every month."

It is very important to read your terms carefully. They should provide full disclosure of the terms even before the card is activated though. I would suggest you to talk to customer service with any questions before your card is activated if you decide to open one with Cap1. I posted a thread recently about Cap1 incurring interest charges by "error" according to them when I am still under the 12 months 0 percent introductory rate.

[debthelper]

Re: Got a CC offer from Capital One - should I bite?

If I were you I would try to get the credit card because you need to start rebuilding your credit after your bankruptcy. Capitol One will, as far as I know, only give you a $300 spending limit at first. This will be good cause even if you do rack it up your monthly payment will only be around $20 and the $300 will be a lot easier to pay off then say $5000. Try to at least keep the card under 50% usage ($150) because anything higher then that will hurt your credit score. If you just use the card for gas once and a while and pay it off on the next bill you really don't have to worry to much about what interest rate your card has, it wont hurt you that much. I've had a capital one card for 12 years and I've never had a problem with them.

Don't accept any other offers from like master card or your bank they are to eager to give you a big limit (like $5000) cause they know you will rack it up right away and that's how they make big profits. Your payments would then be over $300 per month and really hard to keep up with.

I wouldn't depend on credit cards for emergencies, instead get a saving account or a prepaid credit card, put $100 or $200 a month into it until you get up to $500, $1000 or $2000 and then use that in an emergency. If your emergency is say, that blu-ray at a great price, make sure you have at least double that amount in your emergency fund. If you want something for $250 make sure you have or save up to $500 before you buy it, that way after you buy it you will still have some saved up for a "real" emergency

[gmk]

Well I took the bait on the above deal. This will be a small purchase, repay fully each time card. Also, I'm doing some international travel and I would rather use a credit card for small purchases like meals than my debit card. I agree with the keeping it under half the credit limit suggestion. It's a small attempt to rebuild credit, but it is an attempt.

I do hope I don't get caught up in the "games" that ForumReader mentioned. We shall see.