Orchard Bank secured mastercard

Never dealt with them.From what I heard they are expensive with horrible customer service but they do report to bureaus. Most have said use them to build history.Once you get better,dump them!

they changed my annual to 3x what is was after 5 years of never being late or over limit.. I cancelled my card

Like I said,it is a subprime builders card.Use them if you need them then kick them to the curb as soon as you can.

Oh yeah.. it costs me 10% of the annual fee to pay off the account ( maintance fees :D ) and I pay every month and a few more and it is gone...... :twisted:

STAY AWAY FROM THEM!!!!

When you apply for the card they take $59.00 off the top.

Sounds like Orchard Bank is a negative choice and not a positive one.

You should never have to pay a fee for a credit card. Credit cards that charge fees are often geared for those with less-than-holy credit. One thing to keep in mind with Orchard is that for every 3 months of on-time payments, you will get a $100 credit increase. The annual fee is also broken down into monthly payments, which can make rebuilding your credit even easier.

My recommendation, after keeping the card for a year, and making on time payments, cancel it. You can apply for another credit card (if needed) with a much lower apr.

My son got a pre-approved letter from them & I shredded it right away - there were so many fees on it, the kid would have had a balance without even making a purchase! Didn;t seem too good to me.

Orchard Bank cards are definitely not the card of choice for most folks looking for a credit card. But they are a way of rebuilding credit, if you are disciplined enough to pay the fees on time, and only make small purchases and pay them off right away when the bill comes.

Then, as others mentioned above - cancel the card on your terms when you have rebuilt your credit sufficiently to qualify for something better. That's the only thing this card is really good for - the fees involved make it too expensive for regular use.

SUEBEEHONEY70...... I completely agree with you. I have an Orchard Bank Gold Card and it came with a $19 processing fee on it. I paid it immediately online. The day my statement is ready online..... what d'ya know, I pay it. apr doesn't matter and I don't care. I only put $100 worth of gas on there and pay it off in full. They do charge $8 per month for the annual fee so that's a bummer and they did charge me $1.57 for Account Protection "Whatever" but, I immediately called and told them to cancel that because I don't charge enough that I can't pay it off immediately. The girl from India tried to get me to keep it but, I persisted!

I guess I don't understand how a secured card can increase your credit limit for every 3 months of on-time payments ... I thought a secured card was secured by the money that you "deposited" to the card? Or am I really confused?

smo65d11- you are correct. Orchard has both secured and unsecured cards. They will raise your limit only on the unsecured card. If you want your limit raised on a secured card, then you need to deposit more money.

Wells Fargo is a great choice for an secured card. I had them, and loved them.

I applied for a SECURED Orchard card and was denied because it said I had reached the maximum for HSBC credit cards? I could understand if it was a regular credit card, but a secured one? Does that make any sense???

The HSBC parent company seems to have an odd restriction on the amount of accounts you can have with them, if even through their smaller branches. I have an HSBC card and a revolving line of credit with Beneficial, and when I tried to finance a new computer the other year, I was turned down based solely on the fact that HSBC was the finance company, and that I already had 2 accounts with them ( altho both were in good standing ).

Quite honestly- I did not have a good experience with Orchard Bank, and it is the only card I have ever canceled, and canceled it within 2 months of opening it. They never sent me a physical card, but yet they sent me 2 statements to make payments ( it had an annual fee and set-up fee ) on a card I never received. Every time I called to ask about where my card was, they kept giving me the run-around. The last time I called and asked why my card hadn't arrived yet, I KID YOU NOT, they actually told me that they had run out of plastic and that's why they haven't been able to print my card and mail it to me.

I requested an immediate cancelation right there on the spot.

Oh my gosh, a credit card company running out of plastic?! LOL!!

I actually don't think that I've read any good posts about the Orchard card. Everything I remember reading has been negative.

They are a good rebulider card if you don't have any other options.I would contact Bank of America or National City Bank for a secured card before going with them. I would also explore a local bank or credit union to open a relationship with before a large bank.

LOL Amaranth now that IS funny. I guess I am glad now that they denied me!

ORCHARD BANKCARD TOOK $200.00 OUT OF MY CHECKING ACCOUNT, HOW DO I GET IT BACK???????

I am in the process of rebuilding my credit, so I applied for the Orchard Secured Mastercard and have had it for about 6 months. I have 700.00 secured. It has been a great experience and they have a great online system. The annual fee is just 39.00. I will keep them for up to 18 months...if they don't unsecure by then...then I'll drop em. Either way it will report the good credit and my scores have gone up with this card and Crown Jewelers....

We are trying to rebuild our credit back to a certain score... How many points does your score increase with an Orchard Bank Secured credit card?