Home >>
Credit Repair Forums >>
Should I try to apply, or give up for now?Should I try to apply, or give up for now?
Lydia_C said: "I occasionally have to travel for my job at a university. All that travel gets reimbursed, of course, but the university is unbelivably slow in processing the requests - sometimes it takes as long as 3 months to get paid back. Since I'm trying my best to stay current with my bills and pay off what I owe as fast as I can, you can imagine that it hurts to have hundreds of dollars tied up for months on end. I could sorely use a CL of about $1500, but I don't know how best to aim for that right now.
At the moment, I have scores in the low 600's on all three reports. I have six bad TL's including two Amex charge offs (one paid, one will be in June); Discover and MBNA, both closed by creditor with balances remaining to be paid; and Cap One and JC Penney cards that are open but have some lates within the last three years. On the plus side, I have a BoA overdraft line of credit, two Filene's accounts, an HSBC account, and two other cards that I closed years ago with good history.
The only cards I can use for travel right now are the Cap One ($325 CL) and the HSBC ($300 CL). The HSBC is brand new, so it's too early to ask for an increase. Any suggestions for unsecured cards that might be more likely to give me a higher CL? I have yet another trip coming up in April, and I really can't afford to shell out over a grand in cash up front for that. :("
David said: "you would think they would issue you a CC for use on business travel.
If they wont do that.. try to get them to issue you a prepaid cc for expenses. If you can figure out what your needs are.. then have them load it on the card for you."
Lydia_C said: "No luck on those fronts, David. Even if business CC's weren't reserved for certain levels of administrators (I'm not in that group), I'd have to qualify on my own merits. And the only ones who qualify for travel advances over $300 (no such things as prepaid CC in this world) are students and those traveling overseas for one month or more."
credit_card_collector said: "You have one HSBC card and I remember reading somewhere that you can only have one HSBC cc account that rules out Orchard bank and Household bank the two I would normally suggest in this situation. Perhaps try : [url]www.providian.com[/url] : they are not bankruptcy friendly but they started sending me prescreened offers when my scores were in the low 600's. Let me look into HSBC rules and I will get back to you. Good Luck. :)"
credit_card_collector said: "Which HSBC card you have?
[URL=http://imageshack.us][IMG]http://img509.imageshack.us/img509/8241/hsbc1tn.gif[/IMG][/URL]
This one?"
Lydia_C said: "Thanks, credit_card_collector. The card I have doesn't have the HSBC logo on the front (it's a black and white photo of a sunset), but it is an HSBC Platinum MC."
credit_card_collector said: "To get this card did you do the hsbc online application where it suggests cards suited to you and your credit? If so I would give it a try and apply for orchard bank card and household bank card on their respective sites not through the hsbc main site and see of they give you a pass, I only see on the hsbc main site that you can only have one hsbc card, it does not say you cannot have more cards from their holding group sub members. Of course do not try both at the same time try one, if no go try the other, each inquiry will lower your score about 8 points, how did the Providian go, I would take that card over the orchard or household, try the household first as well, no annual fees over the $79 annual for the orchard bank. Good Luck. Also I will post a few warnings stay away from Centennial Bank / 1st premier bank at all costs, they will not yield the credit line you need and will cost literally hundreds in fine print to get started then hundreds per year to maintain a terribly small credit line, you would start off owing them more then you could charge to the card. :mad:
Links:
[url]http://www.householdbank.com/ccssa/HBCustomerCare?cmd_Redirect=HomePage[/url]
[url]http://www.orchardbank.com/ccssa/OBCustomerCare?cmd_Redirect=HomePage[/url]"
Lydia_C said: "Actually, I didn't do anything to get my current HSBC card. No, really! I got a letter in the mail one day, saying that HSBC recognized that my credit score had been improving, and they wanted to offer me this card if I wanted it. It was not the usual pre-approved application thing.
I'm guessing that HSBC was looking to drum up some business with a former customer, since one of the accounts I closed way back when was a line of credit with HSBC. Don't get me wrong, I'm happy they decided to do that, but $300 still isn't of much use for travel.
And Providian said they will notify me by letter, which sounds like a rejection to me. :("
rapidanian said: "Doesn't HSBC do CL increases based on payment history? Mine keeps going up every 3 months. I started with $300, went to $500, then $700 and now its $900 and I never once have asked for an increase....
Cap One on the other hand just keeps sending offers for new cards, but won't increase any CL. Before you know it, you've got 3 CRAP1 cards with yearly fees and rates that suck. (All PIF almost now though :D ).
As for the travel thing, I used to do corporate travel and for people that didn't travel a lot or had tight money situations, I set up direct billing with hotels and car rentals. Of course the airline tickets were bought by the company. The traveler did have to pay out of pocket for meals, gas and incidentals, but our turn around time for pay backs was much better than yours. 3 months is BAD and smacks of bad finance department management-you might want to talk to someone and ask them about reimbursement for interest paid on pending travel expenses. Have you ever asked for a cash advance for travel expenses? We did them routinely. Make sure that you are getting the right amount of money back too-so many people forget about mileage, tips, tolls, laundry, etc. Those things add up."
Lydia_C said: "[b]rapidanian[/b], if HSBC does automatic increases, that'll be great. I was just looking for a quicker approach, because the travel issue will come up before my CL makes it to a "useful" limit.
As for direct billing - I did ask about that, but ... the folks in the travel office are used to dealing with university execs who do travel on the university dime. Since I'm on the research staff and get my expenses reimbursed from outside grants, they prefer I go the route of submitting my expenses (every last receipt, in chronological order, taped to 8.5 x 11 paper, totals by expense category on a summary sheet, yadda yadda yadda) through my department administrator, who then signs off and submits to university accounting (which administers the grant $). Efficient it's not, and many have complained about the process, but since it's been like this for years I don't expect improvement.
[heavy sarcasm] This is academia, after all - we are all free-form thinkers here, not like corporate drones! [/hs] :p"
rapidanian said: "Well, for me, "corporate" travel means I did no "vacation" travel. I use to work on the UVA account in Charlottesville, VA. They did advances and direct billing for travelers whether they were execs or not. Make sure the folks in your travel department are not just being lazy. If they have direct billing set up with the hotels then all it takes is a phone call or fax authorizing specific charges such as room only, room and tax, room-tax-incidentals. For car rentals its even easier-all they have to do is enter the direct bill cd number. Of course, I have been out of the travel industry for about 4 years so some things have changed-you'd think for the better with automation anyway.
Make sure you know the rules for travel for your school and are not just being "told" what the rules are. Do you have a copy of their travel policy?
Shoot, do they have one? (I used to write them LOL)
The whole routine for reporting expenses is not unusual, been there, done that-on all sides of the issue."
Lydia_C said: "I do have a copy of the travel policy, [b]rapidanian[/b], and long experience with the rules here (going back 12 years now, if I include my time as a grad student). I could only wish my school were as efficient as UVA seems to have been when you were there, but really, the administrative folks above the department level here seem to have great resistance to any sort of effective functioning. Travel reimbursement delays are only the tip of the iceberg. One time, Payroll made a mistake by cutting only half my paycheck, then balked at having to go through to process of cutting an out-of-cycle check because "it wasn't that much money, after all." :rolleyes: Tell *that* to my creditors, eh? :p
And I know that the reimbursement stuff is standard. ;) I just wanted to vent a little about how we (the staff) have to be sure to jump through every last hoop, in contrast to accounting's lackadaisical attitude about processing the paperwork when they get it.
Bottom line, I don't stand a chance of changing the institutional attitudes around here, so I have to work within the limits that imposes. And that means finding a way to carry travel expenses without crippling myself financially at the day-to-day level.
P.S. Just found out that my reimbursement request filed early last December hasn't even been reviewed yet by accounting... *sigh*"
rapidanian said: "Lydia, does your school have a credit union? Maybe they can do something for you? Do you have any CDs or savings or anything you can use as collateral for a secured line of credit for these situations?"
Lydia_C said: "Unfortunately, there's no credit union here. Nothing through any of the professional groups I belong to, either. And thanks to a period of time I spent in consulting that turned out badly (I was an unpaid adjunct at the school at that time), I have no financial cushion to use for a secured line of credit. Which brings me back to why I need a line of credit to handle the travel expenses - every time I travel, most of my spare cash gets tied up while I wait for reimbursements..."
Lydia_C said: "Well it looks like today is turning out to be a banner day. :D
In desperation last night I applied online with Patelco Credit Union. Just checked my application status online and I see I'm approved for a $2,500 CL!!! w00t!! :D :D
All I have to do now is show my pay stub and enroll as a member... I'm relieved beyond belief, I have to tell you!"
credit_card_collector said: "Congrats big time. :D :D :D"
David said: "[QUOTE=Lydia_C]I do have a copy of the travel policy, [b]rapidanian[/b], and long experience with the rules here (going back 12 years now, if I include my time as a grad student). I could only wish my school were as efficient as UVA seems to have been when you were there, but really, the administrative folks above the department level here seem to have great resistance to any sort of effective functioning. Travel reimbursement delays are only the tip of the iceberg. One time, Payroll made a mistake by cutting only half my paycheck, then balked at having to go through to process of cutting an out-of-cycle check because "it wasn't that much money, after all." :rolleyes: Tell *that* to my creditors, eh? :p
And I know that the reimbursement stuff is standard. ;) I just wanted to vent a little about how we (the staff) have to be sure to jump through every last hoop, in contrast to accounting's lackadaisical attitude about processing the paperwork when they get it.
Bottom line, I don't stand a chance of changing the institutional attitudes around here, so I have to work within the limits that imposes. And that means finding a way to carry travel expenses without crippling myself financially at the day-to-day level.
P.S. Just found out that my reimbursement request filed early last December hasn't even been reviewed yet by accounting... *sigh*[/QUOTE]
I had a situation like that happen to me.. I just jumped on the gun and pushed it thru myself.
when you start asking where it says in the policy and labor guidelines that they can cut checks for incorrect amounts.. they start cutting them right.
document, document, document.
eventually someone will loose their job in that department for violation of some law"