Credit Card Profile #5-Continental Chase Consumer And Business Mastercard.

I have dealt (for myself and for others) with all the major credit card issuers, and the worst 3 are Chase, Capital One, Providian (which I think was bought out by WAMU, so I have no idea how its now)

the best 3 are Amex, Citi, MBNA (now BOA… also ok)

I am basing this on overall CS, rates, fees, benefits etc.

so based on the above, I would rate the card lower b/c it’s from Chase

do you agree?

No, Ive already included fees (annual fees, not interest fees-if you’re not paying off your bill monthly you shouldn’t be using a credit card, period) and benefits in all of the rankings.

CS is very hard to rank, everyone will have a good or bad experience. in just the last roundup one person commented that Chase had the best CS…

I agree with you, that “if you’re not paying off your bill monthly you shouldn’t be using a credit card, period”

but it does not always work that way… I know that even if you are never late, and are far from being maxed out, if one of your other cards has a couple thousand on it (lets say a 0% BT offer) the bad banks I mentioned will jack up your rate to the default rate….

I am also talking about disputes, which I have lots of experience with… (Amex rules!!)

And also Website is a major issue, same day payments (at AMEX you can pay until 3am EST for it to be considered ontime…

of course I have had some bad experiences with Amex and Citi, but overall I have been on the phone with banks tens of thousands of times (for myself and for others…) helped people with damaged rental cars, and from all the stories I have dealt with, or heard about…. I would say that Amex and Citi rule,

so I am very happy that the best cards “Starwood” and “AA” are from the 2 best banks.

*also keep in mind the intention of the credit card with giving 0% intro rates or nice sign up bonuses, is for you to keep the card and go in debt, which many people do (I wish I knew the stats) so while you may not go in debt, many people will, or miss a payment etc… so its good to be at a good bank…

I love this kind of info. Dan, thanks allot for the round-ups it great.

Anon, do you know anything about closing credit cards and how it affects credit ratings?

if i have the card open just for a few week than cancel. will is still br $85? or they deduct 11 months off the charge?

you actually wont have to pay anything if you cancel it within 30 days of getting the $85 charge…

yes, but it may take more then 30days for the miles to post. so you have to wait till they post, so back to my original question, will it be 85 or only a twelth??

What about Credit Ratings? I love getting these sign up bonus. I have received quite a few over the past few years. But, when I finally went to check my FICO score, I noticed that it had gone down.

Obviously, I did not order up too many credit cards. I showed that over the past 7 years I had signed up for 12 credit cards and had canceled 3 of them.

Do you ever worry about having to buy a house one day, etc?

Thats why i dont cancel cards and have a top-notch score!
See:
How To Cancel A Credit Card
Even if you do cancel though it’s only a temporary hit due to the lost credit line, it will bounce up by itself within the year.

Personally, I do plan to buying a house one day. I think its wise to do take these cards carefully. I have 2 but I’m being coutios about getting more. Dans advice on “how to cansel a card” seems good. I hope it works.

when I DO cancel a card, does my score just go down because of the lost credit line, or is there something about lenders “seeing” those closed accounts thats not good?

Hey dan gr8 info. Just one Question. If I do your idea of opening a consumer card for continental and they charge me the 85, if I sign up for another continental card even if I combine the 2 continental cards together do they stll charge me another 85 dollars. Or is it just once because I combined them

All cards say that.