Tier levels of credit cards

[Rob72830]

Can anyone give me a list of tier one banks. I have the following cards and want to start moving up to better ones: Cap 1 m/c platnium, Orchard m/c platinum, Centennial (First Premier) m/c, Wamu Visa platinum and Penneys store card.

I have these coming soon: BofA 99/500 card, HSBC Rewards m/c, and Walmart store card. I am pretty sure Wamu and BofA are Tier 1 but I would like to know the others so later when my scores are up to around high 600's I can apply for them. Thanks for your help group.

[shark6]

Tier !

Amex
Chase
Citibank
Discover
Carte Blanche- but I have never met anyone who owned it
USAA

Regarding Walmart, can you share what your fico was and your limit? Last year, spouse got pre-approval and they gave hima $850 limit, he declined and mailed it back even though I begged him to reconsider, lol. I'm asking because i've seen lots of people denied or offered low limits.

[hjm331]

Shark6, if they start you off with a low limit doesn't mean that you will be stuck there. If you use the card heavily and pay on-time, they will keep raising your limit because they are making money off you and they always want to keep their loyal customers satisfied.

[shark6]

It depends. It has worked the opposite with me. With my two Cap 1 cards which I have had over 4years, I never got a CLI. However, the year when I got them down to like 10%uti and basically charged little or nothing, they went from 1k to 2k and from $500 to 1k.

Macy's went from $800 to $2k and I barely used the card, I'm talking $200 bal. so the reverse has been true for me.

HSBC auto raised my limit from $1k to $1200 after about 9mths even though when I activated and asked for a CLI, they denied me. My balance was around $400-$500 on the 1k limit.

[hjm331]

I guess it all really comes down to how the creditors likes to do business.

[Rob72830]

Tier !

Amex
Chase
Citibank
Discover
Carte Blanche- but I have never met anyone who owned it
USAA

Regarding Walmart, can you share what your fico was and your limit? Last year, spouse got pre-approval and they gave hima $850 limit, he declined and mailed it back even though I begged him to reconsider, lol. I'm asking because i've seen lots of people denied or offered low limits.

Shark, thanks for the info. I know now what cards to shoot for in afew months. Regarding Walmart, I had a Plus score of 630 from Experian and a PFICO of 646 from Transunion. I got a cl of $300. Hope this helps.

[shark6]

Yes it did. Thank you.

[hjm331]

Good luck Shark6, let us know what happens.

[Eric]

Tier 1 banks

1. BofA
2. Citi
3. Chase
Now these are your top 3.
4. Amex (worth noting that they have been dropping CL's like no tommorow.
5. Discover
And there are alot banks around that have Tier 1 cards. My definition of a T1 card would be no maintenence fees, monthly fees, no fees for paying over the internet, no startup fee, and BS fees.

Tier 2 banks would be GEMB, Target, Macy's etc that dont charge all the fees but have the higher interest rates for being store cards.

Tier 3 would be your huge start up fee cards.

[KMoney]

Tier 1 banks

1. BofA
2. Citi
3. Chase
Now these are your top 3.
4. Amex (worth noting that they have been dropping CL's like no tommorow.
5. Discover
And there are alot banks around that have Tier 1 cards. My definition of a T1 card would be no maintenence fees, monthly fees, no fees for paying over the internet, no startup fee, and BS fees.

Tier 2 banks would be GEMB, Target, Macy's etc that dont charge all the fees but have the higher interest rates for being store cards.

Tier 3 would be your huge start up fee cards.

AMEX big time has been dropping the CLIs

[Rob72830]

Thanks for that info. Would you consider BofA and Citi secured cards tier one or two? They are top of the line banks but have low A/F's.

[hjm331]

Rob, BofA and Citi secured cards are offered by tier 1 banks but I wouldn't consider them as tier 1 cards because of their terms. Their interest rate isn't all that great and they annual fees. I still consider them a lot better than First Premier Bank credit cards because they force you to pay $250 upfront and you don't get your money back. But with a secured card, you get your deposit back and they unsecure your card to a better one after a year or so.

[Meya]

Thought this was a nice link to bring back up so that members can see what we mean when we say, "Tier Banks or Cards!"

10/23/08

[mousepad]

bump

[smcc]

Most of the Tier 1 Cards at BOA (and Eric can confirm this) has a limit of $100K. In order to hit this limit you would have to make at least $500K or 20% of your income. Then again if your making that kind of money AMEX will be at your door with a personal invitation for their Black Card.