"Same Here People"

Comment 1 by mrs628

Same Story Here!!!! on 2008-12-27

I have the Imagine Gold Mastercard, I paid my bill in full but they credited it late and my acct went over the limit. I was holiday shopping with this card and almost maxed it out. But I was sure to leave at least 20 bucks on there because of the 19 dollar fee they charge. Well that charge came, put me over the limit and they closed my acct saying it was over the limit and I would have to re apply. I said my bill has been paid on time without incident for the past year and they guy got smart saying Imagine is closing your acct. So now I'm up the creek without a paddle... This acct was becoming one of my oldest accts, now I have to start over, I still have my Bank of America card and although the Rewards 660 program has been shut down, I just received my replacement card, Indigo Mastercard... Imagine/Tribute... Those bastards!!!

Comment 2 by wildrage2

Let's Think About This For A Second on 2008-12-27

With all due respect, the ideas expressed in these comments are the same exact ones that made your credit crappy and had you resort to these cards in the first place. Things like "They always let my account go over limit," and "I keep the card maxed out to $20 under the limit," are principles that will only drive your credit score lower and lower. It's not the banks fault that you overused your card and are currently over your limit. You should realize that there is a participation fee and a finance charge which, depending on your balanace, may make you go over your limit. If you keep your balance to lower than 35% you will never have any of these problems. Maxing out and or going over limit on a rebuilder card is just totally counter-intuitive to me, but to each his own, I guess.

I have had this card for over a year, and as far as these types of cards go, this has been one of the best. My limit has more than doubled one year later, and they have cut my annual fee in half. I would recommend it to those who are denied to Orchard or Capital One.

Comment 3 by mskiwi

Rebuild Should = Relearn on 2008-12-27

I totally agree with Wildrage... The pupose of a rebuilder card is to relearn how to use credit properly after messing up credit. It gives you a second chance. Maxing out a rebuilder shows that maybe you still don't understand the use of credit or aren't ready for it. Credit is not a right, it is earned.

Comment 4 by meya

I Agree Too! on 2008-12-27

I mean seriously, how can you get mad at the creditor? If you are practicing mis-usage on your accounts by staying too close to the limits or letting it go over on numerous occasions, then you were never rebuilding in the first place. Instead, you were re-damaging your credit.

I don't know if they were aware of this or not, but staying over the limit can cause your other creditors (if any) to deny you cli's or new accounts period. That is not the way you handle credit. Wildrage, there is nothing else better to say than what you did, and your opinion is valid with plenty of sound. No objection here!

Comment 5 by thomas1

I SECOND THE MOTION on 2008-12-27

Here we go, or should I say there it went! Another card lost. One MOST important thing is when you rebuild is to stay under 30% utilization at ALL times. I expressly tell people this is the most important thing to do, except the obvious is to stay on time.

They saw your spending patterns, payment history, and probably profiled your account, just daring you to go overlimit or cut it wayyy too close. I do feel for you.

On the other hand, expect some damaging results scorewise, will drop like hail. But, I don't like to critisize anyone until I've walked in their shoes, but this was a disaster just waiting to happen.

Good thing you have a BOA, hopefully when they monitor your reports monthly, like most issuers do, they won't take any negative action. At this point, I can only suggest that you take the responses from all above in this forum, and never forget these things. Maybe you can see which card you may prequalify for with Orchard before that tradeline shows on your reports as "Closed by Credit Grantor" or such. Maybe, they will give you a starting out card. But, I wouldn't even apply if you intend to keep the same financial habits that you seem to have now.

Good luck to you, Hope all goes well!!

Comment 6 by mrs628

Here's The Thing... on 2008-12-28

I agree with the comments made here on the forum, and believe me, I didn't take offense to any of it. But here's the thing, I never maxed my card out before. It wasn't until the holiday's that I got swipe happy and why not? Never a late payment and bill always paid in full... I mainly used this card because it was growing with me. I could have used my BOA but I have that reserved for emergencies. I always pay my balance in full and never spend what I can't pay back. Even in this case, I paid it off in full but they credited it too late and thus my acct is closed. How can I not get mad at the creditor??? If they were to profile my acct they would always see PIF, and a one time mishap caused my acct to close with no late payments ever and my first over the limit charge? This isn't fair. I was a big advocator for Imagine/Tribute. After this, I now have reservations about them.

Comment 7 by meya

So Sorry! on 2008-12-28

The best thing you can ever do when it comes down to a company like this is to LEAVE THEM! I am with you all the way. I have heard so much bad news about this company, until if they sent me a pre-approval in the mail I would call my pastor to come and Christian my house because that card is from Satan himself.

Comment 8 by yoyo11

WOW on 2008-12-29

I just want to add, when you have a card w/annual/ monthly & main/fees... Keep some ava/credit on them... I'm still w/Tribute and mail the payment as soon as I get the bill... This month they got it in two days.

Comment 9 by mrs628

Lesson Learned... on 2008-12-29

Thanks for the advice YoYo, I will take that and all the advice others have given and run with it. This card isn't all that bad it did help my score by 47 points which opened the door to me getting my BOA card which I originally reported as a partially secured card, but they credited my acct the 99 dollars back saying no deposit needed because its a low level credit card. So I am making progress. I just wish I could have kept my Imagine Card open... I really liked that card. I'm even thinking of writing to Imagine to fight to keep it open. Hmph... Anyway thanks for the advice guys, I'll keep you posted.

Comment 10 by hawk

Have To Agree on 2009-01-02

Creditors will ofton let an account go over the limit however they have rules ritten in if you do go over you risk paying the default APR ofton very high price. Fee based cards should never get close to the limit. Do to over the limit fee if that happens when a bill is due they hit you with over limit and sometimes late fees if the the payment doesn't post intime. I would try the orchard card instead only one fee usually billed from the start. I have received offers from this and other banks like them too many fees for meone time fee for this plus yearly fee I just waited until HSBC said yes. Good luck and be careful when going shopping for holiday gifts. I was Good this year I used a few different cards for utilization and will pay them off right away.

Comment 11 by wanderer

Why??? on 2009-01-03

Why not pursue a Capital One, Orchard Bank, Household Bank, a secured card from Bank of America, Citibank, Chase or a similar quality major and enjoy quality credit. Cards like this exist to take advantage of new credit seekers and rebuilders. They are bottom feeders. YUK!

Comment 12 by zoe

BE WARNED!!! on 2009-01-08

I received my credit report recently and I noticed that my Tribute Gold account is in a closed status. When I called to ask them what happened they informed me that all Tribute card holders were sent a letter stating their accounts have been closed. The representative continued to advise that this letter should have been sent to me (I still have no such notification) and that this does not effect my credit. I advised her that I am applying for a loan and that I needed to have this line of credit as verification of my good payment history and I needed to have an open account that is revolving. As is the case now... It comes off like I've been closed for non-payment or delinquent when I have had the best of payment history with them. As a matter of fact, just recently I got a credit increase from $300 to $500! They even charged the annual fee... Just to cancel on me without notification. The rep then offered to send me a letter saying that my account is closed simply because the bank is no longer carrying Tribute cards. My second reason for calling them was that on my report it stated that in June I was 30 days. This is absolutely untrue! I requested that they remove that derogotory information from my report immediately. They asked that I call a different number to discuss that issue. I did just what they asked... And wouldn't you know that they are now claiming (just as others are reporting) that Tribute is alive and healthy as a company but that my account (in particular) was closed at their discretion for a late payment made in July! Again, no such thing has occured on my end! I have made my payments on time and even paid twice in one month. I requested my letter saying that this account was closed in good standing, and asked them to correct their discrepancy in reporting to the 3 bureaus. They declined to do either. I asked for a transcript and/or recording of our current conversation, and the conversation of 01/07/09 because I was advised that my conversation was being taped for qc purposes and I would like to have it. I was given a supervisor who told me he would have to search for it and call me back. You probably already guessed that I have not had a call back since! If I don't get resolution within 5 business days I will be filing a complaint with the FCC http://esupport. Fcc. Gov/complaints. Htm and the BBB https://odr. Bbb. Org/odrweb/public/complaintlink.aspx. I suggest that if your having the same or similar problem that you do the same.

Comment 13 by brownfox79

Tribute Mastercard on 2009-01-24

I've had my Tribute Card since 04/08(about 9 months). Starting CL was $300, after 5 mnths of on time payments increased to $350, 3 mths later increased to $450. (all auto CLI). I handle my acct by using their online automatic payments(free of charge), or you can pay through your bank's bill pay. Either way your payments are free, then you would not have to deal with them closing your accts due to whatever reason. I'm completely satisfied w/Tribute overall, and I've notice my scores creeping higher and higher. Really this isn't a bad rebuilder card. You do your part and they'll do theirs. Well, that's my 2 cents.

Comment 14 by danx35

No Problems So Far on 2009-09-03

Hi everyone, I'm new to the board but, wanted to give you my status. I opened my account with Tribute on 09/02/2008 & to date I haven't had any problems with them. I started of with a $ 70.00 credit line & I'm now sitting on $ 750.00 in just 1 year. I've heard they have closed a lot of accounts without notice but, so far they haven't done that to me. I also heard that they were closing their CC business down as of early this year but, as you can see My account is still opened. I just got another CLI with them yesterday. If anything changes I'll report back to this forum and let eveyone now but, so far so good. I forgot, a friend of mine said that he heard that the company has no intentions of shutting down & that they were healthy & thriving. Only time will tell if I get burnt. Hopefully not.

Please login or register for free to view your stats, add reviews and card application results, or post comments.