Giving Banks Credit

· 2 min read

Now that I’m almost a year into fixing my credit, I’m starting to get a lot of offers for credit. Well sort of. Most of the loans in being offered are really absurd; a loan for $1000 that will cost $500?! I’ve also received a lot of credit card applications. Many of these offers say “pre-approved” or “prescreened.” I’m finding that what that means is that they’ve realized my credit is improving, but this doesn’t mean they’ll approve me. First National Bank of Omaha sent me this kind of offer.  I had a discussion with FNBO here.

Chase Bank has sent me these kind of offers too, and they denied me as well. This isn’t some random act. I’ve never received these types of solicitation before my credit repair efforts, so I KNOW it’s not some random event. When  I contacted customer service, they apologized but didn’t really offer give any signals that they would change the way they send out offers. This annoys me to no end. If you send me offers that look as if it’s been looked over when it’s not, that’s misleading. Not only that, but every credit inquiry has an impact on my credit rating. So it’s not only a waste of my time, but a negative to my effort to repair my credit.

That being said, there's not a lot I can do about it. Well, there's not a lot I can do, save one thing. I've decided that even if it costs me over the long run, I'm going to be brand loyal to those that sent me offers and came through for me (namely Capital One and American Express). I know that my credit will get better over time. I've had my credit rating increase around 70 points in a year, and I plan on keeping up my monthly pay-offs of my credit cards.  Even if they'd offer me an interest free credit card, I won't bite. The only way I can protest this type of  business practice is to reward those that don't do it with my business, and refuse business with those who do.  It's something small, but it's what I CAN do.