Orchard Bank

This company is a subsidiary of HSBC which was recently implicated in a scandal with the gov of NY.

I had an account with them which I recently closed.

My experience:
I found that when charges are made to the account, that if you go over the limit by the slightest, there is no grace even if a payment is already in processing. They will apply a fee anyway.
If the monthly interest causes you to go overlimit, they will apply an overlimit fee.
If the annual fee does so, they will again apply this fee.

I was late once and they added a late fee. No problem until I saw that it took me overlimit at which time they also tacked on an overlimit fee.

Did I say something about their fees?

I took this card with the intent of rebuilding my credit. It is not truly set up to help the debtor in any way. The fees will be stacked one upon the other continually.
At least, this has been my experience with them.

I will give them credit in that they have taken some of the fees off in the past after I called and raised sand about it.

Personally, I don't feel like it is worth the trouble to continue dealing with them.

I wonder if anyone on here has had similar experiences with them?

[Rhoni]

I just joined a class action lawsuit against Compass Bank for doing the same thing. There is a fraud dept that is investigating. I closed all my accounts out and moved to another bank. I thought it was a Texas problem because I have had so much trouble since moving to Texas.

It is called "Creative Manipulation of funds".

[Digging4Truth]

Originally Posted by Rev Dooley

This company is a subsidiary of HSBC which was recently implicated in a scandal with the gov of NY.

I had an account with them which I recently closed.

My experience:
I found that when charges are made to the account, that if you go over the limit by the slightest, there is no grace even if a payment is already in processing. They will apply a fee anyway.
If the monthly interest causes you to go overlimit, they will apply an overlimit fee.
If the annual fee does so, they will again apply this fee.

I was late once and they added a late fee. No problem until I saw that it took me overlimit at which time they also tacked on an overlimit fee.

Did I say something about their fees?

I took this card with the intent of rebuilding my credit. It is not truly set up to help the debtor in any way. The fees will be stacked one upon the other continually.
At least, this has been my experience with them.

I will give them credit in that they have taken some of the fees off in the past after I called and raised sand about it.

Personally, I don't feel like it is worth the trouble to continue dealing with them.

I wonder if anyone on here has had similar experiences with them?

Has it recently been purchased?

I have banked with Regions Bank for years and have really enjoyed their level of service.

Regions was recently purchased by AmSouth and their policies changed drastically.

They give you overdraft charges for "pending" transactions.
Moving money from one account to another used to be instantaneous but now it takes days.
They now sort each days transactions by largest to smallest ensuring that the most possible charges will be incurred.

I have been with Regions for over a decade and I will be changing banks this coming Friday.

They were a great bank and everything has changed.

I look forward to zeroing out my accounts

[TRFrance]

Credit cards companies act like the Mafia sometimes.
And unfortunately, its all legal.

[Kae]

Originally Posted by TRFrance

Credit cards companies act like the Mafia sometimes.
And unfortunately, its all legal.

Actually it isn't legal. The fact that you sign a contract with them and then they can change the details at will is illegal. There are means of recourse. I can't remember the name of the lady who has written a book on credit cards and that what they do is illegal, but she is very informative. I believe she is a lawyer.

Credit card companies also target people who pay the minimum fee monthly. They know that you are a good source of income for them and will try to get you to open other cards. They also make a whole lot of money on those other fees and will move your due date around (which is illegal) so that you will pay late and have a late fee.

[CC1]

Just about all of the banks charge those fees. I saw the other day that a huge part of most banks profits are from these credit card fees for late payments, over limit charges, and overdraft charges on bank accounts.

I could understand some slight peanlty for some of these things like five bucks but twenty five and thirty five dollards for a payment one day late is just crazy.

I pay 95% of my bills online but my wife has a little credit card that she forgets to pay like clockwork each month even though I remind her. We have probably paid $25 or $30 bucks a month 10 out of 12 months this past year. When I get the money to pay it off I am doing so and tearing it up!

[Rhoni]

Originally Posted by CC1

Just about all of the banks charge those fees. I saw the other day that a huge part of most banks profits are from these credit card fees for late payments, over limit charges, and overdraft charges on bank accounts.

I could understand some slight peanlty for some of these things like five bucks but twenty five and thirty five dollards for a payment one day late is just crazy.

I pay 95% of my bills online but my wife has a little credit card that she forgets to pay like clockwork each month even though I remind her. We have probably paid $25 or $30 bucks a month 10 out of 12 months this past year. When I get the money to pay it off I am doing so and tearing it up!

I always send credit card payments with return receipt. They like to say that it "isn't posted" when it has been there for several days. After I started the return receipt I have had absolutely no problem with them. If they know you are keeping trac otherwise they'll stiff you every month.

[ForeverBlessed]

Originally Posted by Rev Dooley

This company is a subsidiary of HSBC which was recently implicated in a scandal with the gov of NY.

I had an account with them which I recently closed.

My experience:
I found that when charges are made to the account, that if you go over the limit by the slightest, there is no grace even if a payment is already in processing. They will apply a fee anyway.
If the monthly interest causes you to go overlimit, they will apply an overlimit fee.
If the annual fee does so, they will again apply this fee.

I was late once and they added a late fee. No problem until I saw that it took me overlimit at which time they also tacked on an overlimit fee.

Did I say something about their fees?

I took this card with the intent of rebuilding my credit. It is not truly set up to help the debtor in any way. The fees will be stacked one upon the other continually.
At least, this has been my experience with them.

I will give them credit in that they have taken some of the fees off in the past after I called and raised sand about it.

Personally, I don't feel like it is worth the trouble to continue dealing with them.

I wonder if anyone on here has had similar experiences with them?

experience that I have, but it was with Capitol one.

Most of those lending to those with imperfect credit have fees.. they are pretty much designed to give pain where it hurts most when the rules aren't followed to a T.... it hurts most in charging fees. I learned the hard way a few years ago... got mad, called and argued fees, they reversed a few... then I paid the card off and closed the account...all in one mad phone call.

Anyway, lesson learned and that is when i read up on rebuilding credit. This has been a very long process with me. I struggle with my credit rating not getting much higher even though i pay everything on time and have nothing but my car loan and house loan in oustanding debt...and both are w/banks and low interest.

I was told that they also look at income in ratio to debt/dependents...that the rating isn't just the timeliness of payments.. and it would be a while before I saw that number increase because of my income alone.. I don't know if I believe that totally..but I just keep pluggin away at it anyway.

i happen to love my Orchard credit card because it has a very user friendly website. I pay online and never late with anything... I watch it closely.

#1 lesson I learned in rebuilding credit... don't close charge accounts.. leave the open acct but it actually lowers your credit rating by close exhisting credit accounts.

Also.. in rebuilding credit... it is the available credit that makes your rating go up... use the credit card, but pay it off monthly..that will build the credit. At the very least, keep a large amount as open credit on the card... If you keep a credit card maxed out, it looks as though you are stretched to the limit... even if you are making faithful payments.

[Digging4Truth]

I had thought that my issues stemmed from a recent purchase of my bank (Regions Bank purchased by AmSouth) but I am finding that people who are banking where there has been no change of hands are finding the same problem.

There are changes in the way the transactions are being processed resulting in un-called for charges.

Transfers to an account used to be instantaneous and now takes days.

Banks are sorting the days transactions not in order or receipt but from largest to smallest. This allows for the customer to incur the most possible charges and brings in more money for the bank to operate.

I had seen this as just fluke that I was facing but I am seeing that this is not the case. Then I ran across the video below this morning.

Listen to time marker 2:25 to 3:03. This guy is saying that changes are being made (including dumping tons of cash into the system) just to keep checks clearing from bank to bank.

So... what I thought was a customer service issue with my bank appears to be a sign of major issues such banks running so low that they are clearly unable to clear checks as they come through.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jGQzf0nDLxI

[BrotherEastman]

Originally Posted by ForeverBlessed

experience that I have, but it was with Capitol one.

Most of those lending to those with imperfect credit have fees.. they are pretty much designed to give pain where it hurts most when the rules aren't followed to a T.... it hurts most in charging fees. I learned the hard way a few years ago... got mad, called and argued fees, they reversed a few... then I paid the card off and closed the account...all in one mad phone call.

Anyway, lesson learned and that is when i read up on rebuilding credit. This has been a very long process with me. I struggle with my credit rating not getting much higher even though i pay everything on time and have nothing but my car loan and house loan in oustanding debt...and both are w/banks and low interest.

I was told that they also look at income in ratio to debt/dependents...that the rating isn't just the timeliness of payments.. and it would be a while before I saw that number increase because of my income alone.. I don't know if I believe that totally..but I just keep pluggin away at it anyway.

i happen to love my Orchard credit card because it has a very user friendly website. I pay online and never late with anything... I watch it closely.

#1 lesson I learned in rebuilding credit... don't close charge accounts.. leave the open acct but it actually lowers your credit rating by close exhisting credit accounts.

Also.. in rebuilding credit... it is the available credit that makes your rating go up... use the credit card, but pay it off monthly..that will build the credit. At the very least, keep a large amount as open credit on the card... If you keep a credit card maxed out, it looks as though you are stretched to the limit... even if you are making faithful payments.

Capitol One was another one I closed!