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     | Wednesday, October 04, 2000 - 06:06 pm  Sterling offers only SECURED Silver and Gold cards. I haven't heard ANYTHING about Sterling credit cards. Are they new? As of 10/4/2000 from the Sterling web site: "Sterling will report your payment history to credit bureaus ..." "You receive a credit card with a credit line equal to 120% of the amount of your deposit." Sterling LOW fees: As of 10/4/2000, the processing fee is $19, and the annual membership fee for a MasterCard or Visa is $39. Those are the only fees I could find. You can get started with as little as $219. Your grace period for repayment of the balance for purchases is 25 days. Late and over-limit fees are a hefty $25 each, make sure you pay on time and keep track of your charges. It sounds like a very inexpensive way to add another credit line to your reports to increase your Credit Scores when (re)establishing credit. Please post any Sterling experiences!
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| | Thursday, November 02, 2000 - 10:47 am I am about to open a Sterling account. What I would like to know from you before I do it, is whether opting for the higher deposit gold card is worth it in terms of improving my scores. Would having a higher credit limit help in any way? Any insight would be a help. I will post my experiences with them when I have everything established.
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| | Thursday, November 02, 2000 - 02:31 pm Only Fair Issac knows how they calculate the scores but there is no mention, as far as I know, on their website of a higher limit equaling a higher score. They seem to be more concerned with how high your balance is compared to your credit limit. So in theory all else being equal someone who uses $30 out of a $300 limit will have the same score as someone who uses $300 out of a $3000 limit.
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| | Friday, March 23, 2001 - 10:55 am I sent Sterling a cashiers check for $519, so as to secure a card with a $600 limit. When I bought the check, I couldn't remember to whom to make it payable, so the teller suggested payable to myself, and endorse it over to whomever. So I did this, and mailed everything off. A couple weeks later, I got a letter from Sterling, returning my cashiers check, with a note stating they "do not accept 3rd party checks." The SAME DAY, I got 2 other letters saying they've received my application, but there was no check to go with it. Also, I received ANOTHER letter from them (on that same day), with a number for customer service, should I have any questions. About 2 weeks later, I got ANOTHER letter from them, saying they didn't receive a check with my application. So, I don't know how they report, but it sure seems to me they hired their share of idiots and morons. I doubt I'll go with their offer again. But, I may change my mind, too.
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| | Friday, March 23, 2001 - 02:16 pm Well, that's not too promising. Have to add here that the teller was an idiot too. Few institutions accept 3rd party deposits anymore. From their FAQ: "I keyed in the wrong password three times and now I can't get into Online Banking. What should I do? For your protection, we have limited the number of login attempts to three. If you have exceeded your three attempts, please call 1-800-944-2265 to have your Online Banking access reset." I called 1-800-944-2265. I got a recording to leave my name and address so they can mail me an application. "Can I bank by phone? Absolutely. If you are away from your computer or cannot get on the Internet you can transfer funds between Sterling accounts, get account information and more. Just call 1-800-776-2265 to access your account information 24 hours a day, 7 days a week." I just called 800-776-2265, and got a recording stating that they are closed. Apparently it only works during their business hours. "Can I bank by phone? Absolutely. If you are away from your computer or cannot get on the Internet you can transfer funds between Sterling accounts, get account information and more. Just call 1-800-776-2265 to access your account information 24 hours a day, 7 days a week." Same number, Mon - Fri 8:00 AM to 5:30 PM EST Sterling Bank sure has a very strange definition of 24 hour service. This really is a bummer. It seemed like such a good deal. Too good to be true? How can they get away with advertising what they don't have? copy e-mailed to webmaster@sterlingbank.com and affiliates@sterlingbank.com
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| | Monday, March 26, 2001 - 06:54 pm Got an e-mailed response from the webmaster today, I guess I misread the 24 hour statements above AND I have no patience left. The above number apparently DOES allow you to do AUTOMATED phone banking, after you listen to a gazillion announcements including that they are CLOSED, their banking hours, and phone numbers to call for lost cards and whatever bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla. At the end you get the option for automated info. Maybe other people don't mind listening to lengthy announcements, I just can't deal with it. I'm busy. And, somehow I expected to be able to speak to a person. It's been many years since I had a credit card or bank account where I couldn't talk to "somebody" 24/7. Dialed the number for changing the password, it is now disconnected. Went to look at their FAQ again, couldn't find it anymore. So I went to the "contact us" link and followed the link to "Credit Card Customer Service Support - for Credit Card customer service related questions: Not ONE piece of contact info, except for a form: "Credit Card Customer Service Support Our dedicated team of Credit Card Service Representatives respond to your Service Related Questions 5 days a week, Mon-Thurs.- 8:30am -10pm ET and Fri - 8:30am-5pm ET. We focus on personal service and answer your inquiries quickly and efficiently with solutions that work! Please fill in the form completely. All requests will be answered by the next business day! If you want a credit card application mailed to you via U.S. Mail, please click on MAIL ME AN APPLICATION. Please do not send personal or account information via email, as emails are not secure over the internet." Well, that statement about e-mails not being secure is odd, since they don't provide an e-mail address! It's strange that they DO encourage people to call the branch during business hours. After all, the phone is MUCH less secure than e-mail. Anyway, I HATE those forms with a passion. When I first became a Sterling affiliate, I DID waste my time on that form, inquired about their credit reporting. I NEVER got an answer. AND, like most companies, they did NOT send me a copy of my submission. There is NO phone number, no e-mail except for the webmaster, no snail mail address ANYWHERE on that page. Well, I guess you get what you pay for. I'd like to get some more feedback from people who managed to open an secured credit card account. As far as on-line banking goes, Sterling makes CompuBank look really good. It's too bad I have to downgrade my recommendations. I guess you can't expect a whole lot from a secured card, and it still is a cheap way to re-establish credit, but service is definitely lacking. copy: webmaster@sterlingbank.com
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