Please Intervene in My Target REDcard Application Process

SOUND LIKE YOU LIKE TO COMPLAIN. ECONOMIC TIMES ARE ROUGH. i HAVE DONE
LOTS OF PRICE COMPARISON. WAL-MART BY FAR IS THE BETTER PRICE.
cREDITORS ARE CRAPPY NO MATTER WHAT COMPANY. sO tRY AND NOT USE CARDS
AND PAY AS YOU GO.

Trust me, you should be glad you don't get one. I work at Target and
they push us to offer these cards to EVERYONE. The interest is SKY
HIGH. If you are looking to get a fresh start (and good for you by
the way!) do NOT try to do it by getting a Target RedCard.

If you have other cards available, why is this one so important to
you? Now, I'll tell you the reason I ask.

My husband and I just spent a considerable amount of time and money
cleaning up our credit and paying off our cards. We found that we
just had too many cards, especially store specific cards like Target,
Macy's, Sears, Home Depot and Kohls. Some we remember opening and do
use and some we don't even recall having. More than likely, we opened
them to take advantage of some offer which has long since expired.

Due to all this, it really looked like we had way too many open
accounts and that could ultimately affect our FICO score negatively.
We consolidated and/or paid off these accounts and are in the process
of cancelling them. We are only going to keep one or two revolving
charges for emergencies and our American Express card that has to be
paid off monthly.

We were also advised against opening too many accounts because there
is just too many risks involved as far as fraud.

Thanks to all for your candid responses. Firstly, I do not recall the
account, nor can I find any record of it on previous credit reports,
however, as those years were very trying and difficult times, I can
not deny it was mine with absolute certainty.

I have over the years repaired and rebuilt my credit, carrying and
paying in full before the statement date of several other credit
cards, so as to maintain continual FICO point increases while low
balances report despite high usage. My desire for a Target card is
not so much for credit rebuilding as is due to the quantity of
purchases that I made there and to have the available store credit
(which I would pay in full before the due date, thereby avoiding any
interest rates) for purchases that I routinely make regardless.

As one of you stated and several others concurred, I wrote this letter
with a bit too much emotion, yet I would like to clarify that Target
never pulled a credit report for this recent denial, they based it
soley on the activity of the previous account with no other regard to
my current credit worthiness - FICO scores, income, or other credit
mix and utility. So others may benefit from the "you should have
treated the card better" or "don't spend more than you earn" comments,
gratefully, I have lived and learned those lessons already.

I am certain that Target in the grand scheme of things will not miss
my purchases one bit, but based on principle alone, I can blacklist
too. Just because I am one in pool of millions, I don't believe that
I am less important - if so, why should we vote or weigh in about
anything, if one voice or action or opinion means little?

Finally, I openly apologize to Target for my inadvertant extortion
attempt, as pointed out by a poster, which was certainly not my intent
- never even occured to me. My principle statement is that I want to
give business to companies whose business practices I believe in and I
believe in second chances.

Thanks to all for past and future comments - certainly food for
thought!

It is the sole decision of the creditor (Target National Bank) to
decide who they will approve credit to. There could be many reasons
why the account was declined other then the previous "alleged"
account.

What happens in your personal life between the old card and the recent
application is irrelevant to their decision to deny credit. However, I
am sorry for your loss.

I don't understand why it's a Target charge you seek. There are plenty
of cards out there that have lower balance rates and are much better
to help you start to build a good credit history. I have a Target card
and the only reason I still have it is it's better to have a card in
good standing that you've had for a long period and continue to use
periodically then to close and reopen another account. That does hurt
your score and could be why they declined to open you a new account.

Refusing to give you credit is not meant to be personal and you
shouldn't take it as so. If you decide to stop shopping at Target due
to this, well it's your and their loss, but I don't think they'll
really sweat it. However, you might if you're having to travel farther
to find another box store out of your way.

And I don't remember ever trying drugs. You need an intervention, but
not the one you seek.

How can you say it was an "alleged" charge off when you know perfectly
well it was. Why else would you be goveling now?

Pay with check or cash. Leave the credit cards to those who pay them
off monthly and know how to use these.

And for heaven's sake, get up off your knees.

to decide whether or not you should get a credit card, and this letter
was the only thing I had to judge you by, I wouldn't extend credit to
you.

The main reason is this "alleged" previous card. You don't remember
it, but you don't mention having pursued it as identity theft. What
you do say is that you lost your job and had just had a new baby, and
that you were "emotionally and financially drained," all of which
appears to be suggesting that you did it but were at such a bad time
in your life that you weren't responsible for doing it -- now, on the
other hand, your "life and career have improved" and as a result so
have your "stability, accountability and responsibility." I'm really
glad things are going better for you, because it sounds as if you went
through a very hard time back then, but when you attribute your
behavior and personal characteristics to outside forces rather than to
the more mature person whom you have become, it just suggests that
whatever you did the last time things fell apart might happen again if
things were, God forbid, to fall apart in the future. That alone says
to me that you're not a good person to take a chance on, especially in
today's economy.

One would think that you would stop there, but instead you turn to
extortion. You have been "generous" to Target by shopping there. You
have lived with their "unreasonable" policy of not giving you your
money back for a defective product that doesn't meet the criteria for
return, but only trading it for another (non-defective) copy of the
same thing. These are apparently things that they should consider,
rather than your history of not paying your Target bills: Target owes
you something. But if they refuse to give you a card, you'll punish
them. You'll quit shopping there and you'll return all your recent
purchases. You seem to be suggesting that that will all be a lot of
money, and while I'm sure you apend much more money at Target than I
do, what with all your success and a family to feed, I don't believe
that it's going to be enough,compared with Target's bottom line, that
they'll really notice.

Should the wealth you pour into the Target coffers be too little to gt
results, you will also take a bunch of kids to whom you have some sort
of responsibility, and you will force them to retaliate right along
with you. Target makes your offspring and students happy, you're
suggesting, but if they won't give you a line of credit Target will be
responsible for their future unhappiness. I assume that the reason
Target is such a good draw for these kids is that it has a wide range
of products at low prices. You can take 'em to Walmart and they'll be
just as happy; you can take 'em to K-Mart if they have one near you;
but if you don't have another superstore then anyone who's getting a
card rather than cash is just going to be out of luck."

Then you wind up by stressing your "great humility." This great
humility really does not come through to me. If I were the one making
the decision, you would be turned down. I would not expect that to be
the last time I heard from you, of course, but I would just keep
turning you down.

If you really want this credit card, I suggest rewriting this letter
at a time when you are calmer, and then having it read over by someone
who doesn't love you enough (and is not intimidated by you enough) to
just agree that it's awesome no matter whether or not it is. I
suggest stressing the kind of person you have become in the last 6
years, and I suggest saying something about how much you and the kids
enjoy shopping there without saying anything about what will happen if
you are denied.

Good luck.

Good luck. Target is extremely unforgiving.

Nineteen years ago, when I was a teenage college student with my first
checking account, I bounced a check at Target. Yes, of course it was
my fault, but teenagers do have a tendency to be irresponsible at
times. Anyway, Target was paid, in full, with additional charges, and
again all this happened nearly two decades ago.

But to this day, Target will not accept a check from me. Since that
incident, I have obtained car loans, business loans, mortgage sand
credit cards and have a perfectly respectable credit history and score
but Target will never accept a check from me again because I bounced
one (for $17) back in 1989.

Sorry, Sheila, but I don't think a Target credit card is in your
future.

You obviously ran into a string of bad luck, sorry I think most of us
at some point have, including me. However to ask Target to give you a
second chance after you already failed to pay them once? Maybe after
you reestablish your credit elsewhere Target might opt to give you the
desired second chance (maybe not though, screw me one shame on me...).
Not being a fan personally of Target I hate to take their side, seems
to me however you are asking for a lot given your past credit with
them. Establish credit else where and then try again.

It is odd that you say that you dont remember it being you that
openened the card, then gave reasons why it could have been you.

You really do not need credit cards to make it in life. There are
many people that live life daily without using them. It is a matter
of living on a written budget, saving, cutting back on the fast food
etc, and finding a way to increase your household income.

My wife and I made that decision years ago and prove that is possible
to without credit cards or borrowing money. We bought a small
foreclosed house when we were young for about 40k that we paid cash
for when we were young. We made alot of upgrades to the house over
the years with Cash, and we still live in the same house. I know it
is counter to what people think, they want their big house, and they
want it now, and they will pay (30 year loans) through the nose for
it.

You can choose to live that way, then when tough times come, many
people cannot afford to live, because their whole families livelihood
depends on mom and dad making the huge house payment, the car
payments, etc etc. And what is the number one/two cause of divorce?
Money! True, some people can make it through a financial disaster
toether.

The big lie is that you have to have credit and/or credit cards. If
you really wanted to go into debt their are home loans that will
satisfy that desire that do not look at your FICO score, it is called
Manual Underwriting. Most large loans company have these available for
people with little/bad or no FICO scores. And you do not need a
credit card to rent a car from the major carriers, Hertz etc. That is
another lie that has been spread, I have even seen it spread here.

You sound like you have had a rough start. Do something different.
Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a
different result. If you play with the credit card snakes again, you
will eventually get bit. Some will get bit harder than others.

My suggestion is to live on what you earn. Living frugally does not
mean you do not have fun, it just means what you spend, is paid for.


Good Day

I'm confused whether or not you had an account with them before or
not. Part of this letter makes it sounds like you are denying every
having an account and are making a statement that the records they
have on you are not true. You even go so far as to suggest that
because they don't keep statement records prior to August 2001 that
this is proof that Target is scamming you.

Other parts of your letter talk about how had credit problems, due to
your unfortunate situations. Are you saying that you did go
delinquent with Target during this challenging period?

It's always a red flag when a customer BEGS for credit.

I just may puke. "If I knew Target was so unforgiving, I would have
spent my consumer dollars elsewhere, based on principle alone."

Maybe if Target knew that you were going to let an account go
delinquent, they'd never have given you credit in the first place.

Look, stop taking it so personally. It's a frickin CREDIT CARD. You
blew it in the past with them. So get another credit card. If you
can't, that's a sign that you still have some repairs to do to your
credit reports. If you can, then you don't need a Target card.

Besides, all you need is ONE credit card, for emergencies and special
purchases that need purchase protection.

"starting with a prompt return of all my recent home and business
purchases."

I hope she has receipts for all of them. Target's return policy is
very strict.