dolmar said:I am shocked Chase agreed to issue this card as Contrywide is 2nd largest issuers of sub prime mortgages after HSBC only slightly larger than Wamu. I assume a large chunk of Countrywide clients have low fico or risky home loans ie interest only arms.

Chase in general is one of the stingiest/hardest issuers. Only AMEX takes adverse action quicker than Chase against high risk people.

Countrywide services a lot of loans they didn't originate and less than 9% of the loans they did originate in 2006 were subprime.

dweick you do understand any loan that does not adheard to underwriting guidelines set by Freddie or Fannie are considered sub-prime loans? Ie All Interest only Loans, No Doc Loans, ARM's with resets under 5 year's, all loans with LTV over 85% except first time buyer program.

You can have 800 Fico and because you took one of the above loans it is considered a sub-prime loan because it is sold as ALT-A or B loan which are considered sub-prime loans. Only A loans are sold as prime loans.

Remember there is difference between a sub-prime loan and a sub prime borrower. CountryWide is a sub-prime lender because many of the loans they buy and orginate are repackage and resold as sub-prime loans. They are not a hard money lender who lenders to sub-prime borrowers. Countrywide lends money to people who have high credit scores with low down payments with little or No Doc. These are not sub prime borrowers.

If you are buying mortgage-backed securities only A loans are considered Prime. ALT-A and B loans are considered sub prime loans and mortgage-backed securities that are marketed with these loan products are marketed as sub prime mortgage-backed securities.

I'm not sure why it's important or not whether or not Countrywide is a sub-prime lender. Isn't the deal just as good whether they are or not? My mortgage ended up at Countrywide because they purchased it. That was fine by me.

It surprises ME that Chase issues a Countrywide card because they are COMPETITORS. For years I had a Chase mortgage which they kept and serviced until I sold the property so I'm surprised they have a co-branded card with a competitor but I don't see the relevance of the prime/sub-prime distinction.

If Chase issued this card, how come it doesn't show up on chase.com? all chase cards have shown up automatically for me in the past. On the back of the CW card, it says to go to www.cardmemberservices.com, which has the exact user interface as chase.com. Does anyone know if they use the same database to store user ID/pw or do I have to sign up?

jmz668 said:dolmar said:Countrywide lends money to people who have high credit scores with low down payments with little or No Doc.
Then why are you shocked Chase issues this CC?

It's not like they issue the card to everyone who applies for it.

People who take loans with short ARM and low down payments tend to have lower fico's and interest only loans tend to be higher risk. From your credit report you can not tell what your down payment on your home is or weather it is interest only, 1 year arm etc. But credit card issuers know there is a reason you went to that lender to get your mortgage and Chase has to know it. BTW Countrywide policy to have tier 1 pricing is Fico of 680+ vs Citi,Chase,BOA etc require 720+.

I am willing to bet if you do an analysis on credit card default rates of people with sub-prime loans compared to people with prime loans the default rate will be much higher for people with sub-prime loans.

For example some of the people with 0-15% down have 1-3 year Arms. Lets assume lenders get stricker and there is a liquidity problem when you arm reset and property value are flat to down so you still dont have 15% equity in your house. You might not be able to re-fi and your payment could increase by 20-50% at that point. You dont think that will affect your ability to pay your credit cards?

Now I am not saying just because you have countrywide mortgage you are high risk. I am sure people like some of there programs for a reason. But that does not change the risk or type of loans they issue.

jmz668 said:Chase is still applying their same standards before issuing the accounts, right? At least that was the impression I got when I applied.

They get to offer one more card with one more enticement not available otherwise. Countrywide services a lot of loans, including mine, which is a conforming regular mortgage they bought from my previous servicer.

It's no real different risk than issuing say a Freedom card to the exact same person. The mortgage issuer is still listed on the credit report they pull.

Also, it's not sticker, it's stricter.

Yes I agree they apply the same standard except they going to get higher % of applications from higher risk people applying for Countrywide card than say Freedom card. That is all I am saying. I am sure if we could fast forward 5 years. The default rate on Countrywide credit card more than like will be higher than freedom card over the same period too.

Countrywide I am sure buys regular mortgage. I am sure they also underwrite conforming and jumbo prime loans too no doubt. Just like HSBC who is largest sub-prime underwriter only underwrites about 30% of there mortgages as sub-prime loans. That means 70% are conforming or full doc, state income 80% LTV jumbo loans which are packaged as A loans too.

More on topic: how does the CC issuer know you have a mtg with CTW or not, such that they will send you with the right bonus amount (1% or 2%)?

Countrywide does have a sub-prime division, called Full Spectrum. Maybe that 9% they are talking about are the loans from Full Spectrum.

WOW! two card with 16.5k cl , that's pretty good.

I just aply this card, and waiting to see if I can consolidate with some of my chase card for 12 month BT.

For past I been reject by chase many time, but whenever come to Chase-cobrand, they always aproved me.So I just give a try and hopefully this card can be consolidate with others chase card. I'll keep your guy posted.

Received this card last week after instant approval. Looks like a very good deal for our CW mortgage as we've been prepaying an amount each month anyway. They only gave us a $7K limit. HHI $85K, 800 FICO, and 4 years of on time mortgage payments and no other debts whatsoever. Despite CW constantly offering us a check for $152,000 in a home equity loan I've been deferred for 3-4 'business' days to hear whether they'll CLI to the $25K we've now requested.

Edit: They declined the CLI request with a nice form letter, "Not enough time has passed since opening an account with us." Whatever. Guess I was too aggressive or they simply don't want me maxing out their program for the $1,200/year in rewards checks. Oh well, fico be damned as we've racked up $5,000 of the $7000 limit in time for the first statement closing. $100 check coming our way, but it sucks that I can't utilize the 12 months of 0% as I have to essentially pay the bill in full each month and charge another $5K.