The Elusive Orchard Bank Credit Card

As part of our mini-AOR this weekend, we applied for the Orchard Bank Credit Card put out by HSBC. If you haven't heard about this card, check out Fatwallet's thread about the curious issues surrounding it - . To make a long story short, this card offers 2% cash back on all purchases without a cap throughout the year. Sounds good, don't it? Well, the problems then begin. The application process begins with you filling out a regular online form, , and then they give you a couple options of cards you have qualified for. Some of the options are insulting - annual fees, no rewards, high rates, garbage cards. If you get the golden goose option (2% cash back, 0% BT rate for 6 months with no fee), then you feel good and apply. At this point you can check your application status pretty much right away if you didn't get instant approval, but many people report getting credit lines on the wrong side of $1000, with some on the wrong side of $500! Pretty much worthless if you want to take advantage of the 2% cash back option. They will allow you to increase your credit line after 6 months of use, however. Yay.

Well, we've applied before for this card and got turned down (I think twice over the past 2-3 years.) We applied again last night and got instant approval with $1,500 credit line. So we're pretty happy, although it will probably grace the sock drawer for a couple months since we're taking advantage of better options (5%) for the time being. I'll keep it active with occasional purchases (they've been known to close it on you!) and then it may enter my regular rotation by the middle of the year. It does come with a 0% BT offer with no fee, but that is pretty much worthless because of the amount.