Please Help..Is Bankrate.com legit??

[eeyoresmom]

Following some advice I got here, I went to Bankrate.com and applied for a 0% interest card ( for balance transfers) from Capital One. I filled out the application through their links and was approved within about 1 minute. Great, except that was on Jan 7 and I've not heard anything from Capital One. It did say card would take 7-10 days to come and balance transfers take up to 10 days, which is where I am now, but I think it's kind of strange that I didn't get an email confirmation. What do you guys think? TIA

[kork13]

Bankrate.com is generally quite well-respected...they provide pretty updated, non-biased information. I don't know of many people actually getting a card through them, but my best recommedation would be to look up Capital One's customer service number, and give them a call. If anything has progressed (or not happened) with your application, they should know about it.

[disneysteve]

Bankrate.com is certainly legitimate. They are a great resource for researching savings, CDs, loans, etc. They also have a great batch of financial calculators.

As for the credit card you applied for, that really has nothing to do with Bankrate.com. The site just lists what is out there, but you deal directly with the company to do business. So you might have found the card offer on bankrate.com, but they aren't the ones actually issuing the card.

[sweeps]

Bankrate was legit at one time, but in my humble opinion has become so littered with advertising that it's difficult to tell what is unbiased factual information and what is an advertisement or gimmick.

[Caoineag]

While Bankrate's pop ups are obnoxious, I still haven't found a site that equals them in information or calculators.

[disneysteve]

so littered with advertising

I wonder if OP just clicked on an ad on the site and applied for a card that way.

It seems that most sites, including this one, are littered with ads. I have to laugh at some of the ads that show up here, like payday lenders and such. Right now, there is an ad for an "automated online business" making $250k+ income on the screen.

[poundwise]

While Bankrate is legit, meaning that the OP should not be worried about having clicked through to Capital One from there, the site certainly has issues.

For one, some banks pay a fee to be listed. I'm not talking about the ads but the listings themselves. The banks that pay, get listed first (by default) even over accounts with better rates. Also, Bankrate only offers links to the banks that pay: "These quotes are from banks, thrifts, and credit unions, some of whom have paid for a link to their own Web site."

I don't mind that Bankrate is a for-profit venture. I do mind when they promote themselves as the place to find the best accounts and rates in the nation and then they leave out many and alter informational content in exchange for payment.

Also, to be sure, Bankrate does leave out a great many accounts. For instance, the account listing here at SavingAdvice lists 40 different online savings that presently yield 2.00% - 4.00% APY while requiring $1K or less to open. Bankrate lists 16.



As for calculators, check out Dinkytown.

[sweeps]

Steve: I have no problem with advertising. It's a necessity. However, I have a problem when the advertising is integrated so tightly with a site that it is difficult or impossible to tell when you're viewing the site's content and using the site's functions vs. when you're viewing 3rd-party content and using 3rd-party functions.

I also agree with poundwise, that the site's account/loan listings are not unbiased. It's pay-to-play.

[disneysteve]

I agree with both of you, poundwise and sweeps. Ads are a necessity but they should be clearly identifiable as ads, not integrated into the content of the site. I also realize that bankrate.com doesn't list everything, just a selection of what's out there.

[eeyoresmom]

OP here. I received an email from Capital One this morning right after posting here, then when I got home from work, my card and "welcome packet" had arrive. Just got off the phone with them from activating my account and suprisingly my interest rate for purchases after the introductory 0% is 8.99. ( I was expecting 9.99) Disneysteve...I knew I wasn't applying for a card from Bankrate I was just worried that somehow i was fooled by a gimmick. Thanks everyone for your help...this is going to save me lots of interest money since I couldn't find a balance transfer card ( on my own) that didn't charge the 3%.

[lebaggblu]

Always need to read that fine print my friend