Building up credit history

[Nutty 2]

Get a secured credit card first....

The card requires a deposit ($500, $1000, $2000) and that will be your credit limit on the card. Use the card, pay of your balance without being late. This will allow you to develop a credit history showing you pay your bills.

Then you can apply for an unsecured card about a year later.

[mawilson 2,133]

Funny enough, the first thing that registered on my credit report was our Bally's Total Fitness membership account.

Once I had that, I was able to get a secured credit card in my own name.

[Kazan' Tiger 1]

Bally's actually reports to the credit bureaus-???

Funny enough, the first thing that registered on my credit report was our Bally's Total Fitness membership account.

Once I had that, I was able to get a secured credit card in my own name.

[JVKn'CVO 11]

That might help too, I plan to join the gym soon

Saludos,

Caro

[mawilson 2,133]

Get a secured credit card first....

Which seems to be impossible if you have NO credit history whatsoever. Stupid, I know -

that's what's "secured" cards are for, right? Apparently not - I applied for a whole bunch

of secured credit cards and was denied by all of them. I wasn't able to get a secured card

until Bally's Total Fitness reported my gym account to one of the credit bureaus. Once I had

that, I secured a credit card with a $15,000 collateral which gave my credit score an instant

boost.

Bally's actually reports to the credit bureaus-???

I know! It was the last thing I expected to see on my credit report!

[bora bora 1]

Wow, that's interesting (about Bally's), but I guess it makes sense. My husband and I have a membership at Gold's Gym and they take our membership fee out of our account every month - if the money wasn't there I can see that affecting our credit negatively.

Which reminds me...a friend of mine thought that her account with GG was cancelled, until she got a letter from a credit bureau.

[Texanadian 10]

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=95417

We were talking about this in the Canadian forum awhile back. But the advice is good for everybody coming to the USA.

[Nutty 2]

Get a secured credit card first....

Which seems to be impossible if you have NO credit history whatsoever. Stupid, I know -

that's what's "secured" cards are for, right? Apparently not - I applied for a whole bunch

of secured credit cards and was denied by all of them. I wasn't able to get a secured card

until Bally's Total Fitness reported my gym account to one of the credit bureaus. Once I had

that, I secured a credit card with a $15,000 collateral which gave my credit score an instant

boost.

Bally's actually reports to the credit bureaus-???

I know! It was the last thing I expected to see on my credit report!

I had no credit history/no credit cards until I was 22. I accidently defaulted on a student loan because I was overseas (thought my loan was fully paid off). When I came back to the US I paid off my student loans, but had a negative credit history.

I paid $500 to a credit card company and got a secured card. This $500 balance was the credit limit on my visa. It was COLLATERAL. I just used the card for a year and then opened another card.

Did you offer to give a money deposit for a secured card????

[pushbrk 12,877]

Some very good options here. Thanks for the replies, keep them coming

We are looking into having joint accounts, at least a savings one.

Saludos,

Caro

My wife received an offer from Capital One a few months after she got her SSN. They issued a card with $500 credit limit and about 4 months later with on time more than minimum payments and regular use, it was upped to $750.

Our 19 year old daughter wanted to buy something from Amazon.com and intended to pay with her Visa debit card but they offered a further discount if she applied for a student Visa card through Amazon, so she did. They weren't able to immediately approve her but did a month or so later. First they mailed her a letter asking for some verification of address like a utility bill, etc. We sent a copy of her learner's permit and her EAD card along with an explanation that all utilities were in her parents' names. The card came a few weeks later with an $800 limit. She now uses it for everything and pays it off every month because it's a rewards card. It's only been two months, so no increases yet but I'm sure she'll see a credit line increase within a few months.

If I were starting now, I'd try the Amazon route for my wife instead of waiting for an offer in the mail.

Edited December 29, 2007 by pushbrk

[mawilson 2,133]

Did you offer to give a money deposit for a secured card????

Yes, of course. Got denied anyway.

[JVKn'CVO 11]

Some very good options here. Thanks for the replies, keep them coming

We are looking into having joint accounts, at least a savings one.

Saludos,

Caro

My wife received an offer from Capital One a few months after she got her SSN. They issued a card with $500 credit limit and about 4 months later with on time more than minimum payments and regular use, it was upped to $750.

Our 19 year old daughter wanted to buy something from Amazon.com and intended to pay with her Visa debit card but they offered a further discount if she applied for a student Visa card through Amazon, so she did. They weren't able to immediately approve her but did a month or so later. First they mailed her a letter asking for some verification of address like a utility bill, etc. We sent a copy of her learner's permit and her EAD card along with an explanation that all utilities were in her parents' names. The card came a few weeks later with an $800 limit. She now uses it for everything and pays it off every month because it's a rewards card. It's only been two months, so no increases yet but I'm sure she'll see a credit line increase within a few months.

If I were starting now, I'd try the Amazon route for my wife instead of waiting for an offer in the mail.

Thank you pushbrk, that sounds like a really good idea. I'm also thinking about a store's credit card, like Macy's

Saludos,

Caro

[pushbrk 12,877]

Some very good options here. Thanks for the replies, keep them coming

We are looking into having joint accounts, at least a savings one.

Saludos,

Caro

My wife received an offer from Capital One a few months after she got her SSN. They issued a card with $500 credit limit and about 4 months later with on time more than minimum payments and regular use, it was upped to $750.

Our 19 year old daughter wanted to buy something from Amazon.com and intended to pay with her Visa debit card but they offered a further discount if she applied for a student Visa card through Amazon, so she did. They weren't able to immediately approve her but did a month or so later. First they mailed her a letter asking for some verification of address like a utility bill, etc. We sent a copy of her learner's permit and her EAD card along with an explanation that all utilities were in her parents' names. The card came a few weeks later with an $800 limit. She now uses it for everything and pays it off every month because it's a rewards card. It's only been two months, so no increases yet but I'm sure she'll see a credit line increase within a few months.

If I were starting now, I'd try the Amazon route for my wife instead of waiting for an offer in the mail.

Thank you pushbrk, that sounds like a really good idea. I'm also thinking about a store's credit card, like Macy's

Saludos,

Caro

Yes, we're considering exactly that for my daughter's next step. You want to be careful not to have too many inquiries or open accounts in a short time however. That can count against a credit rating. Failed inquiries really count against you. You don't want more inquiries than open accounts.

[Fandango 1,439]

Being added to your USC spouse's credit card will give you 'fake' history. Meaning, the score will partially attach to the foreign spouse's name, but a quick pull of the credit will show it's an authorized user and not the acct holder, which essentially means bubkus.

[~krakatoa~ 27]

When we went to buy a second car they had to use my credit since my husband didn't have any. I know that this did affect my credit and our APR for the car. However, I think it was minimal.

Now we make on-time payments every month for the car (and everything else) and my husband is receiving credit card offers in the mail only a few months later - so I'm sure he has some credit now.

We have two joint bank accounts, but since we're working on getting out of credit card debt my husband does not have one.

As I was reading through the posts, I was surprised to see different experiences. I took the secured credit card route and it worked fine for me. I also tried being added to my husband's credit as we had JOINT accounts, checking and savings. I tried the authorized user too but I learned it was not helping. Then I got me a job. I bought my car initially thinking that it will be my husband's credit history that will pull us through. At that time, I had the secured credit card only for a mere 3 months. My husband had an excellent score. BUT I was surprised the credit dealer preferred my now "credit history" over my husband's. They had to change the paperwork to show only my name. From the way the sales rep told us, my score is higher and my job worked to our favor (I work as a scientist in a research facility, never thought I'd get the job too ). I've never heard previously that employment, age, and all other factors are now checked together with the credit history.

Anyway, I bought the car. One thing I did not expect too is getting these junk mails and offers from banks when it was only about my 3rd month using the secured credit card. No complains, but seems like different strokes for different folks.

Edited December 29, 2007 by krakatoa

[Vi Mazzella 4]

Go for the Secured credit card, works great for me, I just got mine last october and I 've been using it and making all my payments on time and other banks all already sending me offers.

When I first came here hubby got me one with my name under his account but that didn't help at all.

I will recommend to definitely open a joint saving account or checking account with your hubby that will help you alot with your AOS or I-751.

Good luck

Vi