How to get a credit line started in the USA... HELP!

[GeeH 5]

Capitol one is the best choice for non-credit people who start building credit score. You can go to their website and sign up for a credit card.

I already tried this and got denied with Capital One. My score doesn't even show on Creditkarma or anywhere. I don't have ANY credit yet and I got told that's why I won't get it.

I have an account with Chase and so does my husband. We heard Wells fargo are good too, going to go back and talk to the banks today.

[HK12 273]

I already tried this and got denied with Capital One. My score doesn't even show on Creditkarma or anywhere. I don't have ANY credit yet and I got told that's why I won't get it.

I have an account with Chase and so does my husband. We heard Wells fargo are good too, going to go back and talk to the banks today.

I did not have a credit history either (checked Creditkarma and all), but got approved for the Capital One card. They ask for annual income, so maybe it is because you do not have an income yet. I would try again once you have a stable job.

Edited December 27, 2013 by HK12

[lost_at_sea 995]

Thanks for the creditkarma mentions, folks. I just checked mine, and it seems my joint credit card with my husband has started reporting. Yay. I've just applied for a secured capital one card, too. Hoping that'll give me a boost.

[Lynkali 163]

It's odd that there are so many differences between companies on reporting to credit scores. My personal experience goes against those of other posters here, so I'll just chime in with what worked for us (but it may be very dependent on individual companies!). Just before my fiance/husband arrived here on K-1, I added him as an "authorized user" to both of my credit cards: Discover and Chase Visa. The online form for each specifically stated that this WILL be reported to credit agencies.

That was in August. Sure enough, they were reported very quickly: in late November we had occasion to get a credit report on him (we were applying for a secured card through our Wells Fargo joint account, but it had not yet been approved). And his credit report shows a score of 765 based ENTIRELY on the two authorized user accounts: his credit history now dates back to 1992 when I first opened my cards, even though he did not enter the USA until September 2013.

We still ended up being denied for a solo card for him -- not because of his score, which was great (765) but because he is not employed, and we listed his income as only $500/month from savings withdrawals. The agent told us later that if we had listed our household income from MY job, it would have gone through just fine. As it is, we got him a solo secured card via Wells Fargo, and that's working perfectly well.

So if your USC spouse has good credit already and the authorized user DOES report to credit agencies as it did for us, that may work perfectly well. But I guess it's just very dependent on the individual cards: Discover and Chase Visa have been perfect at reporting the authorized user for us. We didn't even need his SSN, didn't get that until long after they had started building credit for him.

[Protocol417 161]

We haven't gotten this far in our process (the beneficiary's SS card hasn't arrived yet) BUT I can tell you something I (as the USC) have had really good luck with: Credit unions. They seem to be more "forgiving" and trusting than regular banks. I had my credit absolutely destroyed by a previous marriage, and was still able to get a $1,000 unsecured loan at my CU, after having been declined through a bank. They also can offer secured credit cards, if that's a safer route for you.

I've heard community banks are also a good route.

One thing about credit cards that I learned when I worked as a home equity loan processor: It actually looks better if you DON'T pay off your credit cards completely every month. Banks like to see a leftover balance. If they see you paying your balance off every month, they know this means they'll just be maintaining an account for you for free, and they won't be making any money. It's a weird quirk of our credit system that (some) debt is a GOOD thing, credit wise. (Before I bought my house, my credit line was $1,200, and it took me nearly eight years to get it that high... within months of buying that house, even though I'd just taken on a HUGE debt, that credit line shot up to $21,400 without me even asking... no joke!)

[Hypnos 6,578]

I just started to look into this whole thing with secured credit cards also. I was rejected by Capital One, but approved by Merrick Bank, and my card from them arrived in the mail yesterday.

From research, I found the largest thing which will affect your credit and credit rating is the amount of utilised credit. You should attempt to keep your utilisation below 30% for every line of credit you have, for example if you have a $1000 limit on your card, try not to exceed $300 in charges. Going the other way, having $0 charged, won't work either. Lenders like to see you using some credit and managing it responsibly, rather than applying for cards and then never using them.

Edited December 27, 2013 by Hypnos

[lost_at_sea 995]

I just started to look into this whole thing with secured credit cards also. I was rejected by Capital One, but approved by Merrick Bank, and my card from them arrived in the mail yesterday.

From research, I found the largest thing which will affect your credit and credit rating is the amount of utilised credit. You should attempt to keep your utilisation below 30% for every line of credit you have, for example if you have a $1000 limit on your card, try not to exceed $300 in charges. Going the other way, having $0 charged, won't work either. Lenders like to see you using some credit and managing it responsibly, rather than applying for cards and then never using them.

Try that creditkarma site. It shows your credit lines and utilisation, and grades your usage in a fairly helpful graph. They're showing best score given to a <20% utilization (but obviously more than 0%).

When we did our mortgage application, Chase said they expected to see at least 2 lines of credit open to get a good score. Credit Karma seems to concur that 2 or 3 is good.

Incidentally, I'm not on the mortgage (just deed) because my initial score was obviously low (hub's is in the high 700s) and it would have increased the interest rate. 3 months of our CC reporting and my score is already 658! I'm hoping getting a second line, and using it well, will boost me up over 700.

Edited December 27, 2013 by lost_at_sea

[Hypnos 6,578]

Unfortunately I don't have enough of a credit history to be shown anything at CreditKarma, I tried a few months ago and then again just a few days ago: nothing.

[lost_at_sea 995]

Unfortunately I don't have enough of a credit history to be shown anything at CreditKarma, I tried a few months ago and then again just a few days ago: nothing.

Boo I'm sorry.

[altonbebe 48]

several bits:

secured loan.

1. get a bank account in your name with yer SSN

2. deposit 3000 into that bank.

3. walk in to that bank, get a secured loan, perhaps flipping your 3000 into a 2000 certificate of deposit, to be used as collataral (sp? ) on the loan. suggest 12 month loan.

4. about 3 months later, of paying the monthly payments, the loan and payment history will show up on your credit history report.

Absolutly the BEST WAY to do it.

I plan on this with Bebe when she gets here.

[GeeH 5]

If your spouse has a relationship with a bank, try going there. I've banked with Chase for years, so we added my husband to our bank account right away. When we went to get him a credit card to start building credit, the banker told us that my husband would likely get denied on the first request....which he did. But the local branch of Chase we frequent was able to ask Chase credit cards to reconsider based on my (and now our) relationship with the bank. He was approved with a $500 credit limit. It's not much, but he uses it for things like groceries, then pays it off, so he's building credit and will likely have his limit raised within the year. As soon has he had his SSN, we added him to our electric bill, too, which will also help with building credit.

We just tried this today, even though he has been with Chase for around 12 years (before they were even chase) and has credit cards and business accounts with them they still did not issue me with a credit card. They said it was because I have no credit history.

We have gone to Wells Fargo and opened a secured card with them but I'm waiting on the response for this. He will be putting me as an authorised user on his chase credit card in the meantime too and I have been put as main name on most of our utilities.

I'll keep all posted with what happens but thank you all for contributing your stories this really has helped and I'm sure it's like some people said, everyone's situation seems to be different!

[TimeTravel 78]

Do you have Amex card from UK? If yes, then use Global Transfer to get a card in US.

[lost_at_sea 995]

He will be putting me as an authorised user on his chase credit card in the meantime too and I have been put as main name on most of our utilities.

Double check with Chase that they'll report the usage on that credit card against your SSN, since that's what counts. I've read online that with authorised users, sometimes they don't report against everyone or something. I'm sure Chase do it right though, with being a large bank and all.

That should do the trick to get you started though - use it for 3 or 4 months well (put a little bit on it every month, pay it off before you incur interest) then check your score again and you should be able to see if that card is reporting against your SSN properly and bumping up your score.

[Darnell 8,479]

I'll keep all posted with what happens but thank you all for contributing your stories this really has helped and I'm sure it's like some people said, everyone's situation seems to be different!

What's stopping you, preventing you, from utilising the 2 methods I posted?

[GeeH 5]

What's stopping you, preventing you, from utilising the 2 methods I posted?

I have already tried applying for Capital one and got denied.

For the secured loan you need regular income, i don't have a job or work permit yet so they won't give me that.

I have been to my bank chase and they wouldn't approve me for a credit card because I had no regular income/insufficient credit history so I doubt they will give me a loan and I don't think they do secured ones there. I have just opened an account with Wells Fargo, I'll see how that goes.