southerncomfort

Hi Bob,

Do you have any information on why this no longer works?
I've been put on to both of my wife's credit cards. We did this with the idea of building up my own credit score.

Cheers.

tonrob

Simply because when a bank assesses you for credit, they won't count your being an additional cardholder as someone else's account in your favour. They never really should have, considering you are not liable for the bill. It was a loophole that has been closed.

southerncomfort

Thanks.

Guess I will have to open up my own account.

retzie

I thought it was about time I try to make inroads into credit and applied for the Capital One Newcomers card. My application got bounced because "credit bureau information is missing or unavailable." FFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUU

Has anyone actually been granted one of these?? I can't say I'm remotely interested in giving them my business now, but would like to know if they actually give them to anyone...

caleyjag

Good on the OP for trying to post a solution to this ridiculous problem.

I had more trouble getting my first credit card than I did getting my damn visa. It took over 2 years, and I had a job and no US debt.

Now of course that I finally made it over the hurdle and into the system, I get at least 4 offers for credit cards in the post every morning. What a joke.

sir_eccles

The simple thing I did was as follows:

- Apply for credit card
- Get denied for lack of credit history
- Call number on denial letter that says something like "call this number to discuss your denial"
- Ask for the address where you can send further evidence of your credit worthiness so they can re-assess your application
- Go to the UK Experian website, create free trial account, download and print your UK credit history (cancel account later)
- Mail UK credit history to address above with a cover letter highlighting your stellar credit history
- Wait for card to arrive

caleyjag

That only works well if your UK credit history is in good shape

tonrob

While I can understand the desire to get thing moving quickly, isn't the secured-credit-card-for-six-months thing more of a sure bet?

Has anyone been declined for one of these?
Has anyone had to wait longer than six months before the bank unsecured it?

I paid the princely sum of $29 to BofA for their product and 'lent' them $500 of my savings. Six months later they let me take my savings back and increased my limit to $3,000 without me asking. Now, this was six years ago before the financial world went tits up, but my mum's just applied for one with $300 security purely in order to kick-start her history and received it in a couple of weeks. Let's see how long she has to wait before they let her run amok.

retzie

The first (and only) time I enquired about one from my local credit union, they said it was one year. Since I've never been very sure how long I'll be in the country (9 months at a time) I put this out of my mind as a useful option. (Of course, I probably should have just asked what happened if you closed the account early...)

Since my desire/use for credit is low, I've been very lazy about doing anything at all. I thought the special newcomer card would be the magic answer, but apparently you need a credit history to get the card for people with no credit history

E3only

I applied for a WF $18 annual fee, $300 limit around August last year. Approved in 4 weeks....as yet, not got any offers from them. FYI - I have amex for a year now with handsome limit, Chase Saffire and CapitalOne...so it's not as if my credit history has not built up.

Just saying.....

RayM

I went in to my local BoA branch and asked to set up a Secured Credit Card. After playing around with different screens the guy told me that I couldn't have a secured credit card until I'd been in the US for 6 months. Went home and filled out an on-line request for a BoA Secured card and it was approved. So I now have a credit card secured for $2,000. When I get the security deposit back seems a bit vague, seems to be somewhere between 6 and 12 months.

Orangepants

Got a secured card with WF in Jan this year, they unsecured in July and doubled the limit..definitely the best way to kick off the credit path..

rpjs

I've been here since January, never did go down the secured CC route as my wife has a good credit score, albeit not so much history, from paying off her student loans from the UK. She got a CC from Chase with about $2000 c/l soon after arrival and added me as a cardholder. I successfully opened a Macy's store credit card in-store in June, and we've used it since several times to shop at Macy's, usually paying off in full when due.

Just this month I have started getting "pre-approved" solicitations for CCs for those with poor/no credit. First one I got was from CreditOne bank. I was "wahay" and nearly accepted it there and then, but decided to check their reputation online first. So many horror stories that I decided not to do so.

Yesterday I got a solicitation from CapitalOne. Online suggests that their APR sucks, but that it's a common card for those starting out - lots of Americans get one as their first credit card when starting adult life. So I applied online and was accepted immediately. Just $500 c/l to start with but they say they will review it for a raise after five consecutive payments on time.

AddyLaddy

You got a better deal than me. I got a WF secured card with $1000 down last Dec. Got a letter this month say my limit had been increased to $1500 with no extra funds required from me - gee thanks WF!
Spoke to them in the branch and they say I will 'graduate' from the secured card on it's 1st anniversary and at that point I will get my deposit back.

I have successfully applied for an Amex and Target card since though.

tonrob

The time to unecure isn't some sort of predetermined period - it depends on your card usage and is part of the issuer's ongoing automated credit assessment. Durations will vary, but popular wisdom (and this is what I followed) is to charge roughly 33% of the limit each and every month, paying it off in full when the statement comes.

retzie - your 9 months at a time doesn't have to be a barrier to this - it's not as if you physically need to be in the US to spend on your card.