fatbrit

Yup -- try the FICO estimator again. Fill in the constant data except for question 3: How many loans or credit cards have you applied for in the last year? Vary the figure here and watch that FICO fall! How much it falls depends mainly on how long you've had stable credit.

A year's the norm to release a secured cc. The prime end of WF is a-retentive about granting credit generally. At least they're pretty cheap in terms of annual fee. Can't remember exactly but it's under $40. Don't fret. It's a quality card with a low interest rate and minimum dirty tricks when they finally release it. Also, closing it will probably cause his credit to go down.

So take it slowly and don't have him applying all over the place.

fatbrit

No! No! No!

Don't even think of it as a credit card! It's purpose is so you can have good credit (=quality credit cards with high limits, cheap loans, etc.) later on. Just play the game of spending 20% every month and then paying off fully. Mess it up once by playing silly games with it, and it will be worse than if you had never started.

inquisitive40

LOL.. Ok,, point taken...
Last question that I still have not clear in my head, if both myself and my wife (with her previous credit record, FICO is at about 640 right now and climbing) have a shared secured credit card, will it have any negative effect on my credit as long as we keep the card in good standing?

Patrick

fatbrit

No negative effect. You're okay there.

While we're on about it though, don't waste your money on an expensive secured card. The annual fees should be no more than $50 max. If you want to post your chosen one on here before you sign, I'm sure folks'll comment -- some silly sod spent $250 on fees for one!!!!! Or if you say where you're based, you may get some suggestions.

inquisitive40

I am thinking Bank of America, $250 deposit, annual fee of $29.99, late fees $35, over limit fee $35 (impossible to do as far as I am aware to go over limit on a secured card), APR 14.99, Cash Advance 19.99% and it is a VISA card.

Patrick

fatbrit

That'll do fine!

However, be careful of all sneaky banks -- they will let the card go over the limit, charge you for it, and post the default to the bureaus! Nice, eh? You've got $50/month to spend on it! Enjoy!

inquisitive40

A final question, my wife got one of those approval letters the other day in her marriage name (we are married about 6 months, so the letters infor is current) and so she applied for a card with them, if she is approved, would it be good or bad to have my name added if possible?

Patrick

pedro66

I am having the same issue with my SSN not being valid on the credit lists when it really is, I have tried to contact the credit companies and the only way is to get a credit report from Equifax then call them to tell them its wrong and then provide evidence of why, this is easy you got to the Social Security Office and they give you a letter stating that your SSN belongs to you. I am really mad as we have both managed to get car loans and secured credit cards without but other stuff is an issue.

Just for reference Nissan and Ford credit will listen if you can prove jobs and status and BOA will offer a $500 credit card secured by $99 if you apply and get refused the normal card.

We bought our Ford via International Autosource before we left the UK and they did NO credit checks other than confirm my wife was in a good job.

fatbrit

1/ Pre-approval means diddly squat.

2/ Applying for a load of credit lines in a short period of time reduces your credit. The fall is greater with worse credit. With her on a 640 and you a duck, you guys need to be consolidating, not extending.

3/ There are several ways of adding you on to the account: additional card holder, joint account holder, AMEX's wierd way. The latter two will get reported to the credit bureaus, the first may or may not depending on the whim of the issuer.

4/ I'm going to bed. Good night!

inquisitive40

Well the reason my wife has been looking for a credit card is due to having no other credit at all, all she currently has is her student loan reporting for her.

How can I consolidate with no credit at all? When my wife applied mid last year with her own bank for a credit card, the person who helped her pointed out that she did not have bad credit, rather she had a lack of extended credit due to not having any bills, it was there that they told her that a secured card might be a solution to this in the short term,this bank does not offer secure cards and so she did not get it at the time.

Patrick

fatbrit

How many lates on wife's student loan? Also classify as 30/60/90 days late, and when they were late.

Has wife applied for real cc's and been turned down recently? Which cards?

Consolidate was probably the wrong word -- just didn't want you applying for credit all over the place as that doesn't do you any favours whatsoever!

Noorah101

I guess we got a smokin' deal on Sadegh's secured card at Wells Fargo. I've done all my banking there for many years, and of course now Sadegh's account is there, too. His secured visa card has no annual fee. We didn't really pay much attention to the late fees or interest rate, since we weren't going to be slapped with either of them.

Rene

dbark

I have a B of A secured card, and they told me it takes a year. If it's six months, then yippee!! Because I've stuck to the rules. I've used it as my "gas" card and occasionally for other things. But I'd like to have the $500 back asap, it's only earned me 67 cents in the 7 months they've been holding it hostage

fatbrit

Nope, the 'validated' here (OP's term, not mine) means that you now have a credit history of enough length to generate a FICO score, not that you can 'cash it in'. So if you apply for something requiring a credit check, they won't say you've never been born. Stick with it!

snowbunny

Savings accounts aren't paying much interest either. Though I understand it's the principle of the thing.

If you lived here in Texas, I could help. My dad's a banker. You might find a small-town Arkansas bank hungry for business; at B of A you're just another number.