celine_uk

My Sister is moving to US soon and she is wondering if the US ( MI) offers Secure credit cards like they do in Canada? she just wants to establish credit in the US as we all know how important that is.

tHANKS EVERYONE!

Celsius

Search for past threads about establishing credit in the US and the pros and cons about getting a secured credit card.

I considered it myself but decided against it since there was no guarantee that having one would build up a credit score.

Longy

Having one definitely builds a credit score - I got a BOA one and after having one for just over 6 months had a score of about 700. It reports exactly like any other credit card, except they normally put a note on it saying it is secured - the note is exactly that though and has no bearing on your score, although a potential lender may look at this later on and consider it not so good.

I applyed for an unsecured credit card a few months after getting the score and got one with a $3500 credit line.

I can't recommend doing this enough, as I wasted most of my first year here before getting one thus delaying having a score - the target as far as I can see is to get a 3 year history before things start looking pretty good for you, so the earlier you do this the better.

dave2702

I had the adverts for them but couldn't see the point, my Cheque guarantee card had a visa logo and so why put money into a secure card when I could leave it in my savings account

BritGuyTN

becase it doesn't build credit history and this was the question asked by the OP?

celine_uk

Just because Your debit/cheque card/bankcard has a visa sign on it doesn't mean your borrowing money from the bank, they have simpler Visa/MasterCard debit cards in the UK and this has nothing to do with building credit, what my sister is looking for is a secure credit card that she say for example, puts Down $1000 the bank holds it for a year and if she has paid her card off every month or so they would refund the money back to her, i did exactly that when i moved to Canada and i have a great credit rating now!

btw thanks for everyones reply.

BritGuyTN

I was replying to the earlier poster who didn't seem to get that you wanted to build credit

get bank of america secured card as another poster suggested

katesbackagain

This is what I did also.I LOVE Bank of America. I got a secured card (a $500 one, but they had an offer on at the time where I only had to put down a $99 deposit ) and after a year of using it for groceries, gas, etc, it was upgraded to unsecured and my limit was raised to $7000.

I've learned a harsh lesson about credit though, and have no intention of getting much, if any at all, when I move back to the UK.

tonrob

Would concure with those recommending BOA secured card (but that is about all BOA is good for...)

My $500 card became unsecured after 6 months without my having to ask and credit limit increased to $3500. Within the next 6 months I was approved for two other (non BOA) credit cards (that I applied for mainly because of the offers that were attached).

katesbackagain

Awww, I'd have to disagree with that. I've been with them for almost 5 years, and have been impressed by their service the whole time. I've had a few bad experiences when I went through an Ebay phase, and the bank took care of it immediately and without question. Debit purchases also seem to go through much faster with them than they do with another account I have with a different bank.

Sorry you've not been happy with them, though.

Werrf

I got a little annoyed when there was an online system I wanted to use which HAD to have money deposited through a Bank of America. I quickly discovered that there are apparently NO Bank of America branches in the state of Ohio. I looked up their list of 'branches', and took long drives to visit two of them, only to find they weren't branches, just ATMs at Turnpike service plazas :curse: I'd have to consider them 'Bank of Parts of America'.

Bob

You've been lucky

BoA has a great reputation for being utterly shit for anything that requires service.

tonrob

My biggest gripe is with their internet banking. I kept getting locked out all the time, and then started getting automatic e-mail responses (up to two or three each day) letting me know that my password reset request had been processed, delivering me a temporary passcode thingy to unlock my account. All of this happening when I hadn't even tried to access their service! After repeated phone calls I got the lame excuse that my username was too common and that other people must be typing it by mistake! The whole system is shoddy in the extreme.

And don't get me started on their many-layered automated menu on their phone system where you have to try to second guess how to get through to a live person!!!!

dukeynorton

This is good to know as I am about 3 months into my secured card with BOA. I am thinking about getting a new car in about 6 months so hopefully will be in better shape by then. Thanks for the info.