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Wells Fargo Secured

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Revelate
Moderator Emeritus

Re: Wells Fargo Secured


@charyot77 wrote:

From my experience, US Bank credit cards are a pain.

 

I've had mine for 3 years and it has yet to graduate. From what I understand, you have to request this, it doesnt automatically happen and it will be a hard inquiry.

 

Also I dont think the US Bank secured card can ever have its credit limit increased. I think you have to stick with your original limit/deposit.

 

 


Hrm, might depend on the USBank secured card as I've heard they have at least two; supposedly their Harley Davidson one did if I remember right.  I pretty much disapprove of them for the fact you have to send a bloody mail order to them to open a secured account for your deposit.  How 1980's of them.  

 

Thanks for the additional information on USBank secured cards, not having used them personally or really even researched them cept what I've read on the forum, I appreciate finding out about it.




        
Message 11 of 19
musicdiva
Valued Member

Re: Wells Fargo Secured

Just wanted to post an update.. Wells Fargo just happened to update the first month on my report on Sunday. 

 

At the statement closing date, I had a high statement balance ($301 of $500) but it showed the due date of 7/23. Does that look bad on my report? Or should I make sure to pay before statement close every month to show a lower statement balance? Does it matter as long as I pay the statement balance in full (or should I pay the entire balance in full if I get up to say $499).  I went ahead and paid the entire statement balance yesterday.. wondering if I need to pay it off to zero balance before the due date?  I can also change the due date to make the reporting work in my favor if that helps.

 

Thanks for the tips!

 

About to open my NFCU account and get that secured card next.


Starting Score: EQ 522, TU 482 June 2012
Current Score: EQ 502, TU 548 Jan 2013
Goal Score: 750


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Message 12 of 19
Revelate
Moderator Emeritus

Re: Wells Fargo Secured


@musicdiva wrote:

Just wanted to post an update.. Wells Fargo just happened to update the first month on my report on Sunday. 

 

At the statement closing date, I had a high statement balance ($301 of $500) but it showed the due date of 7/23. Does that look bad on my report? Or should I make sure to pay before statement close every month to show a lower statement balance? Does it matter as long as I pay the statement balance in full (or should I pay the entire balance in full if I get up to say $499).  I went ahead and paid the entire statement balance yesterday.. wondering if I need to pay it off to zero balance before the due date?

 

Thanks for the tips!

 

About to open my NFCU account and get that secured card next.


If you're applying for something in the next month (or two in some cases, Amex being the most notable) absolutely pay before the statement date.

 

Outside of that it really doesn't matter before or after as long as your income levels justify the amount of outstanding debt as FICO has no memory of such things.  Personally I think it's good future planning to get in a high balance reported such that it can be taken into consideration by later underwriting: namely, you used this much, and paid it off without issue; however, there's no concrete proof this is beneficial.

 

Edit: NFCU won't care on a membership or secured card application, don't delay that by a month unnecessarily.

 

 




        
Message 13 of 19
musicdiva
Valued Member

Re: Wells Fargo Secured

Gotcha.  That makes sense. I just want to get into good habits.. and it's personally easier for me to just plan to pay before the statement date as a force of habit.


Starting Score: EQ 522, TU 482 June 2012
Current Score: EQ 502, TU 548 Jan 2013
Goal Score: 750


Take the FICO Fitness Challenge
Message 14 of 19
Cranski
Valued Member

Re: Wells Fargo Secured

I started with the WF Secured at $600.00 and left it there. Wells Fargo updates the day after your statement date. They only graduate after 12 months and that is upon review still around April and October. Keep the balance below the limit, and the best utilization ( I know the APR sucks) would be 3-9% balance to report to CR agencies as it show responsibility.

I found that out as a 0 balance dropped my score slightly by 17 points and a $30 balance raised it 27 points the next month. Be wary of keeping an eye out for mid-cycle update if you get really near the limit or over. If you use it for a secure purchase near the limit, plan to pay it immediatly or ASAP.

 

It's a great, I have responsibility look at my toy card, if nothing else.

 

Congrats and Happy Gardening. Smiley Happy

CS 701, CK 682, Credit.com 719/ TU FICO 666 (DIS 8/12) EU FICO 658 (8/12)
After spree CS 738, CK 684, TU FICO 666 (Dis 8/5)

WF Secured 600Cl (7/11), Discover More 1.5k (8/12), Walmart 150CL(8/12), Cap1 Platinum w/Credit steps($300) (8/12)
Message 15 of 19
Sonic98
New Contributor

Re: Wells Fargo Secured

I've had a Wells Fargo secured card for about a month. Maybe a month and a half. I got the card,  but nothing saying when my due date was. Not know when it was, I selected one. I didn't check my CRA's rght away, but after only having the card a couple weeks, I checked it was showing a closing balance of 0 dollars, as I had not used the card yet. I don't know if this is because I changed the due date, or this was going to happen anyway. I then checked my CRA's, and it was actually reporting on all 3 with a 0 balance. Now, I just checked today, and on one of the CRA's, Expierian, it's reporting as a secured card. They said that would not be the case. I read someone comment on yahoo that it "would not report as secured for very long,"  so maybe after a few payments, it will not report as secured.

 

I was going to apply for a Capital One secured as well a month later, but to my surprise they approved me for unsecured card. It's most shocking because they were 1 of the 2 collections that brought my score down years ago. I was listed as an authorized user on a Capital One card, but for some reason they were taking a long time to report a balance on the card, and when the balance was disputed, so the CRA's would reflect the right balance, their AUs were removed from their Capital One account. I think the actual user might have made the mistake of having one of the AU's dispute the balance because one of the CA's said it had not been long enough since they disputed when Capital One didn't report the balance a month before. 

Message 16 of 19
jsucool76
Super Contributor

Re: Wells Fargo Secured

Cap1 tends to not hold a grudge.
Message 17 of 19
webhopper
Moderator Emeritus

Re: Wells Fargo Secured

You definately need to be a nfcu member. Do this immediately! Smiley Happy
FICO 9:
Filed Chapter 13 on 6/1/2017 after job loss. Discharged 6/1/2022.

Goal: Gardening!


Message 18 of 19
vivaknievel
Member

Re: Wells Fargo Secured

I'm late on this thread, but want to chime in for someone else's future reference.

 

Sort of a review...My experience with Wells Fargo is that:

 

Yes, they do report to all three credit bureaus.  I believe I started seeing the results in Credit Karma about a couple of months from opening, but it could have been 4 to 6 months in actuality.

 

As for the return of your deposit, Wells Fargo will tell you that with good history, you'll be graduated to unsecured in as early as 6 months and as late as one year, but so far, I'm at 1 year and 4 months without graduation, and no correspondence to indicate that I was ever evaluated.  In my case, there has been 100% on-time payment history, I carry no balance, low utilization of limit, only one hard inquiry (from before the Wells application, and which is about to fall off) and no other debts. 

 

By all accounts, most people will not be graduated until 18 months, and some people have gone as high as 3 years before graduation. Reportedly, Wells Fargo's evaluations for graduation take place in October and April of each year.  There is an indication from other reports I've seen, that one has to call and separately apply for the unsecured card (which will result in a hard pull) and some are still denied after that.  

 

No one seems to graduate in one year, as promised, but in my case, the jury's still out as to whether they do at 18 months, if your account is in good standing.  I'm not sure what the credit history/habits/reports of most who haven't graduated at 18 months look like during that time, but I have established good history and know that if mine doesn't graduate by then, that its an issue beyond exaggerating graduation time.  If your cirumstance makes it crucial that you're 100% unsecured in a year's time, I would recommend that you not allow Wells Fargo Secured to be your only card.  Either get a second card elsewhere, or choose a different one outright.  There is no consistent pattern in how WF evalutes these cards...except that it is inconsistent.

 

The plus side, is that their Annual Fee is only $18 a year, and the card has, indeed, helped me to build credit quickly.  As of this month, I have a 755 FICO score and received two pre-approved offers from Discover It, and Amazon Rewards Visa (by Chase).  However, if Wells Fargo does not graduate you by the time your best offers come in, you may to have to wait to accept, or else you may have to settle for lower limits and higher APRs than you'd probably enjoy otherwise.  I opted to accept lower limits on the new cards, just so that I can have cards in place in case I have to cancel Wells Fargo in a few months.  I figure I can always grow with those cards and make up for the loss of account age, if push comes to shove.  At this point, I simply want my $300 to be freed up, and to no longer pay an Annual Fee, if there is no indication that I'll come away rewarded with what they promised in exchange for the responsible behavior I've exhibited.  Who knows?  Perhaps having accepted the other cards will push Wells Fargo to graduate.  I won't hold my breath, but either way, I've got other cards now and don't see my fate as being at the mercy of the bank.

 

Another plus, is that my experience with Customer Service has been good when talking to CS about the card directly - they'd been friendly, helpful and generous with advice, when I was starting out.  However, I did have to briefly change the phone number on my account, to prevent getting relentless calls about credit monitoring packages, from a related department.

 

I find that the card itself truly has only been good for building credit.  When I signed up, they had advertised that I'd not only be able to build credit, but that I'd enjoy rewards, too.   I've found the rewards to be hidden and of no actual value to me, personally (an online-only partner store).  It uses a point structure which will not help someone who doesn't spend enormous sums of money with the specific stores they are partners with.  I'd rather use a card that offers rewards for both traditional and online stores, that I use regularly, even if they are small rewards.

 

VERDICT:  If you have a Wells Fargo bank account and want greater ease of payment, go for it.  If you expect that good, solid history will allow you to graduate in one year and with no guesswork about when - then look elsewhere.

Message 19 of 19
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