Wells Fargo secured graduation

[phoenixfs]

Been lurking for an entire year now usually as an anon but today I felt compelled to post since this is something I constantly searched for.

Last year I had about 6 COs (3-5k each) on my report, all scheduled to fall off between the end of this year and summer of next. That Feb I decided to try and be proactive instead of just waiting for the baddies to fall off.

I had no idea what my scores were but I went the secured route because a judgement had popped up in 2012 so figured might as well keep my cash tied up. (This was before reading the forums and now knowing that the deposited money can be seized too!)

I bank with Wells Fargo, so I applied for their secured card (not knowing that secured cards can be denied as well) along with Capital One and BofA. None of these were in my COs. WF was the only one that approved me. So I started off with a $300 deposit which I then raised to $500 a few months later and then to $1k a few more and two months ago right when the account turned one year old, I added $1k because by this time I had been a bit more informed and it seemed like April and October where gonna be the months that graduation could possibly happen for me so I wanted my unsecured limit to be as high as possible. At the same time I applied for another secured card because I checked my scores and they were all over the place; 670 Equifax, 601 TU and again that ugly judgement. So I applied for BofA again and the US Bank secured since they seem to be the only cards that have some sort of rewards and I applied to Walmart for the TU score. BofA denied me again but I was approved for US Bank and Walmart starting at $300.

I read some posts that said WF hadn't graduated within a year because they hadn't called in to initiate it. So I called in at the end of March to ask whether it looked like my card would unsecure in April since I had heard about the two months it usually happened in. The CSR congratulated me for my card use (I charged around 1500 monthly and always PIF and then let around 10% report since about 9 months ago) and told me that they now review accounts throughout the year and at this time she didn't see anything about me being unsecured soon but that she would add me to the list of wanting to be reviewed. I thanked her and told her hopefully it would and since I had already paid the AF in Feb that I would wait out this year and think about closing this account if it wouldn't grow with me since I now had the U.S Bank one. Honestly I thought that the card would never unsecure until the 6 COs and the judgement on my report fell off so I figured I would probably have to wait for the US Bank one to turn a year with it's low limit of $300 and use the WF money for the judgement.

I wanted this to unsecure because I seem to be judgement proof and wanted to finally settle that ugly mark but didn't want to start messing with that if they could see I had a secured account for the amount of the judgement and lose my leverage. Well, yesterday I received a letter congratulating me on my card graduating and that it will take place after 45 days with the AF automatically removed and APR reduced to 15.65%!

So even with 6 baddies and a judgement, WF unsecured me. As soon as those funds are in my hands, the settlement negotiations will begin! Wow, that was a super long post. I just wanted to share my experience with this card since that was what helped me, reading everyone else's.

[eagle2013]

Great story! I also started my rebuild journey with a WF secured. 

Insofar as the COs, especially at those amounts, I would recommend waiting until they age off. It isn't too long, and you've already taken the hit for it most of the time. 

[coldnmn]

Congratulations!  Thanks for sharing your great journey! 

[phoenixfs]

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@eagle2013 wrote:

Great story! I also started my rebuild journey with a WF secured. 

Insofar as the COs, especially at those amounts, I would recommend waiting until they age off. It isn't too long, and you've already taken the hit for it most of the time. 

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I don't mind the waiting game, heck I've been fighting this judgement since 2008 when we first went to court, but they finally wore me down.  Still not giving them one cent over what my actual balance was.  I know that in the future I will have to pay the balances on half of my CO's because unfortunately they were with Amex & Chase and I'd like to get back in their good graces, but that is somewhere far down the road.

[doctorofcredit]

They always do their graduations in April/October. No real point in calling outside of those months from what I've read.

[-Wade-]

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@phoenixfs wrote:

Been lurking for an entire year now usually as an anon but today I felt compelled to post since this is something I constantly searched for.

Last year I had about 6 COs (3-5k each) on my report, all scheduled to fall off between the end of this year and summer of next. That Feb I decided to try and be proactive instead of just waiting for the baddies to fall off.

I had no idea what my scores were but I went the secured route because a judgement had popped up in 2012 so figured might as well keep my cash tied up. (This was before reading the forums and now knowing that the deposited money can be seized too!)

I bank with Wells Fargo, so I applied for their secured card (not knowing that secured cards can be denied as well) along with Capital One and BofA. None of these were in my COs. WF was the only one that approved me. So I started off with a $300 deposit which I then raised to $500 a few months later and then to $1k a few more and two months ago right when the account turned one year old, I added $1k because by this time I had been a bit more informed and it seemed like April and October where gonna be the months that graduation could possibly happen for me so I wanted my unsecured limit to be as high as possible. At the same time I applied for another secured card because I checked my scores and they were all over the place; 670 Equifax, 601 TU and again that ugly judgement. So I applied for BofA again and the US Bank secured since they seem to be the only cards that have some sort of rewards and I applied to Walmart for the TU score. BofA denied me again but I was approved for US Bank and Walmart starting at $300.

I read some posts that said WF hadn't graduated within a year because they hadn't called in to initiate it. So I called in at the end of March to ask whether it looked like my card would unsecure in April since I had heard about the two months it usually happened in. The CSR congratulated me for my card use (I charged around 1500 monthly and always PIF and then let around 10% report since about 9 months ago) and told me that they now review accounts throughout the year and at this time she didn't see anything about me being unsecured soon but that she would add me to the list of wanting to be reviewed. I thanked her and told her hopefully it would and since I had already paid the AF in Feb that I would wait out this year and think about closing this account if it wouldn't grow with me since I now had the U.S Bank one. Honestly I thought that the card would never unsecure until the 6 COs and the judgement on my report fell off so I figured I would probably have to wait for the US Bank one to turn a year with it's low limit of $300 and use the WF money for the judgement.

I wanted this to unsecure because I seem to be judgement proof and wanted to finally settle that ugly mark but didn't want to start messing with that if they could see I had a secured account for the amount of the judgement and lose my leverage. Well, yesterday I received a letter congratulating me on my card graduating and that it will take place after 45 days with the AF automatically removed and APR reduced to 15.65%!

So even with 6 baddies and a judgement, WF unsecured me. As soon as those funds are in my hands, the settlement negotiations will begin! Wow, that was a super long post. I just wanted to share my experience with this card since that was what helped me, reading everyone else's.

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Congrats on your success

[Vegas247]

Congrats! I hope WF graduates me in Oct.

[Sonic98]

I started off with a Wells Fargo Secured. I opened it in Aug or Sept of 2012 I think I started it off with $300 or $400. I know I remember increasing the limit this past fall during football season because I was travelling, and I wanted to be able to use one card for my travel expenses, rental car and hotel maybe a few cheap meals. I believe my final increase made it $600. Just a month or two ago, just when I was about to add more to my limit,  they increased my limit from 100% of the collateral to 150%, and I just received a word that on 5/30 it will convert to unsecured, and I'm getting my money back. It took a while, but it's happening. I must say I've had relatively good dealings with Wells Fargo Bank, though I originally started with them when they were still Wachovia. I got the same word, that my APR will be lowered. My score was probably lower than yours when I started, and I actually hadn't asked them about the conversion in quite some time. I actually was planning to ask them that, but when I contacted them about something else, they let me know I was being converted. I remember when I thought I lost my bank card a couple months back, and I went in to get a  temporary card, the guy told me my account was up for a review. This was before the 150% or the conversion. Maybe he was letting me know some good things were on the way.