Credit Cards

[Tink1o5]

I currently bank with Wells Fargo, and me an my husband are looking to get a wells fargo secured card so we can start rebuilding our credit.  Would they be a good card to start with?? Any experiences??

[cashnocredit]

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Tink1o5 wrote:

I currently bank with Wells Fargo, and me an my husband are looking to get a wells fargo secured card so we can start rebuilding our credit.  Would they be a good card to start with?? Any experiences??

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If you bank with them they are far more likely to approve a secured card with bad credit. That was my first CC in over 10 years and at the time I had CAs and a PR.

[Duncanrr]

I didn't bank with them and opened up a savings account with a min amount. Waited a couple weeks and then got this card with credit scores around 570.

It's an ok card but I've heard they don't graduate many and the adding funds to card to increase balance takes a long time. It's better than the three inquiries for cap1 secured card.

[MountainHiker]

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Tink1o5 wrote:

I currently bank with Wells Fargo, and me an my husband are looking to get a wells fargo secured card so we can start rebuilding our credit.  Would they be a good card to start with?? Any experiences??

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Wells Fargo was my first card after financial issues and picked them to begin the rebuilding phase of the process. They are a great outfit for that purpose.Make sure you get a checking account with them, it will make opening up the secured card process easier. You can fund the secured card through your checking account. And pay your monthly bill via the internet.Your score will jump at least 50-80 points after the card shows up on your credit report.VERY IMPORTANT that you keep your utilization low (below 10%) in order to get your FICO score up.I've had my Wells for nearly 18 months.The next round of graduation cards happen in april.Hope to go from secured to unsecured.They graduate secured cards twice a year, in april and october. Hope that helps.

[dodgerslv]

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Tink1o5 wrote:

I currently bank with Wells Fargo, and me an my husband are looking to get a wells fargo secured card so we can start rebuilding our credit.  Would they be a good card to start with?? Any experiences??

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I opened one back in Jan 2012. They have been good to me so far. Started with a 300 deposit and have been putting money throughout the year. The APR is not bad for a secured card (18%) Annual fee of 25. Only problem and complaint about them is that your card is not guaranteed to unsecured after a year of having it. They only graduate cards twice in year (April and October). There has been people here that never had their card unsecure at all.

In my case they did give me an auto CLI of 500 not too long ago and didnt even have to send them money as collateral. Also, when my annual fee was due up on my anniversary date, they only charged me 5 dollars instead of the usual 25. I do think you may have to open an account with them if you want their secured card. Good luck and hope this info helps.

[cashnocredit]

In my case WF secured was great. They unsecured after 18 mo. with no hard pull. The advantage is that your CR contains no indication, after unsecuring,  of rebulding with Orchard et al. It's annoying that you have no idea when they will unsecure but, int the long run, it;s a good CL to have.

[Tink1o5]

Thanks everyone for your replies. My husband and I have a joint checking/savings account with WF right now. So since you all seem to have had decent experiences, on Friday we will be applying for our first secured CC. Thanks again!

[Enhasa]

Wells Fargo is a nice bank to deal with.

I applied with them over 6 years ago when I just got my social security number and had absolutely 0 credit history. At that point I have had a checking account with them for about 8-10months and I guess that helped.

They approved me for $700 CL unsecured initially. I maxed out the card and PIF each month, and throughout the years they been giving me auto CLI every 3-12months. 

Been 6+ years now, and they just up'ed my CL to 10000.

My gf applied for WF and got 500 credit unsecured when she didn't even have a SSN 4-5 years ago.

She got a SSN after that and now her CL is about 8000.

Depending on your checking account, you might even be granted an unsecured card with them, though the limit will be low.

They're pretty flexible giving CLI though as long as u PIF or at least pay more than just the minimum required.

[Give_Me_Credit_Please]

I have a checking acct with WF and recently opened my secured card with $300 minimum deposit. My score was 615 and approved with no problems. The best thing is you can transfer money from your checking acct and deposit right into your WF secured card to make payments right online and if you decide to add funds to the card, it only takes 3 business days. By having a checking acct with them helps alot and makes it easier. When you apply, make sure whatever amount you want to secure, have it ready in your checking acct because before they approve you, they'll make sure you have that available even though they won't pull it from your checking acct, they want to make sure it's there. My mistake was I didn't have my deposit in my checking acct and they decline me so I had to recon and was got approved. Good Luck!

[dddewdrop]

    Someone on this site who has a Wells Fargo secured card told me to go with a BofA one because BofA is more likely to convert to a unsecured one after 12 month. He said in almost every case the BofA ones convert whereas with Wells Fargo they convert less regularly or at a lower rate.