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Any Experiance With WF Personal Line of Credit

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flapjack
Established Member

Any Experiance With WF Personal Line of Credit

Hi,

 

Does anyone know the difficulty in getting a Wells Fargo line of credit and what their qualifications are? Ideally I would like a $50K line to be used for a home renovation.  My specifics are below.

 

Annual Income $135K        

           

                                Limit      Balance                Opened

First                       262000  261000  5/2012
Second                 32000    31500    5/2012
Chase Visa          6800       0              2006
Capital One MC 6000       0              2003
Citi MC  15000    0              2011
Amex BCE           4400       0              2011
Wells  Visa           22500    0              2012
BOA Visa              7800       0              2000
Lowes GEMB     9800       0              2012
BOA Car Loan     38500    35000    3/2012

 

There are a few notes a human may understand that an automated system won’t.  One, I can dispose of the car note and gain some capital if needed to qualify, but I don’t need to from a budget perspective and would like to keep it.  Second, my scores at the moment reflect a $9K balance on the Wells Fargo Visa which has since been paid and should update within the next few days, but they will know that.  Third, while not major, Wells holds the first mortgage and every dollar which is going in will result in $1.00+ where I am located – it buys them some additional security for that note. Fourth, the house has a garage apartment which should yield $600 a month income after expenses but I can’t do that yet as I am living in it waiting for the house to get done.

 

I do have about $60K in deposits with them now but 80% of that will also be going in the house. I do not want a renovation loan as my interest rates will jump nearly two points, commit me to 30 years of paying the same as I would in 5 years with a line of credit and cost several thousand dollars to close. I did look into Lending Club and Prosper but both have $35K limits and I need the $50K to cover the builder’s proposal. I’ve identified $10K in savings from that already so in theory, I would never need to utilize the entire amount. Any advice you can give will be appreciated or if you have another idea on a way to go than with Wells, I would like to know.

 

Regards,

 

flapjack

 

EX: 785 EQ: 759 TU: 760 (9/14 via MyFico)
Message 1 of 6
5 REPLIES 5
slick_shoes_182
Valued Member

Re: Any Experiance With WF Personal Line of Credit

Let us know how it goes. I thought about applying there before, but went with some credit unions instead. With my zip code, Well's Fargo is advertising 9% for their unsecured line of credit ( Here's where I checked my zip code's rate: https://www.wellsfargo.com/personal_credit/rate_payments/rate_calc_main?type=unsecuredline ). There are plenty of credit unions and other banks (big banks like CitiBank to small banks like City National Bank or First Republic) with better interest rates so I didn't bother with them.

 

If I were you and needed to get 50K in cash from a line of credit, I would join 2 or 3 credit unions that have lower interest rates and credit cards with no cash advance fees and low APRs. I would expect to get around 30K per credit union (15K from the lines of credit, 15K from the credit cards that can be used like lines of credit). The credit unions I have experience with that would be good for this are Western Federal Credit Union ( NOT Western Union but https://www.western.org/ ) and Boeing Employee's Credit Union (the Boeing one is mostly limited to WA state residents and Boeing employees). State Department Federal Credit Union and Digital Credit Union would probably be good too but I don't have experience with them. There are probably tons of others that can beat Wells Fargo's rates too that you can join.

 

Alternatively, maybe you can get bumps on some of your cards' credit lines and use a direct deposit offer (similar to a balance transfer.. but directly to your bank account). You would pay a 2-4% transaction fee up front and then get the cash for a year or more. BOA and Citi regularlly offer these on my existing cards with them, so you can talk to them about it. BOA can be pretty generous with credit lines for this purpose, but I don't have much experience with Citi. Right now I'm using 30K from BOA in this way for 15 months.

Message 2 of 6
flapjack
Established Member

Re: Any Experiance With WF Personal Line of Credit

I applied yesterday in person at my local branch. The app went to review immediately and I got a counter offer back today at $40K with a 7.5% variable APR. I really would have liked a $50K line as that guarantees I'll be able to finish the renovation as planned but when I asked the branch representative to ask the underwriter what the limiting factors were and what I might be able to change them, she strongly discouraged me from doing it, implying that the underwriter may get irritated and withdraw the offer. What I wanted to say to that statement and what I did say were two different things, but I had her go back and inquire if I could get the line increased if I dropped my Visa with them, which already has a at $22.5K line. As I was told, the underwriter came back and said that would not make a difference, that the max I can get is what they offered.

 

I would almost like to go back again and ask for a second recon without dealing with the branch affiliate. I was also told several other things by her, first that it was my income, second that I did not have experience with credit in this range, third that all the balances on my revolving credit were too low. Sheesh, I’d have liked a straight answer. I certainly do have experience with even more debt during my irresponsible pay with plastic days and I never was late with a payment during that time. That I paid it off all that debt I would think would be good sign, but apparently not. As to my income, it is what it is but I doubt that really was the main factor.

 

I know I am ranting, but WF is always hawking me personally via online banking, email and of late everyone who visits their site with their “Debt Pay Down” personal loan solutions. That to me seems a far greater risk than a credit line for home improvement. I know that it is unsecured, but what’s the point of asking me what I intend to do with it if they don’t care. I offered to provide the official plan and budget and a whole lot more info but they never asked. I suppose what irritates me most is not being able to talk directly to the decision maker so I could get a straight answer.

 

I do thank you for your reply though. I hadn’t considered the possibility of trying to open two lines of credit with two different institutions. I sort of assumed that would never work. Have you done this before? I did check the CU you mentioned and yes, they do have some great CC’s with no cash advance fee, but I had always heard you should never take a cash advance on a credit card as providers take doing so as a sign of possible financial insolvency and frequently reduce credit lines as a result. I could also use my CC’s more formally to purchase a lot of the materials needed as a way to offset the lower credit line. Gosh knows Lowes wants me to, having sent me a three month offer for 18 months @ zero%. I will probably be taking them up on it.

 

BTW, they pulled EQ and my score was a spot on match for what I just got here. I live in Texas.

EX: 785 EQ: 759 TU: 760 (9/14 via MyFico)
Message 3 of 6
slick_shoes_182
Valued Member

Re: Any Experiance With WF Personal Line of Credit

Wow, I'm impressed by the rate. I tried a few California zip codes and couldn't find anything below 9% using the link that I posted. I saw 8.25% for New York and Virginia... 7% for Houston Texas!

 

I've taken cash advances from most of my cards for various reasons over the years. I've never had any of them mention it as the limiting factor on a credit limit increase. I've never had a CLD as a result, either. Maybe others here can list banks that have given them a CLD or noted it as their limiting factor. I know from talking to underwriters at Western Federal Credit Union that they are happy when their customers take cash advances from their credit card.. Actually the 8.99% on the credit card is higher than the 6.75% on their line of credit. When I applied for my credit card there, I told them that I planned to do a cash advance and wire the money out as soon as I was approved.. thats why I was applying for that product at that time. Knowing that, they still approved me for 30K and processed the wire out the day I was approved (no credit card in hand or anything, yet). Banks can check your balances at other institutions via your credit report, but they have no way of knowing whether you racked up balances elsewhere using purchases, cash advances, or balance transfers so it really only matters how the bank you take the cash advance from feels about it.

 

You can talk to a bank employee or two to find out what their policies are like. The one exception I've had is Wells Fargo.. the employees at my branch will say anything to get you to apply. Most of the credit unions I have talked to have a fairly simple process... the rate is entirely determined by FICO, the maximum credit line is determined by income. However, they then compare the maximum credit line that you would qualify for to your history with them, and allocate some amount of the maximum line to you. Every so often you can go back to them and get a CLI.. but taking cash advances doesn't factor into it. 

 

Barclay's posted an interesting article about how they set credit lines: http://www.barclaycardring.com/t5/Barclaycard-Ring-Public-Blog/A-Case-Study-of-a-Credit-Line-Increas...

 

Opening multiple lines of credit at the same time is just like opening credit cards at the same time. I applied for my lines of credit at BECU and Western around the same time. if you got 100 credit cards or lines of credit at once, when they check your credit report in the future, they might freak out if you have too much credit for your income and close or decrease the credit that they've extended to you. As long as the amount of credit that you have is reasonable for your income, then it shouldn't be a problem.

Message 4 of 6
RENATO1
Member

Re: Any Experiance With WF Personal Line of Credit

What credit bureaus did they pull? Did they give you the rate that matches your zip code online? I plan to apply for a PLOC next week. Thanks.

Message 5 of 6
Jb11
Established Member

Re: Any Experiance With WF Personal Line of Credit

Thought I shared...

 

I recently applied for a Personal Loan through WF.  I have an 805 credit score that they pulled, my wife's was 796.  I believe they used Experian.  We requested a $30k loan and they came back with $25k at 15.25%, though they advertise as low as 9%.  I went to a local Credit Union and they gave us a $15k loan for 8.9%.(best Rate for PL). I know there are a lot of factors that went into those rates, but I am happy I went with our local Credit Union. 

Message 6 of 6
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