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My One Year Credit History

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NewtoCredit80
Frequent Contributor

My One Year Credit History

First I would like to thank myfico members for their guidance. I came to US last year and applied for a CapOne Newcomer card and was rejected. I had no idea about recon at that time. Search engine revealed myfico and realised best way to start is through secure credit card. Applied for a PNC secure card in December 2012 for a limit of $900. 3 months later I increased the limit to $2000. PNC customer executive talked me into applying for a unsecured card also which was rejected. She did apply for a recon which was again rejected. 

 

Through myfico I came to know about Chase generous policy for existing checking and saving customers. I applied for Chase Amazon card in April 2013 and was rejected. Recon resulted in a $500 limit. I also applied for CapOne Newcomer 2 weeks later and was rejected. Recon to CapOne EO proved successful resulting in $1000 limit. In May 13 applied for Citibank credit card and was again rejected. During recon cc mentioned atleast one year of credit history. A recon to Citi EO proved fruitful as I have an a annual fee visa signature card from Citi India and have been Citi India customer for 8 years. After one month of to and fro, I got Citi Dividend card with a limit of $2000. I emailed Chase EO and got a cli to $1500 without an enquiry based on my checking and saving relationship with them.

 

Now I had to garden for 6 months but discover and Amex card promotional mails resulted in 2 more apps in July 2013. I was told to call customer care during both apps. Got a limit of $1000 on Discover IT and $2000 on Amex BCP. I got a 50000 bonus SW points offer from Chase by end of Jul 2013 so after 10 days in garden I applied for Chase SW card. My first approval of a card above $5000 credit limit at $6000. I also got 3x cli at Amex in Sept 2013.

 

I then became a member of garden. I contacted CapOne EO again which resulted in cli to $2000. Got a feedback from them that now I should wait for 6 months before contacting them again. Another offer from Chase Marriott got me out of garden in Oct 2013 and received a $12000 limit. I was shocked for a minute. Celebrated with my wife at Cheese Cake Factory. I got auto cli on CapOne card to $2500 and Chase Amazon to $2000 in November 2013. Recently BofA bonus motivated me to apply for one more card and I got an instant approval of $5000. In most recent statement Chase auto cli SW card to $10000. 

 

In the most recent Discover statement my fico score was 721 so I think I have made good progress in past 15 months in US. I could not have done it without myfico members. Now it is time for my seedlings to grow. 

 

Any foreign national in US I would recommend apply for a Amex credit card immediately through a special customer care number. you are approved based on payment history on local Amex card in past 6 months. I would also recommend applying for a secure credit card. 6 months after that Discover IT, CapOne and Chase Freedom are good bets.

 

Sorry for such a long post. I hope my experience helps other establish credit history in US.

 

Edit: small readability change --Rev



PNC Secured 2000 (Dec12), Chase Amazon 2000 (Apr13), CapOne Newcomer 2500 (May13), Citi dividend 3000 (May13), Discover IT 1000 (Jul13), Amex BCP 6000 (Jul13), Chase Southwest 10000 (Jul13), Chase Marriott 12000 (Oct 13), BofA Travel Rewards 5000 (Dec13)

- In garden till Dec 2014
Message 1 of 3
2 REPLIES 2
benandjerry
Regular Contributor

Re: My One Year Credit History

My story is quite similar so I won't go into the details.

 

But I second the AMEX suggestion for foreigners even contemplating moving to the USA: having an AMEX in your homecountry pretty much garantuees you will get an AMEX here, and that carries a LOT of weight with starting up your credit file here!



$1250                $4000              $15,000            $11,000         $1000(secured)      CLOSED!                  $5000        2.65%:
Starting Score: 0 (03/01/13) &Current Score: TU FICO 791 CK755 CS747 QZ747 &Goal Score: 750 new goal:800 garden since 03/21/14
Message 2 of 3
credit-hunter
Frequent Contributor

Re: My One Year Credit History

Congratulations... the detailed post was helpful.

Message 3 of 3
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