topic Re: Wells Fargo Secured Card in Credit Cards

Wells Fargo Secured Card

Anonymous — Fri, 02 Mar 2018 18:58:39 GMT

Feeling some frustrations with this card....I applied for the Wells Fargo secured card back in 2015 with a $300 deposit and was approved with a 475 credit score (yes, dismal, I know). I've been making on-time payments ever since, and my credit score is now approaching 675. Still, no graduation. I called them back in November and asked when it might be graduated, and they said they just needed an updated income in my profile. Okay, done.

Now, today I called and asked when I might be upgraded, and was told that the last upgrade was in December (obviously mine wasn't), and the next one is on April 10. Even with that information, I'm not holding my breath that it will happen. Is there anything else I can do? I don't want to close it because of the great history, but I don't want to go on an application spree elsewhere, either. I just can't believe that I've had this card for 27 months and have raised my score almost 200 points, and it's not enough to make them budge.

Re: Wells Fargo Secured Card

jbsilva21 — Fri, 02 Mar 2018 19:36:49 GMT

Let me tell, you I closed mine after 6 years and no graduation. My scores went from low 400s to high 600s and all they told me was to apply for another card if I think I can get approved. WF can go kick rocks. One thing you can count on is that everyone is different. I see people with lower scores and more baddies than I have at the time of application and they get approved and I will get denied as always with everything here on the forums YMMV. Just my opinion and this is what I have done, is you can put it in the sock drawer and not use it if you want to wait for the April 10th review. Otherwise move on. WF can be tougher on some profiles. With all the crap in the news with them lately it may even cause them to be even more gun shy and they are probably being pickier with accounts but who knows. I don't know what your scores or report looks like but move on, you have gotten some positive use out of them. There will always be another lender that wants your business.

Re: Wells Fargo Secured Card

Anonymous — Fri, 02 Mar 2018 20:26:36 GMT

6 years??? That's insane.

Eventually I want to apply for better cards, but I won't be in a good position to do that until June or July most likely (a couple of old paid collections are falling off and an old closed credit card will be paid off by then).

I guess I'll just let it float and move on to better things...

Re: Wells Fargo Secured Card

Anonymous — Sat, 03 Mar 2018 09:21:46 GMT

Held a WF Secured Card and after a couple of years I closed it and moved on. They took their time returning my cash deposit too (60 days). As I have had other relationships with WF I figured why not. After all the BS with WF I closed every service out and moved on with no regrets!

Re: Wells Fargo Secured Card

Anonymous — Sat, 03 Mar 2018 17:53:53 GMT

Everything that I have read about Wells Fargo secured is that it's difficult to almost impossible to unsecure. I would not recommend this card. I would give it until April 10 and close it. How old is your next oldest card?

Re: Wells Fargo Secured Card

Anonymous — Sun, 04 Mar 2018 03:18:57 GMT

I don't have any other cards other than being an authorized user on my dad's Capital One card that has 5 years of 100% positive history. I've been trying to improve my credit to avoid having multiple secured cards...I'm afraid it will potentially look bad down the road having so many "lame" tradelines. My plan was to finish paying off an old closed credit card and have a couple old paid collections fall off (June or July), and look for another card to supplement the WF card. The only other negative items reporting are some late payments from 2013 and 2014.

Re: Wells Fargo Secured Card

Anonymous — Sun, 04 Mar 2018 03:23:18 GMT

@Anonymouswrote:
I don't have any other cards other than being an authorized user on my dad's Capital One card that has 5 years of 100% positive history. I've been trying to improve my credit to avoid having multiple secured cards...I'm afraid it will potentially look bad down the road having so many "lame" tradelines. My plan was to finish paying off an old closed credit card and have a couple old paid collections fall off (June or July), and look for another card to supplement the WF card. The only other negative items reporting are some late payments from 2013 and 2014.

If you have no other cards, I wouldn't close it.

Re: Wells Fargo Secured Card

Anonymous — Mon, 05 Mar 2018 21:49:42 GMT

Oh I definitely won't close it in the short term...I'm just frustrated over how stingy they are. I feel like my hard work over the past 27 months doesn't mean all that much, ha.

Re: Wells Fargo Secured Card

Anonymous — Tue, 06 Mar 2018 05:57:18 GMT

If AAoA isn’t a big deal to you (and you still want a WF Card), you could do what they suggested to my brother.

The banker had him close the secured card, wait for funds to be returned to his savings (three days) and wait for the final statement to be generated.

He then applied for the WF Rewards and was approved for the VS version for 8k.

Doesn’t make any sense, but the banker seemed to know how they work.

Re: Wells Fargo Secured Card

arkane — Tue, 06 Mar 2018 06:53:38 GMT

Kick WF to the curb, their credit products are even more worthless than their banking side. For every card they have, somebody else offers something way better.

Re: Wells Fargo Secured Card

Anonymous — Tue, 06 Mar 2018 12:51:25 GMT

@Anonymouswrote:
Everything that I have read about Wells Fargo secured is that it's difficult to almost impossible to unsecure. I would not recommend this card. I would give it until April 10 and close it. How old is your next oldest card?

This is a falsehood and you should stop saying such. I used a WF secured card in my rebuild and they unsecured after 18 months. I was also honest with myself that they waited until my score broke 700.

Re: Wells Fargo Secured Card

Anonymous — Tue, 06 Mar 2018 12:54:53 GMT

@Anonymouswrote:
Feeling some frustrations with this card....I applied for the Wells Fargo secured card back in 2015 with a $300 deposit and was approved with a 475 credit score (yes, dismal, I know). I've been making on-time payments ever since, and my credit score is now approaching 675. Still, no graduation. I called them back in November and asked when it might be graduated, and they said they just needed an updated income in my profile. Okay, done.

Now, today I called and asked when I might be upgraded, and was told that the last upgrade was in December (obviously mine wasn't), and the next one is on April 10. Even with that information, I'm not holding my breath that it will happen. Is there anything else I can do? I don't want to close it because of the great history, but I don't want to go on an application spree elsewhere, either. I just can't believe that I've had this card for 27 months and have raised my score almost 200 points, and it's not enough to make them budge.

You are only managing a $300 credit line and are stil under 700. WF is conservative and doesn't have a history of granting much unsecured credit for scores under 700. I'm not being critical of you because I used WF in my rebuild with a secured card and it takes time plus getting your score up. Also they only do reviews twice a year for converting secured cards so they are being honest about what they told you.

Re: Wells Fargo Secured Card

Anonymous — Tue, 06 Mar 2018 13:08:21 GMT

@Anonymouswrote:
@Anonymouswrote:
Everything that I have read about Wells Fargo secured is that it's difficult to almost impossible to unsecure. I would not recommend this card. I would give it until April 10 and close it. How old is your next oldest card?
This is a falsehood and you should stop saying such. I used a WF secured card in my rebuild and they unsecured after 18 months. I was also honest with myself that they waited until my score broke 700.

So in other word folks, apply for the BoA Cash Rewards instead, get an offer for either the 99/500 secured card, or the fully secured card... Perhaps get the rewards program attached for those who don't recieve an offer for the 99/500, get Bank Amerideals, better fraud protection, and a 3% , 2%, 1% rewards program, get the card unsecured in 7-12 months, and then if you want, PC it to one of a pair of cards that's more attractive than what WF will ever offer.

Re: Wells Fargo Secured Card

Anonymous — Tue, 06 Mar 2018 15:03:41 GMT

@Anonymouswrote:
@Anonymouswrote:
Everything that I have read about Wells Fargo secured is that it's difficult to almost impossible to unsecure. I would not recommend this card. I would give it until April 10 and close it. How old is your next oldest card?
This is a falsehood and you should stop saying such. I used a WF secured card in my rebuild and they unsecured after 18 months. I was also honest with myself that they waited until my score broke 700.

Because yours unsecured in 18 months doesn't mean that it hasn't taken longer for others. I read about someone who had the card secured for 5 years and it still hadn't unsecured.. By the way, 18 months is a long time to unsecure a card, when most unsecure in 1 year or less and don't require a 700 score.

Re: Wells Fargo Secured Card

arkane — Tue, 06 Mar 2018 15:14:18 GMT

@Anonymouswrote:
@Anonymouswrote:
Feeling some frustrations with this card....I applied for the Wells Fargo secured card back in 2015 with a $300 deposit and was approved with a 475 credit score (yes, dismal, I know). I've been making on-time payments ever since, and my credit score is now approaching 675. Still, no graduation. I called them back in November and asked when it might be graduated, and they said they just needed an updated income in my profile. Okay, done.

Now, today I called and asked when I might be upgraded, and was told that the last upgrade was in December (obviously mine wasn't), and the next one is on April 10. Even with that information, I'm not holding my breath that it will happen. Is there anything else I can do? I don't want to close it because of the great history, but I don't want to go on an application spree elsewhere, either. I just can't believe that I've had this card for 27 months and have raised my score almost 200 points, and it's not enough to make them budge.
You are only managing a $300 credit line and are stil under 700. WF is conservative and doesn't have a history of granting much unsecured credit for scores under 700. I'm not being critical of you because I used WF in my rebuild with a secured card and it takes time plus getting your score up. Also they only do reviews twice a year for converting secured cards so they are being honest about what they told you.

If you've got multiple baddies weighing down your report, chances are you're never going to break 700 for the first 2 years at least. You could have $10000 or $100 in unsecured credit and the outcome would be the exact same if your kept the same util.

Re: Wells Fargo Secured Card

Anonymous — Tue, 06 Mar 2018 17:30:54 GMT

I feel as if they're a little more than too conservative. 27 months with perfect history? Jeez. I'm not asking to finance a $70,000 BMW here...haha.

As for negatives left on my account, I have 4 lates showing from 2014 and have 1 paid collection left on Equifax and Experian from over 3 years ago. Trans Union has 4 collections, but 3 are about to fall off in the next few months due to being 7 years old, and the one that will be left remaining is over 3 years old also. I have had no new negative activity in 3 years.

I guess I'll just let this one sit and apply for a different card.

Re: Wells Fargo Secured Card

arkane — Tue, 06 Mar 2018 18:37:47 GMT

Yeah just SD it but don't close it. It's a WF card, you're not losing out on anything except less aggravation and headaches.

Re: Wells Fargo Secured Card

jbsilva21 — Tue, 06 Mar 2018 19:36:28 GMT

@arkanewrote:
Yeah just SD it but don't close it. It's a WF card, you're not losing out on anything except less aggravation and headaches.

And who knows, once you SD that WF card and get other cards some lenders get "jealous". Maybe that will wake them up, but none the less I think you will have better luck with Disco or Cap One.

Re: Wells Fargo Secured Card

arkane — Tue, 06 Mar 2018 20:37:53 GMT

This is WF we're talking about here, you know, the only of the "big four" that refuses to issue unsecured credit cards to non-citizens?

I think WF would rather you take your business elsewhere than to try and appease you.

Re: Wells Fargo Secured Card

Anonymous — Wed, 07 Mar 2018 22:54:16 GMT

What I find ironic about that is that they're one of the few banks that offer "second chance" checking accounts. Try getting that elsewhere in big numbers. Thankfully, I'm beyond that area of my life, but way back when I couldn't even get in with a credit union, even with someone on the account with me.