topic Re: Wells Fargo Secured in Credit Cards

Wells Fargo Secured

Anonymous — Sat, 30 Jun 2012 16:12:36 GMT

I just opened a Wells Fargo secured card to re-establish credit history. Does anyone know how long they take to start reporting to CRAs? Are they good at reporting like they say they will do?

I have a checking account w/them but their customer service has not been as good as my experience w/Citibank. I'm wondering if Wells doesn't have a good history of reporting if I should just close and go w/Citi for a secured? Purpose and focus is to re-establish good history.

Re: Wells Fargo Secured

Revelate — Sat, 30 Jun 2012 17:22:49 GMT

Wells absolutely reports, wouldn't worry about that with them. I don't know with them in particular how long it takes for them to start reporting, though my auto loan through Wells Dealer Services (not necessarily the same) reported right at first statement.

You want 2-3 cards anyway, Wells doesn't have a fantastic track record here with their secured products but that was around graduation rather than anything else. Keep it open, and if you don't have the additional revolving tradelines, go open up the Citi secured too if you bank with them. Whatever your experience is with Citi, I'd be happy to hear about it over time, Citi doesn't come up in the list of secured card suggestions very often because nobody I've read has experience with them directly.

Re: Wells Fargo Secured

cashnocredit — Sat, 30 Jun 2012 18:09:36 GMT

Yep, like Revelate says, they report to all three.

They are better than Citi in some ways. They actually report the amount paid in addition to the min due and balance each month and EX now records this. This fine grain reporting makes it easier for future creditors to see how you pay bills. Whether you are a pif person, or what percentage of the balance you actually pay.

Re: Wells Fargo Secured

Anonymous — Sat, 30 Jun 2012 19:15:49 GMT

Oh that's great to know. With Wells reporting that way is it better to pif or pay a %?

I may do citi as well but should probably do my second secured card w/a suggested bank. Is there a post / thread for the suggested ones? I hadn't seen that but am still working my way through this plethora of information.

Everyone is so helpful, thank you.

Re: Wells Fargo Secured

Revelate — Sat, 30 Jun 2012 19:28:15 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Oh that's great to know. With Wells reporting that way is it better to pif or pay a %?

I may do citi as well but should probably do my second secured card w/a suggested bank. Is there a post / thread for the suggested ones? I hadn't seen that but am still working my way through this plethora of information.

Everyone is so helpful, thank you.

Not really we just tend to recycle through things. Probably should make a sticky at some point and just keep it updated as lenders change their products like BOFA did so recently.

BOFA - one of the top two easily, though they're a little pickier than others. Graduates near religiously at the 12 month mark, can now add their 1-2-3 rewards package to their fully secured cards. If you can get Wells, you can get BOFA would be my estimation. The one downside to BOFA is it's a hard inquiry to increase your limit, so it's better to put down a higher deposit if such things bother you. Reports as a secured card, that goes away upon graduation and their 1-2-3 rewards is the best you can get in this strata though you have to call them to get them added to the card.

NFCU - if you have a military tie, get one from here. Similar to BOFA's in terms of benefits, again one of the top two easily if you can establish membership. In addition to everything BOFA offers, it's not a hard pull to increase your limit, and I think they might not report as secured on your credit file. That last part really doesn't matter unless you're goosing your credit limits through security deposits.

Cap One: Doesn't graduate, doesn't report as secured, and can easily add funds to it.

USAA: Same as Cap 1, but only available to full members there.

USBank: Rewards, graduates, but it's something of a pain to setup and personally I'd skip but others swear by it.

Citi / your local credit union / your local bank: Not enough information to know, but if you have a CU that's a good one, wrap your arms around them and make one of your secured cards from them regardless of the drawbacks would be my opinion. Establishing relationships with CU's going forward is nothing but goodness for anyone in a rebuilding mode.

Edit: for the Wells or any other CC, PIF works fine for most people, you'll see lots of debate on that here on the forums... personally I just make certain to pay more than the minimum every time on all my credit cards, but unless I'm floating balances that more than minimum is usually the complete or near complete balance anyway. The most important thing is just don't be late and don't pay less than the minimum on all your tradelines, everything else is kinda gravy really while rebuilding.

Re: Wells Fargo Secured

Anonymous — Sat, 30 Jun 2012 19:39:11 GMT

Awesome feedback. Checking out NFCU right how. Dad is ex navy and DoD 40 yrs, retired. Hopefully that still makes me qualify as family even though I'm not still a "child" lol.

Would you recommend a specific limit for card #2? WF is $500. I saw reference that higher limits show as desirable to lenders in that they see ability to be responsible.

Re: Wells Fargo Secured

Revelate — Sat, 30 Jun 2012 22:16:56 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Awesome feedback. Checking out NFCU right how. Dad is ex navy and DoD 40 yrs, retired. Hopefully that still makes me qualify as family even though I'm not still a "child" lol.

Would you recommend a specific limit for card #2? WF is $500. I saw reference that higher limits show as desirable to lenders in that they see ability to be responsible.

It doesn't matter that much, the NFCU secured card can grow since you can add money to it at any time without incurring any FICO penalty.

The only reason larger limits matter is bigger limits, beget bigger limits in the future. I don't know if that straight follows from being responsible, and more just from trying to entice you to use their card and not someone else's. Psychology is funny in the credit world, and offered credit limits are no exception.

Right now the absolute most important thing is just establishing a few credit cards, and getting them paid on time to rack up positive payment history. That's the #1 factor in FICO scoring given the way it's setup and how huge penalties are for either thin files, or for any derogatory. Revolving utilization is a distant second, and can be managed regardless of how small or large your limits are.

You really just want the tradelines, when you have more free cash later, add it to the NFCU card, and with your father retired, you absolutely qualify he'll just need to join first. Future approvals and future CL's are just that, future: not something that needs to be done as soon as possible. Establishing your credit history going forward, that's an ASAP issue. Also, admittedly, NFCU is probably one of the best lenders to be with as a consumer, I highly recommend them to anyone that can get in with them; sadly, my military affiliation which got me into USAA when I was a kid, doesn't go there.

Re: Wells Fargo Secured

Anonymous — Sat, 30 Jun 2012 22:58:57 GMT

Thank you. These forums are so empowering.. I think I might have been getting ahead of myself. I appreciate the re-focus.

I talked to my father and he is going to join NFCU so I can join. Plus it sounds like he should be banking with them anyway - and he sounded like he agreed.

So, it will be Wells, NFCU, possibly Citi and hopefully an auto loan. Plus tending to the haunting medical collections. Sounds like a good plan! As I see scores go up, I'll be sure to share the success. And once I try Citi for a secured - if I decide to- I'll let you know my experience.

I know as respects to customer service -Citi was awesome from day 1 & have helped in ways no other bank has. Hopefully their experience w/Secured cards will be the same.

Re: Wells Fargo Secured

cashnocredit — Sat, 30 Jun 2012 23:34:12 GMT

Yep, bigger limits on secured cards help a lot.

I just PCed my previously unsecured Citi to a 25k world mc. It took 3 years and patience. Before that I hadn't used any credit for almost 10 years.

Re: Wells Fargo Secured

Anonymous — Sun, 01 Jul 2012 01:55:04 GMT

From my experience, US Bank credit cards are a pain.

I've had mine for 3 years and it has yet to graduate. From what I understand, you have to request this, it doesnt automatically happen and it will be a hard inquiry.

Also I dont think the US Bank secured card can ever have its credit limit increased. I think you have to stick with your original limit/deposit.

Re: Wells Fargo Secured

Revelate — Sun, 01 Jul 2012 02:04:59 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
From my experience, US Bank credit cards are a pain.

I've had mine for 3 years and it has yet to graduate. From what I understand, you have to request this, it doesnt automatically happen and it will be a hard inquiry.

Also I dont think the US Bank secured card can ever have its credit limit increased. I think you have to stick with your original limit/deposit.

Hrm, might depend on the USBank secured card as I've heard they have at least two; supposedly their Harley Davidson one did if I remember right. I pretty much disapprove of them for the fact you have to send a bloody mail order to them to open a secured account for your deposit. How 1980's of them.

Thanks for the additional information on USBank secured cards, not having used them personally or really even researched them cept what I've read on the forum, I appreciate finding out about it.

Re: Wells Fargo Secured

Anonymous — Tue, 03 Jul 2012 17:34:33 GMT

Just wanted to post an update.. Wells Fargo just happened to update the first month on my report on Sunday.

At the statement closing date, I had a high statement balance ($301 of $500) but it showed the due date of 7/23. Does that look bad on my report? Or should I make sure to pay before statement close every month to show a lower statement balance? Does it matter as long as I pay the statement balance in full (or should I pay the entire balance in full if I get up to say $499). I went ahead and paid the entire statement balance yesterday.. wondering if I need to pay it off to zero balance before the due date? I can also change the due date to make the reporting work in my favor if that helps.

Thanks for the tips!

About to open my NFCU account and get that secured card next.

Re: Wells Fargo Secured

Revelate — Tue, 03 Jul 2012 17:21:31 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Just wanted to post an update.. Wells Fargo just happened to update the first month on my report on Sunday.

At the statement closing date, I had a high statement balance ($301 of $500) but it showed the due date of 7/23. Does that look bad on my report? Or should I make sure to pay before statement close every month to show a lower statement balance? Does it matter as long as I pay the statement balance in full (or should I pay the entire balance in full if I get up to say $499). I went ahead and paid the entire statement balance yesterday.. wondering if I need to pay it off to zero balance before the due date?

Thanks for the tips!

About to open my NFCU account and get that secured card next.

If you're applying for something in the next month (or two in some cases, Amex being the most notable) absolutely pay before the statement date.

Outside of that it really doesn't matter before or after as long as your income levels justify the amount of outstanding debt as FICO has no memory of such things. Personally I think it's good future planning to get in a high balance reported such that it can be taken into consideration by later underwriting: namely, you used this much, and paid it off without issue; however, there's no concrete proof this is beneficial.

Edit: NFCU won't care on a membership or secured card application, don't delay that by a month unnecessarily.

Re: Wells Fargo Secured

Anonymous — Tue, 03 Jul 2012 17:36:59 GMT

Gotcha. That makes sense. I just want to get into good habits.. and it's personally easier for me to just plan to pay before the statement date as a force of habit.

Re: Wells Fargo Secured

Anonymous — Wed, 01 Aug 2012 22:12:42 GMT

I started with the WF Secured at $600.00 and left it there. Wells Fargo updates the day after your statement date. They only graduate after 12 months and that is upon review still around April and October. Keep the balance below the limit, and the best utilization ( I know the APR sucks) would be 3-9% balance to report to CR agencies as it show responsibility.

I found that out as a 0 balance dropped my score slightly by 17 points and a $30 balance raised it 27 points the next month. Be wary of keeping an eye out for mid-cycle update if you get really near the limit or over. If you use it for a secure purchase near the limit, plan to pay it immediatly or ASAP.

It's a great, I have responsibility look at my toy card, if nothing else.

Congrats and Happy Gardening.

Re: Wells Fargo Secured

Sonic98 — Fri, 14 Sep 2012 19:37:56 GMT

I've had a Wells Fargo secured card for about a month. Maybe a month and a half. I got the card, but nothing saying when my due date was. Not know when it was, I selected one. I didn't check my CRA's rght away, but after only having the card a couple weeks, I checked it was showing a closing balance of 0 dollars, as I had not used the card yet. I don't know if this is because I changed the due date, or this was going to happen anyway. I then checked my CRA's, and it was actually reporting on all 3 with a 0 balance. Now, I just checked today, and on one of the CRA's, Expierian, it's reporting as a secured card. They said that would not be the case. I read someone comment on yahoo that it "would not report as secured for very long," so maybe after a few payments, it will not report as secured.

I was going to apply for a Capital One secured as well a month later, but to my surprise they approved me for unsecured card. It's most shocking because they were 1 of the 2 collections that brought my score down years ago. I was listed as an authorized user on a Capital One card, but for some reason they were taking a long time to report a balance on the card, and when the balance was disputed, so the CRA's would reflect the right balance, their AUs were removed from their Capital One account. I think the actual user might have made the mistake of having one of the AU's dispute the balance because one of the CA's said it had not been long enough since they disputed when Capital One didn't report the balance a month before.

Re: Wells Fargo Secured

jsucool76 — Fri, 14 Sep 2012 19:41:36 GMT

Cap1 tends to not hold a grudge.

Re: Wells Fargo Secured

webhopper — Fri, 14 Sep 2012 19:43:40 GMT

You definately need to be a nfcu member. Do this immediately!

Re: Wells Fargo Secured

vivaknievel — Sun, 20 Jan 2013 05:45:27 GMT

I'm late on this thread, but want to chime in for someone else's future reference.

Sort of a review...My experience with Wells Fargo is that:

Yes, they do report to all three credit bureaus. I believe I started seeing the results in Credit Karma about a couple of months from opening, but it could have been 4 to 6 months in actuality.

As for the return of your deposit, Wells Fargo will tell you that with good history, you'll be graduated to unsecured in as early as 6 months and as late as one year, but so far, I'm at 1 year and 4 months without graduation, and no correspondence to indicate that I was ever evaluated. In my case, there has been 100% on-time payment history, I carry no balance, low utilization of limit, only one hard inquiry (from before the Wells application, and which is about to fall off) and no other debts.

By all accounts, most people will not be graduated until 18 months, and some people have gone as high as 3 years before graduation. Reportedly, Wells Fargo's evaluations for graduation take place in October and April of each year. There is an indication from other reports I've seen, that one has to call and separately apply for the unsecured card (which will result in a hard pull) and some are still denied after that.

No one seems to graduate in one year, as promised, but in my case, the jury's still out as to whether they do at 18 months, if your account is in good standing. I'm not sure what the credit history/habits/reports of most who haven't graduated at 18 months look like during that time, but I have established good history and know that if mine doesn't graduate by then, that its an issue beyond exaggerating graduation time. If your cirumstance makes it crucial that you're 100% unsecured in a year's time, I would recommend that you not allow Wells Fargo Secured to be your only card. Either get a second card elsewhere, or choose a different one outright. There is no consistent pattern in how WF evalutes these cards...except that it is inconsistent.

The plus side, is that their Annual Fee is only $18 a year, and the card has, indeed, helped me to build credit quickly. As of this month, I have a 755 FICO score and received two pre-approved offers from Discover It, and Amazon Rewards Visa (by Chase). However, if Wells Fargo does not graduate you by the time your best offers come in, you may to have to wait to accept, or else you may have to settle for lower limits and higher APRs than you'd probably enjoy otherwise. I opted to accept lower limits on the new cards, just so that I can have cards in place in case I have to cancel Wells Fargo in a few months. I figure I can always grow with those cards and make up for the loss of account age, if push comes to shove. At this point, I simply want my $300 to be freed up, and to no longer pay an Annual Fee, if there is no indication that I'll come away rewarded with what they promised in exchange for the responsible behavior I've exhibited. Who knows? Perhaps having accepted the other cards will push Wells Fargo to graduate. I won't hold my breath, but either way, I've got other cards now and don't see my fate as being at the mercy of the bank.

Another plus, is that my experience with Customer Service has been good when talking to CS about the card directly - they'd been friendly, helpful and generous with advice, when I was starting out. However, I did have to briefly change the phone number on my account, to prevent getting relentless calls about credit monitoring packages, from a related department.

I find that the card itself truly has only been good for building credit. When I signed up, they had advertised that I'd not only be able to build credit, but that I'd enjoy rewards, too. I've found the rewards to be hidden and of no actual value to me, personally (an online-only partner store). It uses a point structure which will not help someone who doesn't spend enormous sums of money with the specific stores they are partners with. I'd rather use a card that offers rewards for both traditional and online stores, that I use regularly, even if they are small rewards.

VERDICT: If you have a Wells Fargo bank account and want greater ease of payment, go for it. If you expect that good, solid history will allow you to graduate in one year and with no guesswork about when - then look elsewhere.