topic Re: Does secured credit built with ITIN apply only to the bank you built it with? in General Credit Topics

Does secured credit built with ITIN apply only to the bank you built it with?

Anonymous — Sun, 24 Mar 2019 13:17:24 GMT

Hi all

I have secured cards with BoA, Citi and Wells Fargo. I have an ITIN, no SSN.

I know the process is that by properly building credit history with these institutions I may eventually be offered unsecured credit (my goal). My question is, does this credit history only apply to the banks/lenders I have built it with, or would other lenders (i.e. Chase) eventually take this into account in considering me for unsecured credit, even though I do not have secured credit with them specifically?

I believe both the lenders I have unsecured credit with entered my ITIN in the application process (in place of an SSN). Does this turn into a normal credit score eventually with no proper SSN, or am I only ever going to get credit through companies that I have already built unsecured credit with?

I have no desire to seek unsecured credit through Wells Fargo (only applied for it with the hope of receiving unsecured credit through other companies), so am wondering if there's any point keeping the secured credit with them.

Re: Does secured credit built with ITIN apply only to the bank you built it with?

Anonymous — Sun, 24 Mar 2019 18:37:19 GMT

It does count. Some lenders don't work well with an ITIN, others do. Some will not report your cards to the bureaus properly, while others will not be able to pull reports using an ITIN. It'll be hit and miss.

If you do eventually get an SSN and go and update all your accounts with it then your reports will suddenly start showing all your accounts back to the first day you opened them with your entire payment history, so at that point you'll get the full benefit of all your efforts to build credit, but until then it'll be hit and miss.

Re: Does secured credit built with ITIN apply only to the bank you built it with?

Anonymous — Mon, 25 Mar 2019 19:42:54 GMT

Thank you for your response. If I can clarify some of you advice though...

Do you mean some lenders will report my credit to reporting agencies (which is what I want) while others may not be able to provide me credit based on this score if it is ITIN based? So I guess the short answer to my question is 'if your secured credit providers report your credit then you may receive unsecured credit from others providers, provided they can offer based on ITINs'?

How do I find out if Wells Fargo reports to agencies? If it doesn't I will cancel it as I don't want unsecured credit.

Im not likely to get an SSN anytime soon unfortunately.