new to forum and credit cards - advice on piggybacking?

[coldfusion]

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@Anonymous wrote:

will check out AU guide - thanks! Perhaps idea would be to be added as an AU onto another card that would boost score and then apply for the card...

International travel will likely be 1x a month to UK, but alot of travel between MA, DC, and CA - sometimes hawaii and guam as well. I do alot of personal travel in the winter to the carib so hoping to use benefits there. As far as I know, expenses are reimbursed 1-2 days after report is submitted, im sure this wont be an issue.

Another option would maybe be to go to my bank for an intro or better CC? BofA + Capital One always send me adverts for credit cards but I have never looked. I imagine its because they can see account balances and/or assets... either way my goal here is to avoid picking up too many stepping stone cards and just get right to the good stuff but I am guessing balance/assets won't mean much to an institution that you are not banking with... thanks for the help guys!

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I ask because a) acceptance of AMEX outside the US can be spotty especially if (like me) you don't always stick to places that cater to foreign business travelers, and b) you need to be aware of whether or not a given personal card charges a FTF when used outside the US and also whether or not your company's travel policy allows for reimbursement of FTFs.   At least for international travel if you're carrying a corporate AMEX you should be carrying a Visa or Mastercard as backup, not another AMEX.

If you've been a BoA client for a while you may want to take a look at the Customized Cash Rewards (note the FTF fee!) or Travel Rewards card (confirm the rewards plan works for you) especially if you have Preferred Rewards status, as BoA is a pretty strong relationship bank.   Being an established client may give you sufficient leverage to get an approval.   

Do your due diligence in researching how much of an impact being an AU would have - it's a concept that was abused enough that some issuers may choose to filter those accounts out when evaluating creditworthiness. 

[Anonymous]

Bumping this as I finally got around to reading up on AU and am about to get credit reports... I did do the free ones years ago but there was nothing at the time... credit check total seems to be a con so I am wondering whats the best way to get legitimate credit scores without having to wait for something in the mail or be subject to getting billed on some reoccuring plan that they make it impossible to cancle? Any tips?

Thanks!!

[coldfusion]

If you want to get a complete picture you have to pay to play.  creditchecktotal is legit but you have to play the game by cancelling each trial before the 7 days are up. 

You can fill in a few of the gaps for free by going to freecreditscore.com and www.discover.com/credit-cards/fico-score-free/ but you won't get a comprehensive view of your scores.    Sites like creditkarma and nerdwallet provide Vantage 3.0 scores which aren't very meaningful because they don't reliably track FICO scores and in general aren't legitimately used to make credit decisions. 

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Bumping this as I finally got around to reading up on AU and am about to get credit reports... I did do the free ones years ago but there was nothing at the time... credit check total seems to be a con so I am wondering whats the best way to get legitimate credit scores without having to wait for something in the mail or be subject to getting billed on some reoccuring plan that they make it impossible to cancle? Any tips?

Thanks!!

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I guess you lost the sense of urgency.

@Anonymous You're confusing two things:  credit reports AND credit scores.  You can get your credit reports for free from annualcreditreport .com which is a government mandated website.  But what was suggested several times earlier is to get your FICO 8 credit scores.

The only ways to get your scores is to either pay for them, or have credit cards which provide one of the scores monthly score as a courtesy.  To see all three FICO scores (Equifax,  Experian,TransUnion) you typically have to pay for them.  The simplest and quickest way of accessing them is the CreditCheckTotal . com site.  What would be the reason why several people who responded suggest "a con" to you?

[Anonymous]

hmm I read some posts on a review site that mentioned creditchecktotal makes it very hard to close within the first 7 days and then at least bills people for the trial fee + the first month, else continues to build month over month even if closed... very well could be disgruntled people.

what seemed odd to me was that someone mentioned the fico score given by them was calculated using some "plus" method and therefore wasn't too accurate the word "meaningless" was used by one poster. Oh well - I will give it a shot!

thanks for the patience + quick responses, I will post results!

[KatSoDak]

Bank Of America provides the Transunion FICO 8 score. That will give you a basic idea where you stand.

[Anonymous]

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@KatSoDak wrote:

Bank Of America provides the Transunion FICO 8 score. That will give you a basic idea where you stand.

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You need to be a credit card customer before they provide the TU score.

[Anonymous]

Just tried creditchecktotal - got the following message after entering SSN

"We have encountered an irrecoverable system error. Please note that your order has been canceled. Your credit card has not been charged. Sorry about the inconvenience."

anything else I should try // try this again? Should I be woried? haha

[Anonymous]

ok - so I got in... looks like I have a fico 8 of 712.. credit used 0%, a few k left on car loan, and its unboosted... 

I did notice that it looks like I have 3 late payments on the auto loan, this was due to the credit union pulling some weird stuff with my paper work... I had it set for auto pay from my checking account and then it just stopped drawing payments. I didnt find out until about a month or so later and had to complete all this additional paperwork, go into the physical location (they couldnt do it over the phone etc) TLDR; I feel like someone messed with my automated payments when the person who I set it up with left so I would come in and sign up for a bunch more junk and they could get credit for that + me setting up a new automated payment with them as my representative...

any advice on what to do next about the above late stuff + how to go after the cards now?

Thanks!

[Crowhelm]

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@Anonymous wrote:

ok - so I got in... looks like I have a fico 8 of 712.. credit used 0%, a few k left on car loan, and its unboosted... 

I did notice that it looks like I have 3 late payments on the auto loan, this was due to the credit union pulling some weird stuff with my paper work... I had it set for auto pay from my checking account and then it just stopped drawing payments. I didnt find out until about a month or so later and had to complete all this additional paperwork, go into the physical location (they couldnt do it over the phone etc) TLDR; I feel like someone messed with my automated payments when the person who I set it up with left so I would come in and sign up for a bunch more junk and they could get credit for that + me setting up a new automated payment with them as my representative...

any advice on what to do next about the above late stuff + how to go after the cards now?

Thanks!

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Not trying to be mean or rude but I think your chances with three late payments on what seems to be your one and only account on your credit report doesn't give you a great chance to get any premium credit card out there, at least not until they age a bit. How many on-time payments do you have since those three late payments? At least a year or more? You said you used to do everything cash or debit (which is almost the same as cash) and it looks you are having some growing pains getting used to handling credit. Auto payments are great but it is still your responsibility to make sure they happen on time, every time. That is why I make all my credit card payments manually. Don't trust banks enough for something so critical for your financial well-being. Car loans and Mortgages have grace periods so in general, it is ok to set those up for auto payments but always, always make sure it got done. I had my credit union mess it up one time as well and I was on the phone with them the next day, which really impressed them as well.