Hi everyone,
first of I want to thank EVERYONE on this amazing platform I have only been reading for a few months but this is the best forum ever. The support and inside knowledge helped me on this very succesfull journey so far.
Everyone knows how hard it is to initally start this journey on getting a good score up and finding all the right products that correspond to your profile and score. Well most people here that I met always had some sort of jumpstart when they become of age or through a loved one or friend in form of being an AU and the likes.
Last year I got relocated permanently to the USA from my native Germany. I had to apply for a new SSN and quickly understood the importance of having a credit file ( any at all ) let alone a good one. From renting an apartment to buying a car ( because I needed one quickly I paid cash using savings ). Most people here are understanding and if you have a good annual salary and proof it with paychecks like renting my apartment but you only get that far and reading this forum made me realise the importance of a good healthy credit score.
Now for most people here this seems logical and normal but in Germany and many other countries in the world it is actually the best not to have ANY kind of loan (revolving, installement) at all. Yes you heard me right haha. Only 3-5 percent in Germany actually use credit cards and it is a pain to apply and get approved. I did have one but never used it because it literally had zero perks and high APR. Nothing like the reward features you have here thats for sure.
Now to the fun stuff.
After settling in receiving my SSN I started to look around and knew quickly that my option were very limited, no pre-quals (obviously) no offers in the mail and even Credit One (who do use a SP for prequals) denied me because "No credit file found".
Quickly found out about secured cards and that you can deposit money so you get an inital card. Not something I hoped for but it seemed like a very viable option and way to go. I applied for the Capital One MasterCard secured. First ever APP. DIDNT KNOW ABOUT THE TRIPLE HP . HAHA. BUT that might have been a good thing, keep reading .
After applying it went to verification needed and that I have to send in SSN, Passport/Green Card etc. So I faxed it right that day and received a denial... I was like how is that possible they denied me for a secured card that I am going to pay them for. I was really pissed at the whole process so I called and after being on hold and being rerouted multiple times some kind of supervisor told me that they couldnt read my fax and so they denied ... REALLY ?! To this day I havent received any kind of request for additional documents what so ever and just got the denial. The person said I would be approved but first need to send it the documents via snail mail.
I was kind of pissed off and didnt like the customer service at all, the way they go about having me as a customer, spelled the middle name wrong in the denial letter... things like that. I was in it for the long run so I was like I will take my business else where.
Few weeks passed and I managed to set up Credit Karma with verification and the likes because my file was so thin. Said all scores unavailalbe but showed the HP from Capital One and name and address was added by them too through the HP. I know CK has a bad rep here but it is VERY helpful for me to see my HPs and UTIL , open accounts etc because I cant even get into FICO yet without 6 months.
I looked around and when I was on the discover website I saw they accept annual income as a prequal indicator (which I know sealed the deal). Because I do make over 70k annually I though why not and right away said I was pre APPROVED for the Discover IT - 0 APR and obviously no annual fee, no deposit also. I hit that apply buttom so fast your head would spin haha.
I was so excited, but it wasnt an instant approval it needed extra verification which I expected kind of. They rerouted me to a website where I had to upload SCANS of my SSN, Alien registration card and drivers license. I was like this is amazing (compared to Capital One ) it felt like I was in the 21th century.
After I did that I got a live chat message if I needed any help completing my application. I said I uploaded everything and what will happen now. The agent said that it will take 3-5 minutes to approve me right away. Few minutes later the agent messaged me that I was approved with a 500 Limit but all the perks of the Discover IT card.
I was very happy about it and received the card a week later. ONE HP on EQ
Fast forward only about a month later, I bought some things over the holiday PIFed it and left a total balance of under 8 percent to report (thanks to this forum). Now few days ago it already reported to all the CREs and when I checked my EX score (FAKO NOT FICO) it was hovering at around 675-680.
I was getting itchy with applying for more but wanted to follow the advice of most to first receive a FICO score with 6 months of perfect on time payments. But something inside told me I would get approved for another one now with all 3 reporting my first payment.
I didnt want to go over the board but really wanted to get in with AMEX and really wanted a travel card also the 3x 61day CL increase was in my mind. I fly a lot and do use Delta and knew about the perks (handbag,miles,reduced skylounge access). Also it has first year free and a good intro special. Its not amazing and eventually I want one of the Chase cards but knew they will not approve with 1 months of payment history for a CSR ahah.
SO long story short I pressed that application button and my heart was racing. I got all the emails coming in from EX and TU reporting a HP I was like no please now let it be an approval . It was... INSTANT no verification needed with a 1k limit.
Afterwards I was like why not just try the Everyday as well but was declined. The only reason it outlined was that I needed to have an account active for 6 months or longer. Which is fine by me. Didnt cost me a HP since I was already a member set up online.
But I wasnt done yet. Because I get my direct deposit into chase and have had the bank account for nearly a year I really wanted to get in with chase (CSR down the line and just build a relationship) and the average age of credit was on my mind I didnt want to delay it any further even if it meant a small inital CL. So I went online pressed the freedom applied and got instant denial, one EX pull. I didnt think of it much so I called in recon hotline the one thats provided in the forum ( 888-270-2127 ), the person was suprised I had a chase account and that the system didnt pick that up. Also said I am getting my money deposited in there. Said the inital denial was due to not having an account for a year or longer. Then went through the applicaton questions again and told me I need to go in branch to upload my SSN,ID.
Did that right away and called back an hour later, lady put me on hold for about 5 min and said approved with 500 CL. From instant denial to recon appoved WITHOUT any hard pull, she assured me that she used the one from earlier today.
Its a small CL but I am very happy all together 2000 now and three really nice cards which was my goal to garden with .
3 INQ across the boards each now.
25 my age.
So this is my story so far and I hope you guys enjoy some of the information. Its not always black and white and I have no FICO score what so ever.
FOR ANYONE IN A SIMILAR SITUATION : really important and valueable advice that I read all over the forum was that Discover loves thin files. I really think that thats very accurate they gave me an amazing card with top of the lines conditions with literally nothing on my credit file but one HP.
All the praise goes to the members here I didnt know anything about this and got all my info from here. You guys are doing gods work . THANKS
