Advice?

[jesseh]

Hi all,

I'd like some advice. I've had two secured cards for a year now, little usage, all ontime payments. Wondering what to do next.

Both cards have not been reporting to Experian, I've called my creditors and Experian (literally) hundreds of times, but nobody knows how to fix it. I've spend a lot of time on this since October., Experian is the worst company I have ever dealt with. By far.

So, my EQ and TU score are fine, I don't have a high income (15k), but I'm a fulltime student.

The thing is, I'm currently studying abroad, so I don't use my US cards that much, but I do want to build a good credit score for when I head back in a few years. So if I get a new card, it will basically be sockdrawered (a few dollars activity every few months to keep it alive)

I have a few ideas:

1) Apply at AmEx for the backdating thing (start early), BUT: they pull EX...

2) Apply for unsecured cards with the current creditors. BUT: they don't unsecure, so they do a hard pull. Also, I know they don't report to EX correctly..

3) Apply for a credit card with an issuer that doesn't pull EX. Thinking barclays

4) Do nothing, let my deposit on the secured cards stay there and build account history, although not with EX.

What do you guys think is good to do? I'm confused because of all the options (and because EX limits my possibilities so much)

Thanks

Sincerely

[Anonymous]

Assuming you have no baddies in your files, Discover It. They like thin and clean.

[calihlove75]

Maybe apply for Discover? I think they pull TU or EQ but would report to all three .

[NRB525]

You have Andrews and State Department and they are NOT reporting to EX? Is this a common situation?

How much usage is "little usage"?

[jesseh]

Little usage for me is maybe 20 dollars per month.

I don't know whether it's common, I think it is because I'm abroad they put my current (overseas) address in their systems, so the account zipcode is 00000, and EX doesn't recognize that so disregards the whole reporting.. But, as it has not been fixed after haven spoken to every manager at every department at every company, I can't be sure what the problem is.

Thanks. Discover is a good idea, they probably won't pull EX.

Any other suggestions?

[Anonymous]

Thin and clean or thick and aged to perfection in my case.




Credit profiles that is.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:
Thin and clean or thick and aged to perfection in my case.




Credit profiles that is.

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I'm thin and aged, but definitely not to perfection.

[jesseh]

Clean, as in no baddies, is my goal indeed.

Is going for option 3 and then barclays or discover the way to go?

[Anonymous]

I would go Discover first, and then Barclays. With Barlcays, go for one of their easier cards. For example, Sallie Mae and Ring might be tough right now. Rewards would be a more likely approval.

[jesseh]

Experian representative did research on my issue, she confirmed that the experian systems disregard all reporting when it's not a US address. 

So it's not my creditors fault, they have been reporting my US address since December!

So thinking of unsecuring the cards I have and then applying for Discover IT for students and Barclaycard rewards.