Please Evaluate my situation

[Prakash]

Hi all,

I have been reading some of the forum posts now and then, so I brave myself to post my first question in this forum.

Here goes,
I came into the country in Oct'2007. Back in India, I had couple of credit cards from HSBC and ICICI (biggest private bank India) for 4 years, never late, never revolved always paid everything in full. I just use Credit Card as plastic money and not as *credit*

I opened my checking/savings acc with Wells Fargo close to my house and then started looking for a credit card, I applied with WF and BofA. Both denied me a credit card on the grounds that I am not a US Resident or Citizen, fair enough. (unfortunately I latter figured that only these 2 banks check the immigration status) I applied for a Secured Credit Card with WF coz they seem to have the lowest AF of $18 and paid $1000 for the collateral account. I have been using the card for past 5 months with an average bill of 350-400 dollars.

Now I needed Transportation, so I brought a car with 11k car loan from Honda Finance at 8.99% for 3 years and paying the loan for past 3 months.

I would like to know, what should be my next moves with having a unsecured credit card. I am thinking of getting a unsecured credit card and then closing my Secured credit card

btw, Recently I got couple of pre-approved credit cards from Capital-one, but their reviews does not seem to be too good so I tore them up.

I haven't checked my Credit scores yet, coz i am waiting for atleast 6 months of credit card history that will be in April.

So any advice? Should I try WaMu and possiblely risk denial?

Thanks in advance.

[CreditDrama85]

You should probably accept the next Capital One offer you receive.......while the CS is not excellent, their products and underwriting policies seem competitive IMHO.

You could also try one of Chase's subprime cards and then convert

Message Edited by CreditDrama85 on 03-20-2008 05:51 PM

[Prakash]

Thanks, btw, I read your BofA secured card advice before you modified, anyway, Wells-Fargo does the samething (secured to unsecured conversion after 12 months of payment on time) , and so far I have loved their service. But BofA and WF don't give unsecured CC to non-residents as a policy.

I will look at the subprime cards, I don't know what they are.

[CreditDrama85]

the best way to notice Chase's subprime cards might be to look and see which cards are also offered to students. if approved u might be able to start out with a lower cl. i also have a WF secured CC that i am waiting to get converted to the platinum card

[Anonymous]

Hi Prakash

Welcome to the world of myFICO.
far as I know BOA issues secured CC but u should have BOA checkings n savings acct
with them.We got the secured CC from BOA n converted it to unsecured CC after 9 months.
I don't know much abt WF.If u get pre approval offers from Cap1,wamu,boa,chase.
These r gud ccs for building credit.

Don't apply for too many ccs within a short period of time.
BTW which part of india, u r from?

Thanks

[haulingthescoreup]

Hi, Prakash, welcome to the forums! (and to the U.S.)

You should have some credit magic happening at six months, seven to be safe. You need to have six months' worth of credit history, some of which has reported recently, to have a credit score. From what I have read, most new people to the US have scores starting out somewhere around 660-680, and after their six months of initial cards, their scores tend to move into the low 700's. (And this is also true of young US residents who are first starting out.)

You might want to wait until the 6-month birthday of your credit history to pull your scores and see exactly where you are. At that point, the best bet is to find out which cards are most useful for you. For instance, if you still travel abroad a lot, Capitol One has the best exchange rates, although many of their cards are terrible. You can go to:

http://www.capitalone.com/creditcards/index.php?linkid=WWW_1107_CARD_08_HOME_C1_04_T_CB1

and see what they offer you. Hold out for the ones in the Excellent Credit category.

At that point, you should be able to do better than WaMu. I think that Bank of America and maybe Citi are your best bets, and keep an eye out for those rare *good* Capital One cards for travel abroad. The other credit card companies in this same range are Chase, American Express and Discover. The latter two are better approached after a year or so of good history with the other cards. Hope this helps!

[Prakash]

Thanks for the advice, I am from Mumbai.

[Prakash]

thanks haulingthescoreup,

That was useful indeed.

[Anonymous]

I'm pretty much with Hauling. Just sit for a long month then invest in your FICO scores. The reports won't just tell you how your credit is veiwed but it will also tell you how much of the work you've done thus far has been included in that evaluation. In this you may be able to get a glimpse of the what kind of ramp you are on in your credit growth.

[Anonymous]

Hi Prakash. I wish to echo the welcome that my fellow forum members gave you.

I agree with CreditAddict about Capital One. It is a wonderful card to have when establishing credit.

And you chose wisely in opening up a secured cc account. That and your auto loan will help you gain additional credit after the 6 month history period.

I kindly suggest that you keep all pre-approvals and study them. They will help you learn about the different types of cc's that are offered. There are so many varieties that one can become very confused very easily.

Hauling gave her excellent opinions, that you should weigh carefully.

Come here often and read the posts of others, and join in our conversations.