CUSTOMER TRUST VS. LENDER TRUST

[Anonymous]

HELLO EVERYONE! i am new in credit and only have 8 months credit history on oct 5. 674 score, i find it so hard to get a credit card if you're new to credit. so the way i did is to get 3 secured credit cards, BOFA, CITIBANK AND TD BANK... i realized that unless one of these cards graduates or takes time then i have a chance to apply for a new unsecured credit card.. BOFA (bank of america) unsecured my card in 6 months , converted to cash rewards with limit of 7000$ from 1500$ secured, also they approved me for another card which is travel rewards with 2600 limit. thanks and kudos to BOFA!!

i applied for amex, chase and citibank but all were instant denials. citibank denied me even i have a 6 months secured card, paid in full, less that 15% utilization, used my all cards like debit card, PIF weekly and let less than 15% bALANCE ON THE STATEMENT. their reason for denial of my application for citidouble cash was "short credit history and too many inquiries" which is correct. but my point, i trusted them my 1000$ without any interest bearing. why the credit analyst did not value that i am existing secured card holder like what BANK OF AMERICA did...

now my point IS,  if these lenders always denies people that are new to credit, how can they WIN US BACK when time comes that WE HAVE STABLE AND GOOD CREDIT SCORE? for me it should be a give and take relationship. like approve a card with the LOWEST MINIMUM  limit for them to see the worth of every different customer which is low risk for them... again, i undertand their decisions must always be WIN WIN FOR THEIR COMPANIES. 

But now, i found BANK OF AMERICA how they give back gratittude to their new clients (6 months)  i am planning to just stick with them and dont mind about other card  what ever promotions they will offer... i love the poeple who love and gave me trust, so same with banks.

these banks should realized and should have good judgement that not all custumers new to credit are not worth to trust.

or if that time comes that i am stable with good credit score and history, which bank would you suggest that is WORTH IT like BANK OF AMERICA?

Note. i apologized for my grammar and construction of sentences as english is not my first language.

thank you for your advices in advance-lally

[Anonymous]

Simple answer. They know they have a product you want. For example Chase is known to not give out cards to people with no or little credit. Also, they are known to have very good cards that people want. You want their cards now and you'll want their cards later. If you're denied early on for a Chase card, are you not going to want one that you really like in a few years when your profile gets better? They could deny me all they want right now, but if in 5 years they come out with a 10% cash back card on everything, you better believe that I'll be applying for that card every month until they approve me. 

[Anonymous]

Hey, welcome to the forums and even more importantly to the US!  We are all very glad you are hear and hope you have a long and productive life in your new country.

My best advice to you is to do two things:

(1)  Relax.  You have already obtained five credit cards!  That is way more than you need to have an 850 score (and nobody even needs an 850).  You are very new to the word of credit and it take time along your existing accounts to age.

(2)  Turn on your Mr. Spock circuit when thinking about credit.  He's a character from the old Star Trek series who always approach problems with no passions, rages, joys, hurt feelings, etc.  He was only good at thinking through things with pure logic -- how does this benefit me, my mission, my ship? -- in a cool detached way.

In the same way, don't get wrapped up in thinking that BOA "loves" you nor that the others hate you (or disrespect you or whatever).  That's setting yourself up for disaster.  Because BOA does not in fact love you.  They are acting in their own self-interest at the moment and the moment you appear to be less in their interest they will shift in a big way.  You will not be prepared for the shift because you thought they cared about you.

Better is to begin setting up a realistic and dispassionate plan for the next few years, one that does involve getting love from financial institutions. 

Here's a tentative plan that I would consider, and which you can modify:

(1) Be sure that you have cost-free or ultra-low-cost methods of looking at your credit reports and three FICO 8 Classic scores.  We can suggest some if you don't know of any.

(2)  Relax and stop applying for cards.  You already have five.  That';s plenty for at least a year or two.  (Many people would argue plenty for life.)  If that feels immensely difficult to do, I encourage you to start a thread here that asks for help understanding the compulsion to app, and how it may be tied up with deep emotional issues of thrill seeking and emotional validation.  Some very smart people here who know a lot of about human nature and compulsions can give you insight here.

As you stop applying for cards, you'll be establishing the history of perfect payments that the future creditors will like when you do finally get around do an app.  Several other factors will also improve: your inquiries wiull stop having any scoring effect (after 365 days), the % of your accounts that were opened in the last 12 months will go down, your Age of youngest account will cross over 1 year, your Age of Oldest Account will go up by a year, your Average Age of Accounts (AAoA) will alos go up by a year --- etc. etc. etc.

(3)  Because doing nothing will be so hard for you, given your personality type, here is a fun thing you can work on.  Learn all about the Share Secure Loan technique.  And when it all makes sense, implemennt it.  That will take you at least a few months and it will improve your score at lot.  You can find out about it here.  Just read the first 2-3 posts:

http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Understanding-FICO-Scoring/Adding-an-installment-loan-the-Share-Secu...