Hi Andres -- welcome to the forums (and the country 
)!
It takes 6 months of account reporting to generate a FICO score. The bureas do not share data; each creditor reports data individually to the three bureuas. Citi reports to all three bureaus - so after it reports your 6th month, you should be able to pull scores from all three without a problem; they all should generate after your card reports it's 6th month statement. Keep in mind, even though Citi will report the 6th month statement to all 3 bureaus on the same date, the 3 bureuas will update that information at different times -- one may be within 2 days, another within a week or two (Experian, in my experience, is the faster of the three). My advice would be to wait at least two weeks after your 6th statement is provided by Citi to pull all three scores.
Obtaining a self-lender loan would be a good move to help build your credit profile. You would also fulfill your credit mix requirements for FICO scoring with the addition of an installment loan, which will result in a higher score once generated.
For optimum FICO scoring, 3 credit cards and 1 installment loan is recommended. So after your scores generate, you may consider adding two more cards. Then, 'Garden' -- meaning no new apps or inquiries - for at least a year. It is recommended that you add no new credit within 6 months of seeking a mortgage - so keep that in mind. It is important that you let your new accounts age; age of accounts is a heavily weighted factor in FICO scoring and is also considered by lenders during the credit approval decision-making process.
Finally, & most importantly -- pay on time, everytime (I'm sure you know that tho..).
Good luck!!
Germany is such a lovely country -- well, at least from what I've seen. So far, I've only made it to Wiesbaden (business) but I was lucky enough to go during the Wine Festival -- it was beautiful and the food was fantastic!
Anyway.. you've learned quickly that banking history doesn't hold much weight when it comes to credit around here (unless you are a member of a credit union - they are much more 'relationship' geared). Your FICO score is important, but so is your overall credit profile, income, and debt-to-income ratio. Many of the big banks would like to see at least 1 year of positive credit history prior to extending credit to one with a young, thin credit file -- which is why many have to start with secured cards.
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As far as the self-lender loan - the amount of the loan doesn't matter for scoring purposes. Same with credit card limits - a $200 limit has the same effect as a $20K limit. What matters is utilization - or, the percentage of credit used / loan balances in relation to credit limit / original loan amount. Credit utilization is something else you'll need to understand... so, over the next few months while you wait for your scores to generate, I suggest you search these forums and read all about it -- but a quick run down:
There are utilization thresholds that exist within FICO world and you get points for being below a threshold and lose points for going above a threshold. The lower your utilization, the better... Thresholds (red is too high): 8.9%, 28.9%, 48.9%, 68.9%, 88.9%
Anything above 28.9% is considered high (risky) and FICO will penalize you for it. Keep in mind -- this is utilization reported to the bureaus -- it doesn't mean you cannot use your full credit limit within a billing cycle, it just means you shouldn't let that high balance report to the bureaus. The way around this is to pay your balance down before your statement closing date because lenders will report whatever your card balance is on the statement closing date. Then you would pay whatever balance is remaining before the due date. The problem with this is that you're paying earlier than you need to and therefore, unable to take full advantage of the 25 day grace period granted after your statement closes.
You could also not worry about utilization at all, accept that your FICO scores will fluctuate based on utilization, and allow your balances to report naturally -- this is what most people do because most people do not spend time on forums such as this and have no idea that utilization is even a thing... Honestly, if I am not planning to apply for anything, I don't worry about my utilization (though I won't let anything report above 50% util either); about a month before I know I'm going to apply for something, I make sure my reported utilization is less than 8.9% -- this will ensure my scores are at their highest. Right now, I'm in the Garden, so I let all my cards report whatever their balances are and just pay the statement balance on the due date -- so my current overall utilization is approx 16% and my scores are about 12-15 points lower than they would be if my utilization was below 8.9%. You'll have to decide for yourself whether consistently micro-managing your reported utilization is worth the time and effort.
While these thresholds apply to both revolving credit lines and installment loans, the penalty for high utilzation is really only seen for credit cards. You are expected to have high utilization on installment loans -- but as you pay them down to lower thresholds over time, you will be rewarded with FICO points. Also of note, utilzation has no memory; you can allow a card report a maxed out balance one month, take a FICO hit, then let it report a low balance the following month and you will immediately regain any points lost.
With the loan, you just don't want to pay it off too quickly because once you pay off the loan it will close and you lose that active aspect of your 'credit mix', causing a loss in FICO points - though the history of the loan and payments will remain on your reports for 10 years and that will be of great value. I don't know the ins and outs of self-lender; you will need to determine the length of the loan based on their policies - I would go for whatever loan amount will last the longest -- if they offer $500 with super low payments spread out over 12-24 months...then do that. Once you obtain your mortgage, that will replace the self-lender loan for your credit mix, so you can pay-off the self lender and let it close.
FICO likes to see debt & perfect managment of that debt. It is a risk evaluator. So a long history that shows a mix of well-managed credit card & installment debt yield the highest scores and / or strongest profiles. These forums offer a massive amount of solid information and data for FICO scoring and credit building -- read as much as you can and ask questions when needed.
I forgot to mention this before --- never allow the card to report a $0 balance. And when you obtain more cards, never allow all of them to report $0. Always have at least one card report a balance. All cards at zero will result in a FICO penalty for 'no revolving credit usage' -- this is usually a loss of 10-15 points, depending on the profile.
What the banker is telling you to do is manage utilization -- which I briefly explained in the last post. You want your card to report no more than 28.9% of it's credit limit to prevent high utilzation. 28.9% of $2000 is $578. So you want your reported balance to be less than that to remain in the 'safe' zone. For maximum FICO scoring gained from low utilzation, you want to report less than 8.9% of your credit limit, which is $178.
So, if you used $650 of your limit during the billing cycle, but only want to report 28%, you would have to pay your $650 balance down to below $578 before your statement closing date. This paid down balance is what will be reported to the bureaus that month. You would then need to pay the remaining balance (or minimum payment due) on or before the due date. The due date is typically 25 days after your statement closing date.
However, if your normal usage of the card will be less than $578 per month, there really is no need to pay your balance down before it reports - as it does require high maintenance and, as I stated before, forces you to pay sooner than actually required by the lender. The only time this makes sense is prior to applying for new credit -- super low utilization (below 8.9%) will give you a few extra FICO points for your app. But utilzation at less than 28.9% but higher than 8.9% won't hinder your chances of approval either... so it really comes down to personal preference.
You could certainly add additional secured cards right now if you want.... but I recommend you wait to add new cards until after your FICO scores generate -- you may qualify for unsecured cards at that time because you'll have scores and a solid 6 months of history. Lenders like Discover and Americal Express are friendly to thin / young files with no negative history - so why add more secured cards and tie up cash if you don't have to?
With regards to Cap One -- they are a triple pull company, which means they will attempt to pull reports & scores from all three bureaus to approve a credit app -- that's 3 hard inquiries for one app - something to think about (inquiries can lower your score -- approx 2 points each. They remain on your reports for 2 years, but you will regain points lost from the inquiry after it ages past 12 months. *Too many inquiries look risky to lenders because it is indicative of 'credit seeking behavior').
Also - Cap One starter cards are really difficult to grow (to obtain higher limits). However, you can app for Amex after your scores generate and even if they approve you for a starter $1K limit, it can grow 3x that amount every six months -- so in a year your limit could be 9K. Same with Discover, you can request a credit limit increase every 31 days with no hard inquiry, so even if you start with a modest limit, it can grow very quickly with responsible use.
There is no rush; the key to credit is time -- so you really need to be patient (I know, easier said than done). After a year, you can look into other lenders like Chase and US Bank (they aren't likely to approve with less than 1 year of history).
Thanks for pointing this out.... I was not aware so good to know.
@Anonymous wrote:
Just as a side note from my experience: Wells Fargo and Citi both open Checking accounts and do issue Debit and secured CC even with an international address on file. This is very good to get started while still living abroad, so once you get here you already have an established credit. This would have been very helpful for me to know upfront because it makes it much easier to get a rent when you have at least a minimum credit history. Most other banks require US residency first, a friends address usually doesn't work either as they want to see utility bills..so kind of a chicken and egg issue :-)