Building up credit history

[Jeraly 4]

Haha - I never knew they would do that - I will stash the info away for when I need it... and prolly forget it but at least the thought is there!!

[Creel 0]

I have a credit history in the high to mid 700s and when my fiance first got here we were trying to get preapproved for a loan for a house and they said his credit check came back with a warning because the SS# was so new and hadn't had any credit action.

The first CC we got together was a Best Buy card. It took almost an hour in their office because they weren't sure how to do it because they claimed he needed a CA driver's license. We opened a bank account a few months later once we were married and applied for a joint Visa account. They tried to tell me that we needed to put down a deposit and I told them bull****. I have my pay checks deposited directly and a home loan in my name with their bank they were going to give him an unsecured card because I was going to be on the account too. I also added him to my Discover Card and three or four household bills.

Six months later we went in to get preapproved again for a home loan and his credit score is over 700 (He was in the US for only about 9 months at this time). Long story short. If you have a good credit history, add your spouse to your stuff and their credit score will grow very quickly. If your score isn't very good, the develop your own score, might be the best way to go.

[brtlmj 0]

Anyone who needs a secured credit card should start with his/her local credit union. They may require a significant deposit (like 150% of credit limit), but are less likely to try to rip a customer off.

[Captain Oates 910]

Anyone who needs a secured credit card should start with his/her local credit union. They may require a significant deposit (like 150% of credit limit), but are less likely to try to rip a customer off.

My wife is a member of a credit union but they are usually employment based ?

so you have to be a teacher or whatever ?

She really likes CU's but can't find one in Florida for which she qualifies

She says they don't rip you off like banks and the banks hate them

I have looked at a few but you have to be a member of something or other to qualify

[athena_ny 1]

Anyone who needs a secured credit card should start with his/her local credit union. They may require a significant deposit (like 150% of credit limit), but are less likely to try to rip a customer off.

My wife is a member of a credit union but they are usually employment based ?

so you have to be a teacher or whatever ?

She really likes CU's but can't find one in Florida for which she qualifies

She says they don't rip you off like banks and the banks hate them

I have looked at a few but you have to be a member of something or other to qualify

Where in Florida does she live?

I know just in the St Pete Tampa Clearwater area, we have a bunch - Achieva (which I am a member of) started as the Pinellas County Teachers Credit Union, but now you just have to live OR work somewhere in Pinellas, Hillsborough, Pasco, or Hernando County, I think.

GTE Federal Credit Union has certain zip codes you have to live or work in in New Orleans, LA and a good chunk of Florida.

Immediate family members who live outside of these zip codes also qualify, and membership through employment (I'm eligible because the company I work for was GTE yeaaars ago).

Grow Financial (formerly MacDill Federal Credit Union) is also employment based, family based, and any active member of the military can join (Macdill is the AFB in Tampa).

SEFCU, where my parents live, used to be for state employees, but is now open to many many companies in their area, and family members. It was so vast that I'd say 80% of the purchases people made with debit or credit cards when I worked retail were with a SEFCU card. EVERYONE it seemed belonged to SEFCU.

I'm not sure where she lives, so if it's somewhere like Yeehaw Junction (no joke, at the end of SR 60 where you get on the Florida Turnpike, thats the name of the town) she might have trouble. But a bigger more metro area or even just outside of a metro area has a LOT of credit union options.

If you go to Google and put in the name of where she lives/works + "credit union" without the quotes, Google will give a whole bunch of local credit unions. Check them out, because most have relaxes their requirements so much it becomes a joke.

[Captain Oates 910]

fantastic info thanks very much indeed !

Carolyn is having her hair done today and that cancels out EVERYTHING for at least 12 hours - but I will show her this great info !

We live in Safety Harbor, Pinellas so residency thing should do it for the CU ....

It's really nice here so we hope we dont have to move away for her job (she is getting leads in Jacksonville etc)

I walk to the park from where we live and sit quietly with nobody around except the sting rays cruising past 4 feet away and the dolphins feeding in 4 feet of water about 30 yards away and its just great - don't tell anyone about it !

The rent hardly covers the landlord's property tax and water and condo fees and it's furnished beautifully - like an art gallery !

But Tampa/St pete's is not big and seems to have few company headquarters apart from raymond james - and she is struggling to get an IT job - 3 months now and not a sniff

thanks again

alan

[athena_ny 1]

fantastic info thanks very much indeed !

Carolyn is having her hair done today and that cancels out EVERYTHING for at least 12 hours - but I will show her this great info !

We live in Safety Harbor, Pinellas so residency thing should do it for the CU ....

It's really nice here so we hope we dont have to move away for her job (she is getting leads in Jacksonville etc)

I walk to the park from where we live and sit quietly with nobody around except the sting rays cruising past 4 feet away and the dolphins feeding in 4 feet of water about 30 yards away and its just great - don't tell anyone about it !

The rent hardly covers the landlord's property tax and water and condo fees and it's furnished beautifully - like an art gallery !

But Tampa/St pete's is not big and seems to have few company headquarters apart from raymond james - and she is struggling to get an IT job - 3 months now and not a sniff

thanks again

alan

No problem.

Haha! You're ten minutes up US 19 from me

Tampa does have quite a few headquarters - Bank of America, Amscot, Raymond James, but finding a job anywhere is difficult right now. Unemployment has gone up. (My company spun off from Verizon a year ago and hasn't hired anyone in 9 months in this building.) Hopefully it works out, because as far as Florida goes it's not awful (aka it's not Miami ). I just wish they'd fix the traffic issue and get us some good public transportation because my blood pressure goes up everytime I get in my car.

We rent an apartment, and the rent here has gotten ridiculously high, especially with the fact that people aren't buying anymore, and wages aren't equal to pay, etc etc. I have quite a few issues with FL in general and miss having 4 seasons, but it does offer some truly beautiful things.

I want to know which park you're going to now!

[Captain Oates 910]

No problem.

Haha! You're ten minutes up US 19 from me

Tampa does have quite a few headquarters - Bank of America, Amscot, Raymond James, but finding a job anywhere is difficult right now. Unemployment has gone up. (My company spun off from Verizon a year ago and hasn't hired anyone in 9 months in this building.) Hopefully it works out, because as far as Florida goes it's not awful (aka it's not Miami ). I just wish they'd fix the traffic issue and get us some good public transportation because my blood pressure goes up everytime I get in my car.

We rent an apartment, and the rent here has gotten ridiculously high, especially with the fact that people aren't buying anymore, and wages aren't equal to pay, etc etc. I have quite a few issues with FL in general and miss having 4 seasons, but it does offer some truly beautiful things.

I want to know which park you're going to now!

2 favourite parks - one is honeymoon island state park (80 dollar annual ticket or 5 dollars a throw)

or phillipe park safety harbor but you can only come weekends as i go through the week and i like to be alone ! haha !

compared to the UK, the traffic in pinellas is like wyoming on sunday morning at 6am

been here 3 months and never been in a traffic jam - 2 hour non-moving jams are everyday in the UK

i need sheep and hills and timothy taylor's fine pale ale and yorkshire fish and chips done in plain batter with no beer flavour or breadcrumbs etc - otherwise this is the best part of the US I have seen so far and it will do just fine

California was awful - sky high prices, jams, cramped little houses and constant cold rain - just like England !

Wisconsin ? something missing - everything actually except thirteen-lined ground squirrels who were funny

Georgia - rampant religion mixed with rampant infidelity and rampant racism

New York ? watch your wallet

Washington - muddy coast - inaccessible

Boston - not bad actually (in summer)

yes its safety harbor if she can get a job - I digress

Edited January 26, 2008 by saywhat

[athena_ny 1]

No problem.

Haha! You're ten minutes up US 19 from me

Tampa does have quite a few headquarters - Bank of America, Amscot, Raymond James, but finding a job anywhere is difficult right now. Unemployment has gone up. (My company spun off from Verizon a year ago and hasn't hired anyone in 9 months in this building.) Hopefully it works out, because as far as Florida goes it's not awful (aka it's not Miami ). I just wish they'd fix the traffic issue and get us some good public transportation because my blood pressure goes up everytime I get in my car.

We rent an apartment, and the rent here has gotten ridiculously high, especially with the fact that people aren't buying anymore, and wages aren't equal to pay, etc etc. I have quite a few issues with FL in general and miss having 4 seasons, but it does offer some truly beautiful things.

I want to know which park you're going to now!

2 favourite parks - one is honeymoon island state park (80 dollar annual ticket or 5 dollars a throw)

or phillipe park safety harbor but you can only come weekends as i go through the week and i like to be alone ! haha !

compared to the UK, the traffic in pinellas is like wyoming on sunday morning at 6am

been here 3 months and never been in a traffic jam - 2 hour non-moving jams are everyday in the UK

i need sheep and hills and timothy taylor's fine pale ale and yorkshire fish and chips done in plain batter with no beer flavour or breadcrumbs etc - otherwise this is the best part of the US I have seen so far and it will do just fine

California was awful - sky high prices, jams, cramped little houses and constant cold rain - just like England !

Wisconsin ? something missing - everything actually except thirteen-lined ground squirrels who were funny

Georgia - rampant religion mixed with rampant infidelity and rampant racism

New York ? watch your wallet

Washington - muddy coast - inaccessible

Boston - not bad actually (in summer)

yes its safety harbor if she can get a job - I digress

No traffic jams? I'll move to your corner of Pinellas then There was a HUGE one on US 19 going north on Monday, lane shifts on Ulmerton and 66th St as they widen are causing massive traffic jams (waiting for 25 minutes on 66th at 12:30 am the other night on the way back from the movies as they painted lines on the road...). Howard Frankland gets backed up allllways. And if there's an accident, forget about it. People rubberneck to a sick level, so you're sitting there for an hour and there's not even an obstruction...everyone just slowed down to see what was up! But I'm from upstate NY, so traffic james are the exception, not the rule there - I guess if I was from somewhere where I got stuck in traffic jams daily I'd be on yoru side!

Boston is nice, and upstate NY (where I grew up) is nice and not too expensive. The city is AWFUL as far as costs, that is for sure.

I work all week so I won't go to your park during the day I've been to Honeymoon Island when I was visiting my husband (he was already in the country when we met) and it's WONDERFUL there.

Okay, ending threadjack. Haha.

[JaEnglishGirl 34]

I didn't need a secured credit card at all.

Got SS card in July.

I applied and got a Macy's store card in August, limit $200. Applied for a Gap Visa card in October, approved with a $1000 limit.

Applied for a JC Penney's card in October, approved with a $300 limit.

Applied for an Amazon Chase Visa card in October, approved with a $500 limit.

I am also joint borrower on a $25,000 car loan which we got at a 'well qualified' rate.

[Jeraly 4]

Wow that's a lot of cards I get confused if I have too many I don't tend to use them often anyway and pay the full balance each month (if there is any balance at all!)

[Captain Oates 910]

No traffic jams? I'll move to your corner of Pinellas then There was a HUGE one on US 19 going north on Monday, lane shifts on Ulmerton and 66th St as they widen are causing massive traffic jams (waiting for 25 minutes on 66th at 12:30 am the other night on the way back from the movies as they painted lines on the road...). Howard Frankland gets backed up allllways. And if there's an accident, forget about it. People rubberneck to a sick level, so you're sitting there for an hour and there's not even an obstruction...everyone just slowed down to see what was up! But I'm from upstate NY, so traffic james are the exception, not the rule there - I guess if I was from somewhere where I got stuck in traffic jams daily I'd be on yoru side!

Boston is nice, and upstate NY (where I grew up) is nice and not too expensive. The city is AWFUL as far as costs, that is for sure.

I work all week so I won't go to your park during the day I've been to Honeymoon Island when I was visiting my husband (he was already in the country when we met) and it's WONDERFUL there.

Okay, ending threadjack. Haha.

25 minutes - thats tiny compared to UK

Carolyn was comuting over the M62 from Yorkshire to Lancashire - about 50 miles - a 2 hour jam would be normal on at least one day every week..

Accident not needed - just weight of traffic

A 10 mile journey into Leeds would take at least and hour to 90 minutes.. 1st gear 2nd gear 1st gear

Yes Pinellas is like the mid west compared...

Only diff is the savage un-generosity in Florida. My wife noticed the difference from England where people wave you onto the road (flash their lights to say come in). The Christians in Florida wouldnt wee on me if I was on fire. Love thy neighbour ? sure doesn't work like that. I have never seen such savage selfishness and I driven in Paris and Berlin and a thousand other foreign places.

I have noticed that the niceness of drivers and the smiling willingness to give people an inch is in inverse proportion to the strength of religion in a country.

I mean that sincerly as a scientific fact.

England is a post religious society and my USC wife was amazed at the way people made room for her to enter side roads and change lanes. It seems to me that people are nice to other people in spite of religion and not because of it

now if that isnt deviating from the thread then I dont know what is

alan

[JoeCanuk 3]

No traffic jams? I'll move to your corner of Pinellas then There was a HUGE one on US 19 going north on Monday, lane shifts on Ulmerton and 66th St as they widen are causing massive traffic jams (waiting for 25 minutes on 66th at 12:30 am the other night on the way back from the movies as they painted lines on the road...). Howard Frankland gets backed up allllways. And if there's an accident, forget about it. People rubberneck to a sick level, so you're sitting there for an hour and there's not even an obstruction...everyone just slowed down to see what was up! But I'm from upstate NY, so traffic james are the exception, not the rule there - I guess if I was from somewhere where I got stuck in traffic jams daily I'd be on yoru side!

Boston is nice, and upstate NY (where I grew up) is nice and not too expensive. The city is AWFUL as far as costs, that is for sure.

I work all week so I won't go to your park during the day I've been to Honeymoon Island when I was visiting my husband (he was already in the country when we met) and it's WONDERFUL there.

Okay, ending threadjack. Haha.

25 minutes - thats tiny compared to UK

Carolyn was comuting over the M62 from Yorkshire to Lancashire - about 50 miles - a 2 hour jam would be normal on at least one day every week..

Accident not needed - just weight of traffic

A 10 mile journey into Leeds would take at least and hour to 90 minutes.. 1st gear 2nd gear 1st gear

Yes Pinellas is like the mid west compared...

Only diff is the savage un-generosity in Florida. My wife noticed the difference from England where people wave you onto the road (flash their lights to say come in). The Christians in Florida wouldnt wee on me if I was on fire. Love thy neighbour ? sure doesn't work like that. I have never seen such savage selfishness and I driven in Paris and Berlin and a thousand other foreign places.

I have noticed that the niceness of drivers and the smiling willingness to give people an inch is in inverse proportion to the strength of religion in a country.

I mean that sincerly as a scientific fact.

England is a post religious society and my USC wife was amazed at the way people made room for her to enter side roads and change lanes. It seems to me that people are nice to other people in spite of religion and not because of it

now if that isnt deviating from the thread then I dont know what is

alan

I've seen a lot of your ranting against religions...and frankly it's annoying. What does religion and driving have to do with building credit history? And since you mention it, I'm rather offended that you said Christians wouldn't "wee" on you if you were on fire. You don't know that, you are generalizing, and going way off topic. If you want myself and anyone else to keep our religious beliefs to ourselves, then kindly keep your nonsense to yourself!

[Captain Oates 910]

I've seen a lot of your ranting against religions...and frankly it's annoying. What does religion and driving have to do with building credit history? And since you mention it, I'm rather offended that you said Christians wouldn't "wee" on you if you were on fire. You don't know that, you are generalizing, and going way off topic. If you want myself and anyone else to keep our religious beliefs to ourselves, then kindly keep your nonsense to yourself!

I can see your point - it has nothing to do with credit and was a digression and off topic

but the christians don't keep their nonsense to theirselves - here in Florida lots of cars have the 'secret' fish sign on the back and then jesus is lord etc written inside the fish or big bumper stickers pushing their nonsense.. In addition to that, I am evengelised at intensely from the scientologists to the mormons and it gets to me sometimes.

I just had to get that out in the context of heavy traffic which we had digressed onto - and I was saying that a non -religious society seems to have a lot kinder drivers than a religious one. It's like their relationship with god excuses them from being nasty to their fellow humans.

I agree it's off topic but I believe that from driving in many countries since 1965.

But yes we strayed off topic so I will keep my nonsense out of the forum if you people will keep yours out..

Many times when someone gets an NO1 there are lines of grovelling thanks to some deity so I have to read all that nonsense in any forum. Thats my excuse for having a pop back..

but ok your point is taken - I will keep my part of the bargain if the others will keep theirs - but any time someone spreads religious supplications and grovelling all over their posts, then I feel that I can respond to counterbalance it - just as you justifiably did to me.

alan

[Marry American 0]

How did your non-usc start building up credit in the US? What was the first step?

and how did it impact your USC's spouse credit score?

Saludos,

Caro

My husband and I have seperate credit files, so therefore-no impact on me.

We also started building him credit by bank cards. They all have small limits, but after a year of building credit with these cards, he will be good. I also added him to my bank card. In total he has about 4 cards all showing an excellent payment history. He still does not have a credit score yet. I think it takes a year to build one.