Have GC - how do I establish Credit now in USA ?

[WizandDorothy 0]

Hi All , I was wondering if anyone has advice or know how of how to help me with this , I have my 2 year GC and started working two months ago , but I am running into problems with trying to obtain credit. I dont know how to start a credit record or a line of credit here if nobody will give one. I have a SSN as well. I did get a Capital One secured card but this seems to not be the way to go as the credit limit takes forever to change, can anyone tell me how they got credit or started a credit record here in the USA please . Thank you

Oh I forgot here is our timeline if it helps with my question:

AOS Journey

US Entry : 01.19.2010

Marriage to my Angel: 03.12.2010

AOS / EAD sent : 05.18.2010

AOS / EAD NOA : 05.24.2010

Bio Appt : 06.25.2010

RFE received prior to Bio Appt, RFE info sent in.

07.01.2010 : Notice received via Text RFE information received

Still waiting for approvals

Interview Notification 07/19/2010 : Interview date : 08/19/2010

08.04.2010 : Approval Text and Email Received EAD/Work Permit - Again a very Happy Day in our lives !!

08.10.2010 : EAD Card received in Mail

08.12.2010 : SSN Card received in Mail - AT LAST !!!

08.19.2010 : AOS Interview - Approved !! Green Cards on the way ::

08.27.2010 : Green Cards Received

10.01.2010 : Got Employement - Started Working - yippeeee !!

[Brad and Vika 129]

Buy something that requires credit - the store will offer it to you. If you buy a car, they will bend over backwards to get you financed, although without a rating you may pay a very high interest rate. Finance companies are another route, and have looser criteria than banks (and so cost more). In-store holiday financing for appliances is big too, so if you need a tv or something, any store selling that stuff pretty much does financing.

[WizandDorothy 0]

Thank you Brad and Vika , I have applied through normal stores like Kohls , Gap , Macys etc and been turned down so far , as they say I have no credit history , this was just when I started working , can you give me ideas of places where to try , I cant do car loan as I already have a paid for car , but what financing houses or other places can I try now ? Thank you .

Buy something that requires credit - the store will offer it to you. If you buy a car, they will bend over backwards to get you financed, although without a rating you may pay a very high interest rate. Finance companies are another route, and have looser criteria than banks (and so cost more). In-store holiday financing for appliances is big too, so if you need a tv or something, any store selling that stuff pretty much does financing.

[nickbits 43]

I got a bank of America secured card. After 1 year with that I could get normal credit cards and loans.

But the easiest way is to be added as a co owner to existing accounts. That's what I did for my wife.

[SuperDuper! 230]

If you are a student, or simply imply that you will be one, Wells Fargo easily gives out college student credit cards--none of that secured card business to deal with and tie up funds, either. Hope this helps.

[Brad and Vika 129]

Thank you Brad and Vika , I have applied through normal stores like Kohls , Gap , Macys etc and been turned down so far , as they say I have no credit history , this was just when I started working , can you give me ideas of places where to try , I cant do car loan as I already have a paid for car , but what financing houses or other places can I try now ? Thank you .

Again, if you are making a purchase, Best Buy is known to be pretty loose. HH Gregg has in-store credit, as does AT&T for mobile phones.

[WizandDorothy 0]

Hi Boing

Thank you for that info , I am not a student , so if I imply that I will be one will they not request proof of that ? Thank you

If you are a student, or simply imply that you will be one, Wells Fargo easily gives out college student credit cards--none of that secured card business to deal with and tie up funds, either. Hope this helps.

[WizandDorothy 0]

Hi Nickbits

I am already a co-ownwer on my Hubbys one credit card , but this does nothing for my credit record it seems , as for Bank Of America , how exactly does their secured card work , cos the one I got through Capital One is really ridiculous ! Thank you.

I got a bank of America secured card. After 1 year with that I could get normal credit cards and loans.

But the easiest way is to be added as a co owner to existing accounts. That's what I did for my wife.

[SuperDuper! 230]

Hi Boing

Thank you for that info , I am not a student , so if I imply that I will be one will they not request proof of that ? Thank you

All I know is that they wanted to hear from my wife that she was going to be a student, (which she will later next year)....And signed her up with a $500 credit card. We didn't ask for it, the Teller suggested it. Of course the card has a very high interest rate, but we pay off all cards at the end of the month.

Your mileage may vary.

[milimelo 4,220]

Moving to the appropriate forum.

[moroccogirlny 100]

I added my husband on 2 major credit cards and now 5 months later he has established a very good credit score.

[JimVaPhuong 4,863]

You build a credit rating by having accounts with companies that report to the three major credit bureaus, and paying your bills on time. You and your spouse may already be paying bills to companies that report to the credit bureaus, such as utilities or phone companies. If you call their billing department they will usually tell you which agencies they report to, if any. They will also usually tell you if they report payments for every name associated with the account. If they do, then have your spouse add your name to the accounts (you should do this anyway because it's good evidence for removal of conditions). If they only report payments for the first name on the account then talk to your spouse about having one or two of these accounts transferred to your name. That way you'll be helping your credit rating every time you pay the monthly bill.

You can also have your spouse add you as an authorized user to their credit card accounts, but not all banks will report payments for anyone other than the primary account holder. Again, you can call them and ask them.

About 1/3 of your FICO rating is based on your credit ratio, which is the ratio of the amount of credit you have available to the amount of credit you've actually used. If you get a secured credit card then you should use it every month, but don't go over about 25% of the available credit. Pay off most of it at the end of the month, but carry a small balance. It keeps the issuing bank happy if they're making a little money in interest, and they're less likely to cancel the card for non-use.

Other than that, be patient. It takes years to establish a solid credit rating.

[nickbits 43]

Hi Nickbits

I am already a co-ownwer on my Hubbys one credit card , but this does nothing for my credit record it seems , as for Bank Of America , how exactly does their secured card work , cos the one I got through Capital One is really ridiculous ! Thank you.

Are you sure you are a co owner and not an authorized user? Authorized user will do nothing for your credit (usually). Do both your names appear on the bill? If no you probably are not a co owner.

The boa card info should be on their site. It has an annual fee which kinda sucks and I cancelled it after I got unsecured cards. I had my wife apply for it but they denied her. Im guessing the credit crunch changed the rules.

[Nimaan 27]

You build a credit rating by having accounts with companies that report to the three major credit bureaus, and paying your bills on time. You and your spouse may already be paying bills to companies that report to the credit bureaus, such as utilities or phone companies. If you call their billing department they will usually tell you which agencies they report to, if any. They will also usually tell you if they report payments for every name associated with the account. If they do, then have your spouse add your name to the accounts (you should do this anyway because it's good evidence for removal of conditions). If they only report payments for the first name on the account then talk to your spouse about having one or two of these accounts transferred to your name. That way you'll be helping your credit rating every time you pay the monthly bill.

You can also have your spouse add you as an authorized user to their credit card accounts, but not all banks will report payments for anyone other than the primary account holder. Again, you can call them and ask them.

About 1/3 of your FICO rating is based on your credit ratio, which is the ratio of the amount of credit you have available to the amount of credit you've actually used. If you get a secured credit card then you should use it every month, but don't go over about 25% of the available credit. Pay off most of it at the end of the month, but carry a small balance. It keeps the issuing bank happy if they're making a little money in interest, and they're less likely to cancel the card for non-use.

Other than that, be patient. It takes years to establish a solid credit rating.

Mhh..well this really depends...the phone company I used to work for (Bellsouth) was a huge corporation but never reported to any credit bureaus unless you dont pay your final bill. I have pulled my credit for the last 12 years in America and have never seen a utility account on my credit report.

First of all, the more you apply for credit cards the more points you are losing. For every inquiry you lose about 2 points. So if you keep applying for credit, you will be losing points and this makes your chances to get credit real low.

Here are some suggetsions you can try:

-Have your spouse add you to thier credit cards as an additional user

-Target credit card used to be very lenient issuing their store credit card. But you had to show them a credit card for them to apply for their store card

-Citi has a secured credit card for example if you deposit $200, they will give you a credit card for $200, but after 18 months of good history with them, they will change it to unsecured credit card

-Capital one is very lenient but has a lot of fees, also has secured incase you cant get an unsecured one. They do not report as secured to the credit bureaus.

-Bank of America has a secured credit card and they do report as secured

-Wellsfargo has a secured credit card (dont know a lot about it)

If you have time you can google credit forums and find out more details.

[gvt 0]

Hi All , I was wondering if anyone has advice or know how of how to help me with this , I have my 2 year GC and started working two months ago , but I am running into problems with trying to obtain credit. I dont know how to start a credit record or a line of credit here if nobody will give one. I have a SSN as well. I did get a Capital One secured card but this seems to not be the way to go as the credit limit takes forever to change, can anyone tell me how they got credit or started a credit record here in the USA please . Thank you

You can have someone cosign for you which will also allow you to establish a credit history without going the secured credit card route. See this article (although targeted at students it still is worth a read) for more info on which banks allow co-signers:

http://www.bankrate....co-signers.aspx

Also, although won't probably work for you since you are not Japanese but maybe worth a try, I came across this Japan Airlines MasterCard CC that is targeted at Japanese citizens in the USA with no credit history:

http://www.premio.co...emio/index.html

.

Edited November 29, 2010 by gvt