Building credit

[Operator 1,925]

This may not be news to many people but it may be helpful to someone so I thought I'd share it.

http://www.capitalone.com/creditcards/newcomer-credit-card/

[UK_Fan 192]

ha that is definately something to look forward to! i think it's great.

i always worry after reading that it would take over a year to get around 620 score.. maybe this will help some

[MissDinaDee 8]

Thanks for sharing! Its always good to find different avenues of building credit in the US!!

MrsJ

[VanessaTony 3,567]

This is the one I got: http://www.capitalone.com/creditcards/mastercard-secured-credit-card/r/?linkid=WWW_1010_CARD_TGUNS11_CCBRWPOP_C3_36_T_CP18003RW I had to do secured because I didn't have any credit history. I'll "upgrade" after a year. My credit after 6 months or so is 700+ so it worked for me

[UK_Fan 192]

This is the one I got: http://www.capitalone.com/creditcards/mastercard-secured-credit-card/r/?linkid=WWW_1010_CARD_TGUNS11_CCBRWPOP_C3_36_T_CP18003RW I had to do secured because I didn't have any credit history. I'll "upgrade" after a year. My credit after 6 months or so is 700+ so it worked for me

Oh wow that's great! That is so useful, I am definitely doing that when time comes! That's so great to know!

[my wife please 0]

These things kill me but I guess

22.9% variable APR is better then

24.9% variable APR ....best thing to do is close it as soon as you can get a better rate

[N M 96]

Some tips if you are trying to quickly build up a good credit score:

• Always pay off your balance in full each month. That way the APR is irrelevant too.
• Make your payments on time.
• Don't use more than 40% of your credit limit.
• Get more than one line of credit. Along with the low limit Capital One card, gas cards are often easy to obtain by new immigrants with little or no credit.
• Get yourself added as an authorized user to your spouse's card (if they have good credit, you can piggy back on that).

[EminTX 131]

Overuse of credit is the big issue for the "Occupy Wallstreet Movement". In other words, "We took out loans and credit that we couldn't afford and now we don't wanna payyyyyyyyyy!!!!"

Be very, very careful. You really don't need to have a good FICO score for much of anything. (These are experienced words. It took my many, many years to pay off ####### that I had bought with the belief that I MUST buy on credit cards instead of cash because it is NECESSARY to build a credit score. I was very, very stupid.)

Common sense explanation of your credit score

[웃 910]

One of the worst cards on the market but I guess if it's your only option then it is better than nothing.

I would still favor the secured credit card to start combined with being added as an authorized user to your spouses oldest credit card on file (you will then show up as having established credit the year he/she opened their first card).

The worst part about the secured card is you pay for your credit limit. Pay the bank $500 you get a $500 limit. Pay them $1000 you get a $1000 limit.

But at the end of 12 months you will get your deposit back so it's a big pay day to look forward to.

I have Amex, Discover, Chase, Citi, and Merrill Lynch as credit cards. The best by far is Chase! They give the most generous credit limits.

As far as store cards I have Home Depot and Best Buy. Both extremely generous on credit limits (assuming you have at least a year of established credit). Best Buy is even more lenient. I've been with them for about 4 years and my credit limit started at $3000 and it's currently at $11,100...They are almost too generous.

[Nina~ 431]

These things kill me but I guess

22.9% variable APR is better then

24.9% variable APR ....best thing to do is close it as soon as you can get a better rate

That is a very bad idea! Never ever ever close a credit card by yourself. Just dont charge anything on it and let is sit inactive till the credit card company decides to close it themselves. Your credit score will be dinged if you close it yourself.

[Harpa Timsah 13,258]

I would still favor the secured credit card to start combined with being added as an authorized user to your spouses oldest credit card on file (you will then show up as having established credit the year he/she opened their first card).

This loophole has been closed. No longer can you add an authorized user to an account and piggyback off of their credit score and established opening date of account.

Having a good credit score is very useful. To the person a few posts back suggesting that it is not needed, I strongly disagree! Having good credit can open many doors, and you don't have to go into debt to get a good score. You need to use your credit wisely.

[Nina~ 431]

Having a good credit score is very useful. To the person a few posts back suggesting that it is not needed, I strongly disagree! Having good credit can open many doors, and you don't have to go into debt to get a good score. You need to use your credit wisely.

Certain jobs require an employee to have a good credit score.

[Mononoke28 134]

Regardless of what others may think, it is crucial to have a good credit score in the US for obvious reasons like trying to get a good rate on a mortgage or getting any mortgage at all, financing the purchase of a new car, leasing an apartment, getting a job, etc. Now days, it's extremely important to have a good credit score and getting a credit card like the OP suggested is a great idea. The only company that approved my husband when he first arrived over four years ago was Capital One and no, it's not the best card out there but it helped him get a credit score of over 800 which we needed to get a good interest rate on a mortgage, we just don't use it anymore and use other credit cards with better benefits and interest rates instead.

Diana

[N M 96]

This loophole has been closed. No longer can you add an authorized user to an account and piggyback off of their credit score and established opening date of account.

Having a good credit score is very useful. To the person a few posts back suggesting that it is not needed, I strongly disagree! Having good credit can open many doors, and you don't have to go into debt to get a good score. You need to use your credit wisely.

Yes you can. Are you talking about the original version of FICO 08? That did close the door to piggybacking, but was deemed by the courts to discriminate unfairly against stay at home partners with no income (mainly women). So piggybacking was reintroduced, although these days it's limited to immediate family. You can no longer piggyback off a boyfriend/ girlfriend/ BFF/ colleague etc.

Edited January 27, 2012 by N M

[웃 910]

Yes you can. Are you talking about the original version of FICO 08? That did close the door to piggybacking, but was deemed by the courts to discriminate unfairly against stay at home partners with no income (mainly women). So piggybacking was reintroduced, although these days it's limited to immediate family. You can no longer piggyback off a boyfriend/ girlfriend/ BFF/ colleague etc.

She got added as an authorized user in the 1st or 2nd quarter of 2009.

Within a month she showed as having established credit in 2007 (two years worth of history) at every credit bureau despite being brand new to the country with technically zero credit.

Edited January 27, 2012 by ☠