From: Vuko Brigljevic < >
Date: Tue, 19 Sep 2000 11:31:01 -0700
X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.73 [en] (X11; U; Linux 2.2.12-20smp i686)

Hi Alexej,

> After 1.5 yrs using a debit card we decided we needed a credit card in
> the US. It seems that there are credit cards without fees out there but
> you can't have them without a CREDIT HISTORY.
>
> How does one build a credit history? Do I need to purchase some of the
> payable credit cards (they are about $50 processing fee plus $50 annual
> fee)? Is this the only way? Are there any cheaper ones?

My understanding is that you gain a good credit history simply by
paying your bills on time, and I have a somewhat contradicting
experience to yours: when I arrived here, I could not get a normal
credit card either but I could get a secured credit card (what you
call a debit card), a MasterCard, with Wells Fargo. Some 7-8 months
later, I received several offers for a free real credit card
and now, I'm receiving about one such offer per week. I guess
the important point was that I always payed my credit card bills
(starting with the secured one) on time and in full. And somehow,
credit card companies have access to that information.

Good luck, Vuko

-- 
========================================================================
 Vuko Brigljevic                        | Mail : SLAC, Mail Stop 41
 Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory |        P.O. Box 4349, Stanford
 Nuclear and Particle Physics Division  |        CA 94309, USA
                                        | SLAC-Office : B280- room 143
 Member of the BaBar Collaboration      | Phone : +1-650-926 8512
 <
>               | <http://wwweth.cern.ch/~vuko>  
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