>
Date: Tue, 19 Sep 2000 12:20:11 -0700
X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.73 [en] (Windows NT 5.0; U)
> 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.
Debit cards are different from secured credit cards. Secured credit
cards are real credit cards, i.e. you will get your bill at the end of
the month and pay your balance, in full or not. Debit cards will debit
your checking account immediately.
BofA also provides secured credit cards. I got one 3 years ago. The
idea is that you make a deposit of $1000 (for example) on a secured
savings account, and that amount matches the amount of your credit
line. One year later, they will give you a regular credit card with
the same credit line and you can get your $1000 back (plus
interest). After that, you will be able to increase your credit line
pretty quickly.
After a 1 year, I had a regular credit card. I was able to get a loan
for a car with no problem six months later (they also needed a letter
from my employer, knew everything about my bank acccounts in the US,
asked about my credit cards in Switzerland, etc.). That loan also
helped building my credit history. Now I have no problem getting any
credit card, and my credit line increases regularly.
> 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.
Credit cards companies have access to all your credit history
instantly. This includes your other credit cards, the current balance
on these cards, your billing address for these cards, as well as
any loans you got and the monthly payment for these loans. Plus I
think all your bank accounts. It's pretty scary to see this
information appear instantly while you apply for a new credit card on
the web!
-Erik
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Received on Tue Sep 19 2000 - 12:18:27 PDT
