As a student entering for the first time into the United States, little was I aware of the consequences of a wells fargo secured credit card. A secured credit card is a credit card given to an individual against a collateral upto $10000.
I started with $300. As a student, this was all I had. I needed to build my credit history to be able to survive in the US. So true.
Anyways, these are the mistakes that I did and I have learnt from them. Newbies should get some wisdom out of this. One should be careful to avoid these for a better credit score.
1. Wells Fargo reports all transactions as "Secured Credit Card" to the credit bureaus. And not as "credit card" . It seems all my other credit card transactions go as credit card in the credit report. It seems like other banks like Chase and Bank Of America, report secure credit card transactions as credit card. In any case, both BoA and Chase seem to give you a real credit card with a low credit limit, say 500-1000 bucks at the starting which completely avoids the secured credit card. Avoid WELLS FARGO when you enter the US and want to open a bank account.
2. Wells Fargo accounts are good for green card holders and US citizens. For everytime you go and ask for credit, they want you to be atleast a permanent resident of the US. They say the rules have tighten after the 2008 economy crash. Anyways, no other nationalized bank seems to be having the problems.
3. The interest rates are not at all competent unless you have ~20K or so in your account. Other banks, especially credit unions and have a relatively higher interest rates and uniform and fair across all accounts. Therefore, I recommend Credit Unions.
In all, I would say, AVOID WELLS FARGO as your first account as your experience might not be as good as it could be.
I started with $300. As a student, this was all I had. I needed to build my credit history to be able to survive in the US. So true.
Anyways, these are the mistakes that I did and I have learnt from them. Newbies should get some wisdom out of this. One should be careful to avoid these for a better credit score.
1. Wells Fargo reports all transactions as "Secured Credit Card" to the credit bureaus. And not as "credit card" . It seems all my other credit card transactions go as credit card in the credit report. It seems like other banks like Chase and Bank Of America, report secure credit card transactions as credit card. In any case, both BoA and Chase seem to give you a real credit card with a low credit limit, say 500-1000 bucks at the starting which completely avoids the secured credit card. Avoid WELLS FARGO when you enter the US and want to open a bank account.
2. Wells Fargo accounts are good for green card holders and US citizens. For everytime you go and ask for credit, they want you to be atleast a permanent resident of the US. They say the rules have tighten after the 2008 economy crash. Anyways, no other nationalized bank seems to be having the problems.
3. The interest rates are not at all competent unless you have ~20K or so in your account. Other banks, especially credit unions and have a relatively higher interest rates and uniform and fair across all accounts. Therefore, I recommend Credit Unions.
In all, I would say, AVOID WELLS FARGO as your first account as your experience might not be as good as it could be.
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