Hello everyone,
This is my first post here and I would like to share my excitements and use my experience to inspire my fellows who are still struggling with his credit scores![Smiley Happy]( "Smiley Happy")
If I can do it, then you can as well!
I'm an international student here in the United States, which means I got absolutely no credit history 15 months ago. Back then, I applied my first part-time job at our school and got my social security. Although my social security does not come with all the benefits like what you guys have and the card itself was printed with large, bold "Work under DHS's authorization only", it is good enough for me to start and build up my credit history.
My first try was Discover it Chrome Student and I was approved with a $500 CL. I know that for students like me who have no credit history, a discover card with a $500 credit line is not bad(thank you discover ![Smiley Happy]( "Smiley Happy")
). However, a $500 CL is still really a small number if you don't reside in a university housing and don't have a meal plan, so since then I have determined to garden my credit painstakingly. I've read tons of articles regarding building credit and these two are of the most important rules that I followed: 1. Pay with your CC. 2. Do NOT leave a large balance on your card. To be more specific, my weekly spendings are around $1500 and I was basically using my discover card to pay them all. As you might have seen, $1500 is three times as large as my CL, so I have to plan very precisely and keep a very tight schedule to repay my balance. I typically only leave 1~2% of the balance on my card, which is $5~$10 bucks of balance. It was hard, but I managed to do it.
6 months after first approval, my first official FICO score of 750 poped up by discover (You won't get a score if your credit history is less than 6 months)
7 months after first approval, I leased a car with 48 monthly payments of $250 (so about $6000 in total of loan) and my FICO dropped to 701
8 M. A. F. A. ,FICO = 701
9 M.A.F.A., FICO = 713 and got a automatic softpull CLI to $750 in reward of my perfect, although short as it was, credit history by discover...
10 M.A.F.A., FICO = 714
11 M.A.F.A., FICO = 714
12 M.A.F.A., FICO = 731 (There might be a huge jump if you keep your crefit perfect for a whole year) and and got a CLI to $1000
13 M.A.F.A., FICO = 748 (I might have payed enough for my car lease account so that "Proportion of loan balances to loan amount is too high" disappeared from my "Key factors"
14 M.A.F.A., FICO = 752
15 M.A.F.A., FICO = 755 And it is now. I've been gardening my credit history for 15 months, but my discover CL is still $1000. With a perfect credit history and a FICO of 755, I believe my credit was undervalued. I really wanted to apply for new credit cards (like what I've been longing for 15 months![Smiley Happy]( "Smiley Happy")
), but I was just afraid of being crushed by these credit card issuers...Tuesday at 3AM, I was suffering from 14 hours of jet lag and really got nothing to do, so I made my mind to apply for three cards (to kill some time maybe?).
The first card I applied was American Express Blue Cash Preferred for its 6% cash back on department store (and for the fact that the gas station of Meijer near my home was categorized as department store by Discover... and if it is the same for AMEX, I can also get 6% back for gas ![Smiley Happy]( "Smiley Happy")
. The problem was, the application page kept saying I've not filled in a blank but did fill it in. So I decided to give it a minute and might try on another computer later.
My next target was Chase Freedom. The application process goes smoothly while after 1 min of waiting...It told me my application was deferred and I have to wait for another 7-10 business days to know the result. Given the situation that my first two trials are not going toward the promising side, I was really frustrated, and my hands are as cold as ice because of nerves.
Anyway, I proceed with my third card application on the Citi Double Cash, and luck was finally on my side that I've got a instant approval of $3700CL! That was much more than what I expected! Finally, I've got a card that it is enough to pay 5 days of hotel and the deposits ![Smiley Happy]( "Smiley Happy")
. YAYYY!!!
Afterwards, I turned back to my AMEX BCP. I switched to my desktop with Windows instead of my laptop with Mac. This time, everything went seamlessly and I also got a instant approval of $2000. The fact that I've received a "congratulations email" even before the website told me I was approved is interesting. Imagine the following case scenario: you just hit on the "continue" button and the website turns all white and loading. You know that your fate might be unvealled at anytime during the next 60 secs so you stare at the screen even without a blink...10 secs, 20secs, 30secs, 40 secs, nothing changed on the screen. Still, it is white as a paper. But all of a sudden, your iPhone buzzed with a email from"American Express New Account" with the first word of "welcome". You look up on your computer screen, still all white, and you are confused. Then seconds later you will understand that you are approved, how surprising it is![Smiley Happy]( "Smiley Happy")
)))) Anyway, the $2000 CL is not as high as the Citi Double Cash, but with the two 3× CLI, it would not be bad.
With two cards approved and one card deferred, this night was really great. However, the fact that Chase is still "reviewing" my case still haunted in my head. I called the automated system later during the day time, and still got a message to wait at most 30 days to know the result. According to the post here, http://creditcardforum.com/visa-mastercard/7187-chase-application-decision-pending-what-are-odds-of-approval.html, it was not a good sign. As a result, I just wanted to forget about it and presume that they have already denied my application... Then things changed dramatically. 2 days later in the morning, when I opened my Chase app to check my balance as what I used to do(I have a checking account with them), a new account poped up on my screen. CREDIT CARD* (...XXXX). I was like what the heck is that! Am I approved by Chase? With a great excitement, i clicked on the account and saw: "Available credit: $7000"...... For a few seconds, I my head really was blank. I thought I was still dreaming. Afterall, 2 days before, I've only got 1K of CL and 2 days later, I am getting a CL of 13.7K?! Hours later, I received a formal letter from Freedom that I indeed got approved...And the result is...2 days have passed, but I'm still in the state of excitement due to the approval ![Smiley Happy]( "Smiley Happy")
I am eagerly waiting for my cards to arrive, maybe they might arrive tomorrow or early next week. Can't wait to use them![Smiley Happy]( "Smiley Happy")
These approvals would encourage me to garden my credit history harder than before.
So that was my story. From zero credit history to 13.7k credit line, I did put a lot of efforts in it. For those card gurus, you might find the same experiment and excitement like me when your first several cards got approved. For these who is still struggling with your credit scores, please don't give up and just work on it. Where there is a will, there is a way. If I, as an international student even with no permanent right to reside in the U.S.,can do it, then you surely can! Good luck!
hate it. but oh well. can you guys give me some more details on smart connect.. like how the payments, aar etc work? thanks 
