New grad joining a company next year and I’ll be on an OPT looking to apply for H1B visa the following year. I currently have a credit score of 700 and got rejected by Chase freedom :( but I do have a Wells Fargo credit card. I get mails every week from Capital One to make a credit card. Do you think I should make it, hoping my credit will increase faster and ultimately get a chase freedom?
Chase does not like to be the first bank to grant someone credit, but you can do a few things to increase your chances. I recommend opening a Chase checking account ($300 bonus available here: https://www.chase.com/checking/chase-checking-coupon) which others have said has helped them get approved. The other thing to do is open a credit card with another bank and ***pay it off in full every month***. Capital One's business model preys upon people who don't know how to use credit, so I generally avoid them. If you like the Freedom, you should consider a Discover It which has a similar 1% cash back + 5% quarterly rotating categories. Discover is more comfortable offering credit to new borrowers and also doubles the cash back for the first year, effectively turning it into a 2%/10% card during that period.
Go for the free SFCU card, 10-15k limit is easy for techies with no history.
This or first tech
Discover credit cards are very popular amongst people with less credit 'history'..also, score of 700 is not bad
+1 for Discover
Yes you should open it. Nothing to lose if you're new. My strategy was to open as many cards as long as no annual fee (because I wouldn't want the mental burden to maintain it), and set up auto pay. Good to have more older cards later on, because one factor for credit score is 'average age of credit lines' opening later on will hurt your score more. I'm now 3 years in, just approved for jumbo mortgage in the bay area last summer. My first cards are WF secured credit, SFCU, capital one, discover. Then later on I have amex and Citi (for Costco)
Try uber credit card. It has the best rewards now anyway.
Capital One CC should be the last one you should try.. worst CC & bank in the planet
Hello No. Capital one CC is the worst. I recently closed mine. Its a nightmare using that card. A simple Google search will tell you how bad the card is. Go for Discover first 1 year 0% APR.
+1 for Discover. It was my daily driver for over 1 year when no other company would touch me (0 credit history on OPT as well). They still are really good.
You should ditch any bank and use a credit union. They normally offer better rates on their credit cards and checking accounts.