My first real Credit card approval!

So, I'm so excited! I took a long time to finally get an ITIN to start building credit even though I have been copying and saving tons of great advice info from these forums for years to guide me in how to get started.
I guess I felt it was safer to just live like a hermit, afraid of putting my name too much in the system for fear of being tracked down and dep....lol

Well I finally bit the bullet and applied for my ITIN a year ago. I never had a savings account to use as excuse to apply for the ITIN so I used my business which I started a couple years back as the excuse to get the Itin since I needed to file taxes for my LLC. Even though I had a tax id, in order to file my own taxes for monies made from the business I needed a personal tax number!

I applied for a wells fargo secured credit card shortly after getting my itin, very low limit too ($300).
I made sure I paid off all balances every month even though I did have a high utilization (60%) because the credit limit was so low. I didn't know that this can affect your credit score negatively, I learned this when I pulled my credit score for the first time a couple months ago. Thank god I didn't use the card every single month, I was shocked to see my score at 760! didn't know I could build so fast.

FF to last week I applied for a chase freedom cc and they sent me a letter saying they need to process my application some more and requested more info, they wanted a copy of my ITIN which I went into a local branch and had it verified and faxed from there. I waited for a about two weeks and didn't hear back so I called them and over the phone they approved me for $2,200! yay! limit is low, but I'm just so stoked that I got my foot in the door since this card has the 5% cash back feature, $150 sign up bonus and no annual fees. I received card in the mail yesterday.

I also applied for citi double cash --- they also sent letter for copy of my Itin and wanted me to call them to verify that I am actually the person who applied for the card. Everything I see online says citi cards can be a pain to get, but I received email today confirming approval for $1500.

Its not DACA but Every little hurdle I get over these days feels like such an achievement. Just wanted to share this little bit of joy with y'all. : )

That's awesome. Congrats!

I started off with Capital One giving me a CC with just my ITIN. They started me off at only $750 credit limit and I am now up to $2250 credit limit with them. haha. but they were the one's that started me off and now I have like 8 in total. Just be careful with your credit and it ramps up quick.

Congrats Pink! Once your income goes up and you have a longer credit history you'll get a larger and larger credit limit.
I started with Capital One with $200. A year after, I got another credit card with GE for $3000

Good for you! Yes I plan to be real careful So far the way I have been using my credit with my first prepaid card I make sure I don't spend money I don't have in my checking account. I'm basically just choosing to purchase items with my credit card vs the debit card. I don't ever carry a balance and thats the way I intend to keep things until I am more financially secure. I hate owing money so this is not too hard for me, even though I know we all think its gonna be easy until life turns everything upside down, lol

*PS
I also learned you can lower high utilization usage by paying off balance immediately after high purchases. This resets the credit amount you have left on the card for the month. The only balance that will reflect to the credit bureaus is the final amount that posts to your account when your bill is due at the end of each cycle.

Wow man thats amazing! I don't mind that my balance is not too high for now, the only thing I worry is that I may go over the recommended 20-30% each month. On my chase card, My limit is 2200, which means I can't spend more than $660 for the month without have high usage ---I just need a little more wiggle room, But all good things come in due time : )

well you can. what's reported is what's at the end of your statement. say you bought a $1k tv. you could pay $500 to your credit card the very next day and when your statement closes (say next week) it will show you only have a $500 balance. Less than 30%.

Yes! This is great since the cards have cash back feature. If I ever need to spend more than my limit without negative effect I might as well earn the 5% or whatever amount back. It will Work the same way as a coupon on my necessary purchases. supermarket, gas etc.

WellsFargo gives credit cards to undocumented people? I applied there once and was told no because of my status

Good for you man! Keep it up! I had one before DACA. Now i have 5 for a total of about 25k all of them paid off. I learned my lesson early. Be careful! Use it for the points but pay them off before you accrue interest.

Congratulations!

I applied for the Chase Freedom also after getting my SSN through DACA in 2012. I'd never had a credit card, so they wouldn't approve me because I had no credit history under my name. I called the reconsideration line, and they finally approved me for $200--I'm up to an over 25K CL with two Chase cards now lol

I understand your joy, as that too was one of the most memorable happiest moments of my life--the little things we get to appreciate as undocumented people.

Praise God. Amen.