Wachovia/Wells Fargo Credit Card - questions

[renaissance]

I'm thinking about getting a Wachovia/Wells Fargo credit card and was wondering if anyone has any experience with them. I'm considering it for emergency use only and to use it for overdraft protection. In the case that you overdraw your account, they charge the amount to your card and I think there's a $5 fee each time. Though I'm working now, once I'm back in school I won't be getting regular paychecks and when it comes to paying my rent, buying groceries, etc, I sometimes cannot wait until student loans and the like come through.

So, a couple questions:

1. Is this a good idea in terms of my credit? I'd have the card but rarely if ever be using it.

2. Is there a better card or another way I can go to deal with financial emergencies?

[Bliz]

I'm thinking about getting a Wachovia/Wells Fargo credit card and was wondering if anyone has any experience with them. I'm considering it for emergency use only and to use it for overdraft protection. In the case that you overdraw your account, they charge the amount to your card and I think there's a $5 fee each time. Though I'm working now, once I'm back in school I won't be getting regular paychecks and when it comes to paying my rent, buying groceries, etc, I sometimes cannot wait until student loans and the like come through.

So, a couple questions:

1. Is this a good idea in terms of my credit? I'd have the card but rarely if ever be using it.

2. Is there a better card or another way I can go to deal with financial emergencies?

It is a good idea for your credit. You score is improved by having a higher dollar figure of credit available, and using a lower percentage of it. And having established credit for longer periods of time.

Because you don't plan to use it much, the best thing you can do is make sure the limit is high enough that you can actually USE it in one of those emergencies, and find a card with no annual fee.

A good source of information is www.fatwallet.com Their forums are great.

If you're interested in improving your credit, check out www.credit.com, www.creditkarma.com, and www.quizzle.com. Free credit reports/scores, and useful info and concrete suggestions for improving your credit based on your current ratings, usage, etc.

[renaissance]

Thanks bliz - I've never checked my credit score so I probably should do that sometime. The biggest advantage I can think of for the wachovia card is that it would cover checks I write (ie, rent), which any other card wouldn't help me with. You're right though in that I'd need to make sure my limit is high enough to cover what I spend. And I'll have to check on the annual fees.

[Bliz]

Thanks bliz - I've never checked my credit score so I probably should do that sometime. The biggest advantage I can think of for the wachovia card is that it would cover checks I write (ie, rent), which any other card wouldn't help me with. You're right though in that I'd need to make sure my limit is high enough to cover what I spend. And I'll have to check on the annual fees.

Makes sense to me.

I can't remember the difference between the 3. 1-2 estimated your score based on all the factors the companies use, and the other 1-2 actually pull your real score from Transunion or whoever, but I can't remember which is which. I signed up for all 3 about 6 months ago, and told a friend of mine that I thought www.credit.com had the most useful information and ideas for what you can do to improve, fwiw