<prompt> Human: Hi all,I moved to the US 3 months ago. Ive lived here before but only for short periods of time 3-6 months at a time and never bothered with building credit. Im entirely debt-free at the moment and I have more assets available than I should i.e. I should really invest, but thats a different matter.So I figured I should get a credit card in the US, ideally one that offers me significant advantages cashback. For that Ill need a good credit score. Ive been banking with Wells Fargo so far because they were accross the street the first time I lived in the US, and I never bothered looking elsewhere before, so I went to my local WF and spoke to a banker.I got the expected suggestion, get a secured credit card, asked for a printout of the details to reflect on. So far so good.She then mentioned secured credit lines. This is where the this looks dumb part comes from - I give my bank, say, 10k, to secure a loan up to 10k, from which I can borrow interest-free as long as I repay when I get the bill i.e. the next month. I can even take money out of it, put it on my checking account, and auto-pay the bill from my checking account. So basically I just need to create noise on my monthly statement and... I get a better credit score? For not spending money and just moving it around? How dumb is that?The suspicious thing is, these 10k as a collateral are not accruing interest for me. Now Im used to Switzerlands way of seeing things - when I make a deposit, I get it back with interests. Why would WF get to make money out of my 10k while Im not even using it, except to move it between accounts? Thats the first suspicious thing.She suggested I get a CD and use that as my security. Its the same thing except you accrue interest and you lock your money for a period of time. The fact that she wasnt able to tell me what CD stands for apparently certificate of deposit or what the minimummaximum amounts to deposit were is also a bright red flag. Also the interest rate is like 0.01 if I lock the money for a year and its less than 5k, which seems laughable its 0.10 if I put in more than 5k, still bad.I still have to go talk to other banks and see if this is the norm or if I can get a better deal. In the meantime, can one of you friendly folks tell me if this is fishy, dumb or normal? Thanks a lot!  <response>: The credit score is basically a game, and a secured card is one way to play the game. Yes, the game is pretty stupid. However, if you play the game despite the stupidity, you will eventually be able to get a unsecured card possibly with cashback rewards, as well as good automortgage rates down the road.Bank clerks are not always knowledgeable about financial instruments, despite the fact that they work at a bank. This is similar to how customer service folks at Comcast dont know how ISPs work.CD rates and savings account rates are pretty terrible right now, and for most people, its not worth the hassle to open a high yield checkingsavings account, and its also not worth the hassle to get a CD. For instance, if you save 5k at 0.10, then after one year, youll have 5 extra. 