Best starter card with limited history

[jforsyth]

Hello all. Been a while since I've posted.

I'll keep thing short and sweet. My brother had a Citi Student card for about 6 months, but there was a security breach and then they inexplicably closed on him and wouldn't reopen his account (he didn't have any baddies or anything, they just kinda screwed him over). That was about a year ago, so he has limited history. He is a college student with $10k income.

Today he asked me what the best card for him to get would be. If I recall correctly, I think it was Wells Fargo that was guaranteeing the graduation of secured cards after 18 months in a CD. Is that correct? Or was that CitiBank?

What would you guys recommend?

Thanks

[smc733]

He could probably get an unsecured card...

[jforsyth]

It would help me out if he would just pull his FICOs, but he's being cheap

[smc733]

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@jforsyth wrote:

It would help me out if he would just pull his FICOs, but he's being cheap

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Pulling just one should be fine, with thin credit its likely they're all similar enough.

[slarano]

One FICO score, plus reports through AnnualCreditReport would be sufficient, I'd think. And perhaps an unsecured student card from Wells Fargo might be attainable. Or one of the other student cards out there. 

[Anonymous]

tell him to try AMEX ZYNC my daughter got this card with no credit history at all

[Anonymous]

Zync was one of the cards I tried to apply for originally with no credit history (not really knowing any better at the time) and they denied me because I didn't have any trade lines that were over 6 months old. That was back in 2010, so I don't know if the rules have changed.

Capital One would probably be a decent choice for a starter card. I know lots of people here at Cap1 haters (including myself for the Secured Card I have), but I haven't had any problems with the unsecured cap 1 card I have - above and beyond the fact that it really isn't going to grow.

[slarano]

Hmm, I'd actually like to see this credit profile that has absolutely "no credit history at all" and still allowed for the approval of an AMEX Zync Card. My inclination is that it's not so bare of trade lines to begin with.

[smc733]

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@simonlarano wrote:

Hmm, I'd actually like to see this credit profile that has absolutely "no credit history at all" and still allowed for the approval of an AMEX Zync Card. My inclination is that it's not so bare of trade lines to begin with.

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Yes, I think they're a great card after the first approval (9 months later or so).