Building up my credit/ Helpful advice for those starting out

[Anonymous]

Hello all;

I felt it might be of help to give you all an at lenght description of my struggles to begin a credit history from scratch and a 0 score.

In December when I turned 18 I decided I would begin to build credit history so that I would hopfully have a higher credit score when it came time to apply for loans to help pay for college in a couple years.(also know that healthy scores will get lower interest rates)

I didnt exactly look at building credit efectively in the begining I went out and applied for Discover It student with no credit history what so ever (That ended in a denial for no credit history) Then I thought a store card might be easier so I applied for a Stage Stores Card (issued by comenity) I was again denied for no credit history.

With those Denials I went on to do some research on secured cards; everyone hear paints them as a great stepping stone and that is very true! i applied for the Capital One Platinum Secured (Many forums members started with this card) I was approved with the small 49$ deposit for a $200 credit line (I was really excited my first credit card!)

From Capital One I went on to read around about store cards for people with limited or no credit history ( None of those panned out for me; all were Denials based on no credit history) **My suggestion is if you have no credit History then apply for a secured card. Dont try to apply for Walmart of JCP or any other card the net says is easy to be approved for I tried about 4 of these so called easy cards all Denials because of no credit history (if you are rebuilding they may be easy to get; however when starting from nothing they are not easy) this was just my experience of course.

I did apply for a VonMaur charge card however; I was initally sent a decline letter; this decline letter didnt say denied for no credit history it instead said denied because they couldnt find prof of my income. I called in and provided documents proving that I have had a steady income for the last 6 months( I think 6 months is the minimum they will except in regard to income) After talking to a representative who was very friendly I asked if they could reconsider if I proved I had been employed and have had income for six months; she had me email her documents proving employment and within a few minutes she had approved me for a $200 starting limit.

VonMaur is in my opinion a good card for building if you do not want a secured card; In my experience you can call and recon if denied; they seem to not deny because of a lack of credit history. Customer service at VonMaur is profection always; I've read on here that everyone in their credit department is an underwritter; I believe this is true because the first person I talked to was able to reconsider my application and approve me upon verification of income. ( No robots to go through either you call in and they will have you on hold a few seconds then a very knowledgable person will answer. ( Search VonMaur if you want to learn more about them; there is a very recent and exstensive forum regarding them; everything I have read has been wonderful)

FingerHut was my next credit account approval they approved me for a freshstart; Which is basically an installment loan; upon approval for freshstart they give you a credit limit you can spend up to that limit in one transaction; once you have chose your items then you go to checkout provide a 30$ downpayment and your items are shipped to you; then you pay off the remander of the loan in monthly instalments.( I have had my first statment cut; I only owed 10$ on the statment then this time Ive paid it down to 1$; I dont know if paying it off now will forfit my opportunity at a revolving line so im going to keep the balance at 1$ and pay them 10cents a month idk? its whatever they change my minimum to) I recommend FIngerhut as many people hear do just search finger hut plenty of forums about it on here; Many of us have started and built strong histories begining with Fingerhut and a secured card

Discover It secured; was my next approval(Im loving Discover so far!) You get a free monthly fico score; you also get 2% cash back at resturants and gas stations and then 1% back everywhere else) The lowest amount you can deposit with Discover secured is $200 which will give you a $200 credit limit. I recommend Discover it over any other secured card; you get a prime card with rewards from a prime lender with 100% US based customer service 24/7. I have read on here that a lot of people are getting denied for Discover It secured; I was approved but then again always remember it is YMMV(your milage may very) I love both my Capital One card and Discover it; Discover It to me feels more prestigous and ellite.

My most recent approval after one month of credit history was a Kohls Charge major (YMMV) they pulled my eqifax when it was showing 621( now it has went way down to 564 if Im not mistaken; My Equifax score has fluctuated a lot this month I had it up to mid 600's then Discover posted to Eqifax dropping it to 574 and then FIngerhut posted dropping the score down to 564) My Transunion is staying stable in the mid 600's ever since my first card posted to Transunion.

I hope explaining my journey has helped some of you guys who are starting out.

Please ask any questions below; I am here to help as much as possible along with everyone else here on the forums.

Regards

[Anonymous]

Thanks for sharing.  But paying 10 cents a month on a $1 balance is a bit much. I will suggest you ditch that plan and just pay the $1 off.

[Chris679]

Excellent story. Fingerhut is a ripoff though, you don't have to pay to build credit.

[Anonymous]

if your parents can help- add you as an authorized user on some of their older credit lines to give you a jump start.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

if your parents can help- add you as an authorized user on some of their older credit lines to give you a jump start.

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My Mother unfortunately has let her credit fall to an exstent that she hasnt tried for years to recover it. I had consider asking one of my aunts with good credit standing but, I have decided against it as I don't want their high utilization rates to show on my credit reports. For the most part they have really high limits but I have known one of them to keep the cards maxed out.

But thanks for the advice I'm going to build comfortably with what I have for now I can't handle anymore HP's for denials for right now; I have 2 secured cards so I have no interest in getting anymore now that my credit scores are growing at a somewhat healthy rate; my transunion is staying steady while equifax drops a substantal amount with each new account that reports.

[Anonymous]

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@Chris679 wrote:
Excellent story. Fingerhut is a ripoff though, you don't have to pay to build credit.

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Yes they do tend to be very expensive/ over priced so I only plan to use them every once in a while; they seem to have some awesome coupons and sales run at times so i should be fine to buy something little out of the clearance rack and use a freeshipping code when they have one. 

My main reason for going finger hut is that I heard they give increases frequently; My Vonmaur charge is stuck at 200$ for the next year while they see about my payment history. Discover is stuck at $200 for a year unless I want to give them more money as a deposit (I dont, to me that money is beter off in my interest baring savings account) Even after a year I've heard of people not graduating from Discover secured so Im going to let that one sit. I hope Capital one will be generous with increases on my secured platnium card. 

But yes thanks for chiming in and for your help; Do you have any suggestions on a next step to take? 

[Anonymous]

Yes another forum member explained to me that FingerHut will graduate me to revolving as long as I have made 6 payments toward my account; so today I paid off the last 1$ and am waiting to see  what my revolving line of credit with them will look like!

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@Anonymous wrote:

Thanks for sharing.  But paying 10 cents a month on a $1 balance is a bit much. I will suggest you ditch that plan and just pay the $1 off.

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[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

if your parents can help- add you as an authorized user on some of their older credit lines to give you a jump start.

---

My Mother unfortunately has let her credit fall to an exstent that she hasnt tried for years to recover it. I had consider asking one of my aunts with good credit standing but, I have decided against it as I don't want their high utilization rates to show on my credit reports. For the most part they have really high limits but I have known one of them to keep the cards maxed out.

But thanks for the advice I'm going to build comfortably with what I have for now I can't handle anymore HP's for denials for right now; I have 2 secured cards so I have no interest in getting anymore now that my credit scores are growing at a somewhat healthy rate; my transunion is staying steady while equifax drops a substantal amount with each new account that reports.

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I LOVE this answer from a 18 y.o kid

I'm going to build comfortably with what I have for now

Are you kiding ME? That's EXACTLY the right answer, especially considering (no offense Mom) his parent hasn't provided the best example. A young kid, understanding

it's HIS grind that counts gets 'big ups' from me all day.

You EARN it, it's yours...you can 'see' how easily and quickly you'll be in the mid 600's then 700's on your own...you'll be fine.

Don't ASK favors of famiy members that may turn around and 'need' some B.S. favor from YOU risking your credit in the future ...nope keep it seperate it'll be easier to tell Auntie Heck No if you hadn't 'ask' her for a 'favor' when you came begging...trust me take your time don't OWE any favors or one of those high balanced Aunts WILL be asking for a co-signer all too soon.

Ok, I agree FH is crap, some rebuilders have used them in the past too many better options out there IMO can 'em

You've got 2 real players in Cap-1 and Disco

(Yeah, I know Disco may have ''cooler' ads focused on you, youth but don't take Cap-1 lightly they are a HUGE Top 5 player in the CC in this country

That said I'm not a fan of their triple HP for card)

But with these two ou can do what you need w/o any of those others (granted you wil want to ap for a Cap-! unsecured card with the next 3-6 month and you may as well ap both the Plat and QS1 on the same day to use the same pull)

The reason is both Cap-1 and Disco will do SP CLI's thus allowing you to build w/o additonal HP's with 2 of America's Top 10 issurers (again you've got to get the unsecured Cap-1 because the secured doesn't grad wher as the Disco does)

If you get the unsecured Cap-1 as the secured cards fro both companies age at 6 months by the time it's time for Disco to grad and you to dump te Cap-1 secured, now your unsecured Cap-1's (if you have both) are reaching their credit steps CLI and they are combo ready (having both been over 6 months)

Also your HP's are now starting to age off in importance, which will allow a new HP for a car or whatever, if not you'll get some point back as the impact of the HP's soften as they age over 12 months

plus you've have fresh CASHas the Disco deposit is returned as well as the small deposit you will be due from Cap-1

You can't help but to have a very sloid foundation leading into being a 19 y.o. just keep your balances down and you payments on-time

I'm a fan of making your 1st payment the day AFTER your statement comes out not anywhere near the actual 'due-date'

Ex: My Cap-1 cuts on the 2nd of the month Due on the 27th (25 days later due to the 'grace period') but once the statement is cut and the usage is shown why not at least make our minmum required payment on the 3rd ...it changes your minimum due to $0 (thus grabbing your 35% on-time juice right now...never a chance of a late fee, let alone a late payment) and you still have 24 days or 3.5 weeks to pay down your balance on FREE money, remember no % if paid by the due date

*Meaning the balance of $500 has a $25 minimum posted on the 2nd due te 27th...pay the darn $25 on the 3rd now no matter what happens you're on-time use the statement date vs the due date for the on-time payment and use the DUE date as the FREE money deadline and you'll never even think in terms on paying late again.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

---

@Anonymous wrote:

---

@Anonymous wrote:

if your parents can help- add you as an authorized user on some of their older credit lines to give you a jump start.

---

My Mother unfortunately has let her credit fall to an exstent that she hasnt tried for years to recover it. I had consider asking one of my aunts with good credit standing but, I have decided against it as I don't want their high utilization rates to show on my credit reports. For the most part they have really high limits but I have known one of them to keep the cards maxed out.

But thanks for the advice I'm going to build comfortably with what I have for now I can't handle anymore HP's for denials for right now; I have 2 secured cards so I have no interest in getting anymore now that my credit scores are growing at a somewhat healthy rate; my transunion is staying steady while equifax drops a substantal amount with each new account that reports.

---

I LOVE this answer from a 18 y.o kid

I'm going to build comfortably with what I have for now

Are you kiding ME? That's EXACTLY the right answer, especially considering (no offense Mom) his parent hasn't provided the best example. A young kid, understanding

it's HIS grind that counts gets 'big ups' from me all day.

You EARN it, it's yours...you can 'see' how easily and quickly you'll be in the mid 600's then 700's on your own...you'll be fine.

Don't ASK favors of famiy members that may turn around and 'need' some B.S. favor from YOU risking your credit in the future ...nope keep it seperate it'll be easier to tell Auntie Heck No if you hadn't 'ask' her for a 'favor' when you came begging...trust me take your time don't OWE any favors or one of those high balanced Aunts WILL be asking for a co-signer all too soon.

Ok, I agree FH is crap, some rebuilders have used them in the past too many better options out there IMO can 'em

You've got 2 real players in Cap-1 and Disco

(Yeah, I know Disco may have ''cooler' ads focused on you, youth but don't take Cap-1 lightly they are a HUGE Top 5 player in the CC in this country

That said I'm not a fan of their triple HP for card)

But with these two ou can do what you need w/o any of those others (granted you wil want to ap for a Cap-! unsecured card with the next 3-6 month and you may as well ap both the Plat and QS1 on the same day to use the same pull)

The reason is both Cap-1 and Disco will do SP CLI's thus allowing you to build w/o additonal HP's with 2 of America's Top 10 issurers (again you've got to get the unsecured Cap-1 because the secured doesn't grad wher as the Disco does)

If you get the unsecured Cap-1 as the secured cards fro both companies age at 6 months by the time it's time for Disco to grad and you to dump te Cap-1 secured, now your unsecured Cap-1's (if you have both) are reaching their credit steps CLI and they are combo ready (having both been over 6 months)

Also your HP's are now starting to age off in importance, which will allow a new HP for a car or whatever, if not you'll get some point back as the impact of the HP's soften as they age over 12 months

plus you've have fresh CASHas the Disco deposit is returned as well as the small deposit you will be due from Cap-1

You can't help but to have a very sloid foundation leading into being a 19 y.o. just keep your balances down and you payments on-time

I'm a fan of making your 1st payment the day AFTER your statement comes out not anywhere near the actual 'due-date'

Ex: My Cap-1 cuts on the 2nd of the month Due on the 27th (25 days later due to the 'grace period') but once the statement is cut and the usage is shown why not at least make our minmum required payment on the 3rd ...it changes your minimum due to $0 (thus grabbing your 35% on-time juice right now...never a chance of a late fee, let alone a late payment) and you still have 24 days or 3.5 weeks to pay down your balance on FREE money, remember no % if paid by the due date

*Meaning the balance of $500 has a $25 minimum posted on the 2nd due te 27th...pay the darn $25 on the 3rd now no matter what happens you're on-time use the statement date vs the due date for the on-time payment and use the DUE date as the FREE money deadline and you'll never even think in terms on paying late again.

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Thanks for all of your advice, I try to pay off all but 1$ before my statement cuts to keep my utilization low, then once the statement cuts I pay off the 1$ I had on the card. The only card I leave around 50$-100$ on is VonMaur, I tend to pay them off after Ive paid off the other 2 cards they don't ever charge interest so if I need to carry a balance on a card from one month to the other I would carry it on VonMaur because I wouldnt incurr any interest charges( However I have been paying VonMaur in full as soon as the statement cuts; I've also paid them my balance randomly during the month to keep the balance close to zero)

Great Advice I want to build my credit history on my own and be able to say I started with no credit history and by being responsible I am now here in high credit standing.(That being said I've always been independant and wanted to do everything myself to prove I can)

Regards

[Anonymous]

I would recommend the BoA cash rewards CC as a first card, this was my first card at age 19.

I was denied for the unsecured version but if that happens you just put a deposit down, after 12 months of good payments they then automatically switch it to a unsecured card without another pull, give you a CLI and refund you back the deposit...

After that I applied for an Amex at the 13 month mark.

18 month mark all scores were over 720 and I had a CSP and most of the cards I wanted when I started building.

I actually did this after following someones advice on this forum, seemed like the fastest way.