Credit Cards

[Cotton_Britches]

My twenty-something nephew wants to establish his credit. His reports are empty except for one local furniture credit account that he's already paid off. He applied for a PayPal MasterCard but was turned down due to insufficient credit. He wasn't offered the Smart Connect account. Which cards should he try for next that may be willing to approve him?

[HiLine]

Your best bet would be to either add your nephew as an authorized user or get him to apply for a secured card. Capital One also has a card that specifcally targets consumers without a credit history.

[Wolf3]

Most any secured card will approve him since there are no negatives.   And there are good ones with most major banks and many CU's.  

I would pick the secured card from someone who I wanted unsecured CC from in the future.

[Cotton_Britches]

He initially thought of First Premier until I told him how bad an idea that is. According to the First Premier website, they charge card applicants a one-time "processing fee" of $95.00!  Insane.

[HiLine]

Did you know that First Premier is the absolute worst credit card in the market?

[Cotton_Britches]

Yes. That's why I told him to avoid it! 

[webhopper]

Secured cards and secured loans from credit union is the best way in my opinion to establish good payment history. He can start with secured and then apply for unsecured later on. Digital credit union can be joined by anyone... there are also local credit unions that have similar products. That's the route I would take.

[jsucool76]

I'll +1 the secured card idea. Be aware it IS possible to be denied for a secured credit card though, cap1 denied me for theirs. 

If he is a member of a CU or something, I would have him go there first, and if not, see if whoever he banks with offers any secured cards or other options for those starting out. 

Is he still a college/grad student or no? 

[jsickz32]

i added my brother to two of my cards and after 2 months of them reporting he applied for macys card and bofa basic cc and was approved for both. if you can add him as a AU that should help him