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So some background on me:
19 years old
Full time student
No prior credit history
Before application I had one hard inquiry on my credit report (AT&T)
My intial FAKO score: 670
After applying for this card, I first received a letter asking me for verification of my annual income. I called Capone via the backdoor #'s listed on this forum (thanks!) and I spoke with some really nice people who helped me make sure I sent the right information. So I finally received a letter saying I had been rejected because insufficient data / missing information / unavailable data from all three credit bureaus.
Last night spoke with cap one and transunion back to back to see how to resolve and ultimate learneda few things:
So I told them I would hold off on reviewing on the application again (not looking for another inquiry on my account)
Now my score is 651
Any tips? I'm looking for a CC since I do make a lot of daily purchases and things via my debit card. I make $12/hr (I work at a nonprofit in the city)
Personally, I don't think the inquiries are that big of a deal for you. They go away within 2 years, and their effect would likely be completely negated by adding positive information to your extremely thin file.
That being said, it may be more worthwhile for you to use the inquiry on a secured credit card since your lack of history is definitely holding you back. If nothing else you may appear to be a fraud risk to many lenders since they aren't going to find any information on you when they search. But adding a secured card will put something on your report.
But don't get too discouraged, building credit is a ton easier than rebuilding. I used my history with student loans to get a car loan once I graduated, and then used all of that to get a CapOne just 6 months ago, and then used 6 months with that to add $16k in new cards just one month ago. Once you get some tradelines onto your credit report things will go much more smoothly for you.
I do my personal banking with Chase, I've had a high school checking account with them since freshman year and now I have a college checking and regular savings acccount. I'll check with my nonprofit and see if they have a credit union that could offer me membership however I haven't heard anything about that.
I was thinking about trying the Discover IT card and I heard about the citi card aswell but I've heard bad things about citi customer service so I was a bit wary and I felt that discover was a great option but it is not as widely accepted as visa unless I'm wrong?
I currently have one student loan ($3500/2012-2013 unsubsidized due 6mo after graduation).
I really appreciate the advice you guys have given me so far !
I think you should get two credit cards to boost your score into 700'S in like 6 months. You gotta build a stronger credit portfolio, i suggest Capital One Cash Rewards for Newcomers and BankAmericard Cash Rewards™ Credit Card for Students together. You fit perfectly, then when you build like a year of history with them, you can ask for a product change and by then you will be ready for a limit increase on both as well, and you can also add more prime cards if you need them. You can build good history and make some money while you are doing it...
Ok I'll use my home address (I probably should have from the start). You guys are right, I applied for the wrong one (I think I was just trying to get the $0 annual fee because I had seen student cards that had no annual fee as well so I thought it was the same concept ) so now I'm between the discover, citi, and bank america student cards:
BankAmericard Cash Rewards™ Credit Card for Students
Citi Forward for College Students
I'm looking at the data for each of these cards but they seem relatively similar..? I'm not sure which is the best :/
As this is my first go with credit cards and everything I'm not sure if I should take on more than one card at the moment.
Since I was just rejected for capone is it ok for me to apply for a new card so soon?
@Anonymous wrote:Ok I'll use my home address (I probably should have from the start). You guys are right, I applied for the wrong one (I think I was just trying to get the $0 annual fee because I had seen student cards that had no annual fee as well so I thought it was the same concept ) so now I'm between the discover, citi, and bank america student cards:
BankAmericard Cash Rewards™ Credit Card for Students
Citi Forward for College Students
I'm looking at the data for each of these cards but they seem relatively similar..? I'm not sure which is the best :/
As this is my first go with credit cards and everything I'm not sure if I should take on more than one card at the moment.
Since I was just rejected for capone is it ok for me to apply for a new card so soon?
Sure. No one else knows you were denied, they just see the inquiry. And as I said earlier, inquiries aren't your biggest enemy right now.
The cards above are very different in terms of rewards. But in all honesty, rewards also probably aren't the most important thing right now either. But we can help to recommend the proper card if you give us a little insight into your spending habits. Lots of restaurants? Lots of gas? Lots of grocery stores? Lots of Amazon?
And just to mention: I don't know much about student card approval criteria, but if you end up getting denied when you first apply for one of these, you should consider a secured card for building purposes. I hope you get a regular student card, but depending on your income (which is what by the way?) you may not qualify right away. Nothing to be ashamed of, just part of the building process.