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Creditaddict wrote:
citi Student needed further processing
Capital One Declined
Household offered Secured.
REALLY AMEX!!!
I'm surprised too!!!!!!!
My son applied for Capital One, $19 a year fee. Approved.
Nearly a year later, he applied for a second Capital One, no fee. Approved.
Amex approached him twice and offered him "preapproved" offers of credit (even though he had opted out in the spring). Approved for one card. Did not respond to the other Amex offer.
He is nearing his 2 year credit mark. When he gets to the 2 yr mark, he will ask Capital One for a product change. No more fees.
Takes time.
This is the best advice.
@score_building wrote:
if i had to start over, i'd start with a CU cc >>> then app major bank after about 6mos - 1year.
My Wife started with Macy's... she had no score... One year later, that $100 Macy's card is $2k and she has 700+ Ficos... She did apply in store.
She skipped right past the sub-prime stuff by starting with Macys.
I am 34 years old, single, have a decent income (45K/yr), and until last month I never had a loan in my life except for one student loan. I started looking into the possibility of buying a home and found that I need to get some credit cards in order to build my credit before anyone will approve me for a mortgage. I ran my FICO scores and found I had 700+ scores (good scores, right?). Additionally, my student loan showed all on time payments and there was nothing bad on my report... So, I thought, getting a couple credit cards shouldn't be a problem.
I walked into my bank and applied for a card. I was rejected due to a "thin" credit history. I started reading these MyFICO forums and found that when you are rejected for a card, you can call the underwriting department of the financial institution that denied you and request "reconsideration". I found a phone number that went directly to the underwriting department of my bank on one of the postings on MyFICO, called ithe number, told the underwriter my story, and immediately got approved for the card.
Moral of the story: IMO, a thin credit history means you will likely be rejected for credit. BUT, there is something you can do about it.Don't give up, call any lending institution that denies you and plead your case. If you are being rejected because you have been responsible you whole life and have not taken out any loans, you should be able to get a credit card with a small limit.
P.S.
My bank is Chase (formerly Washington Mutual)
Good numbers here: http://ficoforums.myfico.com/fico/board/message?board.id=creditcard&thread.id=136936
When I had no credit history, I applied for an Amex For Students, a Citibank MC, Discover and two MC's from small-time banks. All applications were approved. My CL was about $500 on each card. Within a year, all CL's had been raised to ~1000 dollars.
I closed all but Discover and Citi MC within a few years.
So ask your friend to try for an Amex. Good luck to him!
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TU (10/2009): 813
EQ (10/2009): 804
EX (10/2009): 799
@Anonymous wrote:
I've noticed that credit card companies love to approve students for cards. I had tons of offers coming in the mail when I was in college, but I never took advantage of them because I didn't feel I needed a credit card. Once I graduated, although my income went up and nothing negative had been added to my credit report, the offers stopped coming in... I find it all somewhat strage, but then again, I find a lot of the things credit card companies do kinda strange...
This isn't strange at all.... credit card companies assume that most students' parents will help pay off any debt racked up on their cards, especially when the nasty collectors start calling....
Students should apply and get a card (w/ no AF, if poss) that they use to buy pizza every few months, then PIF it.... great way to build up credit history.