The sole purpose of this post is to help others with their application decisions going forward. Be aware that everyone's credit report is different, but if you fall into the category of having no previous revolving tradelines, this story may assist you.
My friend asked me to help him find a credit card since I talk about them nonstop. He's a 24 year old full-time graduate student, who also happens to work full-time. The first step was to have him pull all of his credit reports to see what is on there. What we found is a car loan opened in December of 2011, student loans opened in September of 2011, and two inquiries on each report from various car applications from June 2011 and December 2011. He went car shopping twice, but didn't pull the trigger until December. His student loans are in deferment, but payment history on his car loan is perfect. No baddies.
We did not pull his credit scores, since I don't think they necessarily tell you much about a thin file. We checked pretty much every pre-approval site you could think of and found NOTHING!
So after weighing the options for a few days, and plenty of research on this site, we decided that the Discover IT would be a good card for his spending. There have been several approval threads from thin files. He decided against the Student card because of the lack of 0% deal.
He applied online and listed income from his 2012 tax return ($27k), listed full time worker as employment, and put his rent ($400 since he has multiple roommates). The website asked for verification of identity, so he scanned in a picture of his drivers license, and then they asked him to call a credit analyst. He called, and after a few questions about what was on his report (good thing we printed them out!) he was approved for $5,500!!! Whole process took 15 minutes.
Not sure which bureau(s) they pulled, but I would say this is a pretty great achievement for someone with no prior credit cards. Good luck to the rest of you!
TL;DR
24 grad student, $27k income
1 auto loan, 1 student loan, 2 inquiries (all over 12 months), no credit cards, no baddies on all reports
Applied Discover IT - approved for $5,500 CL
My friend asked me to help him find a credit card since I talk about them nonstop. He's a 24 year old full-time graduate student, who also happens to work full-time. The first step was to have him pull all of his credit reports to see what is on there. What we found is a car loan opened in December of 2011, student loans opened in September of 2011, and two inquiries on each report from various car applications from June 2011 and December 2011. He went car shopping twice, but didn't pull the trigger until December. His student loans are in deferment, but payment history on his car loan is perfect. No baddies.
We did not pull his credit scores, since I don't think they necessarily tell you much about a thin file. We checked pretty much every pre-approval site you could think of and found NOTHING!
So after weighing the options for a few days, and plenty of research on this site, we decided that the Discover IT would be a good card for his spending. There have been several approval threads from thin files. He decided against the Student card because of the lack of 0% deal.
He applied online and listed income from his 2012 tax return ($27k), listed full time worker as employment, and put his rent ($400 since he has multiple roommates). The website asked for verification of identity, so he scanned in a picture of his drivers license, and then they asked him to call a credit analyst. He called, and after a few questions about what was on his report (good thing we printed them out!) he was approved for $5,500!!! Whole process took 15 minutes.
Not sure which bureau(s) they pulled, but I would say this is a pretty great achievement for someone with no prior credit cards. Good luck to the rest of you!
TL;DR
24 grad student, $27k income
1 auto loan, 1 student loan, 2 inquiries (all over 12 months), no credit cards, no baddies on all reports
Applied Discover IT - approved for $5,500 CL
Nice thing you have done for your friend. First credit card pretty tough on most case.
Starting Score: 560
As nicholas said, the first credit card is probably the hardest and it is made that much harder with baddies. Your daughter should be ready to take a few inquiries to get her first card, and a secured card may be the easiest route. My buddy and I considered the secured route, but given his all positive history, we decided to give the Discover and if denied a few other unsecured cards a try before going the secured route.
Bes of luck!
Bes of luck!
Wonderful story! Congrats to your friend
Ok - here's an update just because I love sharing information for the benefits of others.
My buddy texted me and told me he received the Discover card today. He commented on the packaging and card design as it seems everyone does. The approval letter included in the package told him he got the 14 months at 0% interest with a rate of 19.99% after that. It also included his FICO from Equifax (looks like that was the only report they pulled) and he was very excited with his 681 FICO. I told him that a few months with this card and that will rocket up over 700 most likely.
So there you go - feel free to ask questions if you have any!
My buddy texted me and told me he received the Discover card today. He commented on the packaging and card design as it seems everyone does. The approval letter included in the package told him he got the 14 months at 0% interest with a rate of 19.99% after that. It also included his FICO from Equifax (looks like that was the only report they pulled) and he was very excited with his 681 FICO. I told him that a few months with this card and that will rocket up over 700 most likely.
So there you go - feel free to ask questions if you have any!