No credit card required
Browse credit cards from a variety of issuers to see if there's a better card for you.
So, I am rebuilding. Myfico scores are horrible with TU at 543 and EQ at 590. My husbands are around the same. I app'ed for the Cap1 Plat card last week and was approved for 300. Ill take it, since no one else will touch me. This is an unsecured card. My husband has no open lines of credit and several collections with only one positive closed account. Bad events a few years ago had us paying for everything in cash except my car loan.
Anyways, I added him as an AU to my card, to just get SOMETHING on his report. Sure hope Cap1 reports for AUs. So I decided, if they gave me one, they might give him one. His scores are similar to mine. Did the online app and got the dreaded 7-10 day message. So I used the chat feature to see if they would tell me why. They would not and offered him the secured card. Which I would have done, but they couldnt do it with the recent apps hard pull...... ???? what???? The chat rep had me do the pre-approval link, which I told him would not work bc my husband is opted out. And for clarification, the rep was chatting with "my husband".
Is this standard? Get denied for one card, then have to re-app for a different card with another set of hard pulls? Why when they have the app right there in front of them......
Now, I am not sure what I should do. He really needs some open LOC on his report besides my little 300 bucks. <-- no mistake, I am very thrilled about this tiny limit card.
well congrats on your unsecured card!
I'm not sure how the Executive Office treats applications, but it might be worth giving them an email.
If you're worried about inquiries and just want some more credit lines you might try the shopping cart trick with jcrew. I know two people that have gotten one this week.
Just do a forum or google search for shopping cart trick and Capital CEO / Executive Office email for more information.
Good luck!
If I were in your shoes this is what I would do:
I'd add him as a joint owner of the card so that it reports to both your reports. Go for the secured card for him, and then add you as a joint owner. Now yall both have open lines and only paying 1 AF for both lines on both reports.
Its very good that you've found these forums recently and you're working on rebuilding your credit. If someone hasn't welcomed you yet, i say WELCOME! I think that you're in the early stages right now and I don't know how accurate this is but I think most people have significant imrpovements on their credit in 1-2 years if they are aggresively sending out DV, PFD, GW letters. With that being said, I don't think you should worry about having too many INQs right now. INQs does affect your credit yes, but until you get those collections and other bad things off your report, the INQs wont be a big factor.
Also, I mentioned this in an earlier post. Good thing with secured cards is that you can increase your limit with deposits. This will be a big help when you're in a better position. Imagine having a $3000 line with bad credit. Yes I have that much tied up, but it took a year to do it. But it helps with my utilization, and when I'm ready for prime cards, it will show a $3000 line opened for 2 years.
Hope this helps.
@beanie7132 wrote:So, I am rebuilding. Myfico scores are horrible with TU at 543 and EQ at 590. My husbands are around the same. I app'ed for the Cap1 Plat card last week and was approved for 300. Ill take it, since no one else will touch me. This is an unsecured card. My husband has no open lines of credit and several collections with only one positive closed account. Bad events a few years ago had us paying for everything in cash except my car loan.
Anyways, I added him as an AU to my card, to just get SOMETHING on his report. Sure hope Cap1 reports for AUs. So I decided, if they gave me one, they might give him one. His scores are similar to mine. Did the online app and got the dreaded 7-10 day message. So I used the chat feature to see if they would tell me why. They would not and offered him the secured card. Which I would have done, but they couldnt do it with the recent apps hard pull...... ???? what???? The chat rep had me do the pre-approval link, which I told him would not work bc my husband is opted out. And for clarification, the rep was chatting with "my husband".
Is this standard? Get denied for one card, then have to re-app for a different card with another set of hard pulls? Why when they have the app right there in front of them......
Now, I am not sure what I should do. He really needs some open LOC on his report besides my little 300 bucks. <-- no mistake, I am very thrilled about this tiny limit card.
Capital One does report AU's so that was a good move. They don't offer Joint accounts anymore, so AU is best you can do.
Your husband should wait for the 7 to 10 day reply, he may be approved. If not, then I suggest go for the secured card as the terms are resonable. At this stage of your credit building, you should not worry about inquiries, utilization or your score. You both need to get a few years of solid payment history behind you.
Thank you all for your replies. Everything makes sense and I will take Wolfs advice and just not worry about the inquires at this stage in rebuilding. We have a long way to go, so whats a few more inquires going to hurt..? Are there any secured cards that turn unsecured in the future? I asked Cap1 chat that last night and was told that their secured card never turns unsecured. So are there others, better ones that anyone knows of?
@SamsungHDTV wrote:If I were in your shoes this is what I would do:
I'd add him as a joint owner of the card so that it reports to both your reports. Go for the secured card for him, and then add you as a joint owner. Now yall both have open lines and only paying 1 AF for both lines on both reports.
Its very good that you've found these forums recently and you're working on rebuilding your credit. If someone hasn't welcomed you yet, i say WELCOME! I think that you're in the early stages right now and I don't know how accurate this is but I think most people have significant imrpovements on their credit in 1-2 years if they are aggresively sending out DV, PFD, GW letters. With that being said, I don't think you should worry about having too many INQs right now. INQs does affect your credit yes, but until you get those collections and other bad things off your report, the INQs wont be a big factor.
Also, I mentioned this in an earlier post. Good thing with secured cards is that you can increase your limit with deposits. This will be a big help when you're in a better position. Imagine having a $3000 line with bad credit. Yes I have that much tied up, but it took a year to do it. But it helps with my utilization, and when I'm ready for prime cards, it will show a $3000 line opened for 2 years.
Hope this helps.
Sansumg - this is my plan Reading my mind I see.
I am just now starting to get aggresive. But I am the worst at record keeping, so I am only working 2-3 accounts at a time.
Yes capone reports AU's and frequently they will send out pre-selected letters to them so he should see one in 2-3 months if the collections aren't too bad. Work on sending offers to PFD, (pay for delete) to get them removed from your credit file, paying them only helps for manual reviews and morgages, other wise paying them doesn't help your score and GW (good will) letters to remove any late payments from loans.
@jamesdwi wrote:Yes capone reports AU's and frequently they will send out pre-selected letters to them so he should see one in 2-3 months if the collections aren't too bad. Work on sending offers to PFD, (pay for delete) to get them removed from your credit file, paying them only helps for manual reviews and morgages, other wise paying them doesn't help your score and GW (good will) letters to remove any late payments from loans.
Thanks! Yes, we will tackle his report after tackling mine. He has a medical collection of 17K on his that we are waiting for it to age and get out of SOL before waking a sleeping giant as we cant afford a judgement.
I did contact BOA to ask about thier secured card. With Capital One never moving theirs over to unsecured, I wanted to check out other options. BOA said they do convert theirs, but info is not reported to the AUs credit reports. So I may suck it up and have him get the Cap1 secured card, if he can get approved. Secured card is better than no card, and adding myself to his as AU would allow reporting to my credit reports - benefiting me as well.
Thank you all for your help and suggestions!