Apparently I have NO CREDIT SCORE

[Anonymous]

Hello all, this is my very first post.

To make a long story short, I used to live in the US and had a Chase Visa Card. I then moved overseas to Europe and the bank was unable to send me anything overseas resulting in me not being able to pay bills, thus resulting in a company buying my debt and it turned into a whole mess. This all happened when I was 18-19. I made a trip back to NY JUST to pay this debt.

I am now 26 years old, my company is relocated to NY and so am I. My bank acccount @ Chase was closed due to inactivity.  I absolutely need a US account in order to transfer funds from CHF to USD so I tried to open an online account with Capital One and at the end of the process, I received the following message.

Thanks for your interest in 360 Checking. As you know 360 Checking requires a credit check to determine your eligibility for the account.

Unfortunately, you're unable to complete the account opening process for the reason(s) listed below:

• You have no credit score reported

How is this possible? I clearly had a Chase Visa Card at one point and even though this was about 7-8 years ago & the experience went south, I should still have some sort of credit score shouldn't I? I don't expect it to be good however I do expect to have something!!

I've tried contacting the 3 major report companies but trying to do so from Europe is nearly impossible.

Any advice, pointers are greatly appreciated.

[Anonymous]

Since the account was likely charged off and thus became a bad entry, it fell off your files after 7 years. That means your files are now empty.

[Strogen]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Hello all, this is my very first post.

To make a long story short, I used to live in the US and had a Chase Visa Card. I then moved overseas to Europe and the bank was unable to send me anything overseas resulting in me not being able to pay bills, thus resulting in a company buying my debt and it turned into a whole mess. This all happened when I was 18-19. I made a trip back to NY JUST to pay this debt.

@I am now 26 years old, my company is relocated to NY and so am I. My bank acccount @ Chase was closed due to inactivity.  I absolutely need a US account in order to transfer funds from CHF to USD so I tried to open an online account with Capital One and at the end of the process, I received the following message.

Thanks for your interest in 360 Checking. As you know 360 Checking requires a credit check to determine your eligibility for the account.

Unfortunately, you're unable to complete the account opening process for the reason(s) listed below:

• You have no credit score reported

How is this possible? I clearly had a Chase Visa Card at one point and even though this was about 7-8 years ago & the experience went south, I should still have some sort of credit score shouldn't I? I don't expect it to be good however I do expect to have something!!

I've tried contacting the 3 major report companies but trying to do so from Europe is nearly impossible.

Any advice, pointers are greatly appreciated.

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Well thats what happens when you dont take care of your finances before you go moving somewhere. 

Just get a basic checking account at a local bank or something. 

[Anonymous]

You need 6 months of reported credit history to get a credit score and at least one open credit account (installment loan, credit card, mortgage, etc). If all your accounts are closed, you won't have a credit score. You need one open account AND 6 months of reported history. Closed accounts stay on your credit report for 10 years and most derogs fall off your report in 7-10 years (BKs etc in 7). 

If you have no credit history, your first step should be to get a secured credit card. Use it for 6 months and get a credit score. Then look into graduating the card to an unsecured one or get an unsecured card and look into getting other forms of credit (installment loans, etc if you need them). Since it has been 7-8 years since your earlier issues most derogs are probably off you report by now (some like judgments might still be on especially if they were renewed). 

Good luck!

[Anonymous]

You sure are quick to jump to conclusions with your unfounded assummptions.

FYI before moving to Europe I made sure sure to call Chase and told them to send me mail overseas. It's only months later I call them back and found out that they don't send mail outside the United States. Common America!!

[Revelate]

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@Anonymous wrote:

You sure are quick to jump to conclusions with your unfounded assummptions.

FYI before moving to Europe I made sure sure to call Chase and told them to send me mail overseas. It's only months later I call them back and found out that they don't send mail outside the United States. Common America!!

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Apply for one of the national brick and mortar banks.  They don't typically check credit, only chexsystems or similar.  Didn't know Cap 360 did but that's a comparitively new product, and CU's I know will mostly pull credit as well though they might not deny you for not having any.

Do that then get a secured card or two from somebody for minimal amounts and let the pretty OK's rack up; BOFA's not an ideal bank for me personally but could kill two birds with one stone on that one, checking account and best secured card available.

[takeshi74]

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@Anonymous wrote:

You sure are quick to jump to conclusions with your unfounded assummptions.

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Your own OP jumps to conclusions based on unfounded assumptions but that's neither here nor there.  As stated above, you need 6 months of recent history for a score.  If you haven't maintained active credit accounts in good standing then you could easily find yourself without a score after 7 years as negative accounts are typically excluded at the 7 year mark.

You have two choices at this point that have already been pointed out.  You can open an account that doesn't require a credit check and/or reestablish your credit.

[AndySoCal]

Did you obtain any credit while living outside the US ?  If so see if Capital One can use this credit explain why.

[Anonymous]

I do not believe Capital One will consider foreign credit history, and here's why:

I was a CapOne cardholder in Canada for seven or eight years. I used their card as my primary card, I had a limit in the range of $20,000 CDN, regularly charged about $2000/month on the card, and paid my balance off every single month without fail. In other words, I was a pretty good Capital One customer. In Canada.

So when I moved to the US I naturally called Capital One and asked them to do what Amex did, issue me a US based card based on my Canadian credit history. They refused. They were only willing to pull a US credit history (of which I have very little) and they were not willing to consider my history as a Capital One cardholder. At all.

Yes, you heard that right -- it didn't matter to Capital One US that I had been a good Capital One Canada customer for most of the last decade.They don't care. So, if they won't even consider my history with them as their own damned customer, I highly doubt they are going to consider credit history from another company.

Oh, and yes they absolutely are the same company because I tried workign this from both the Canadian and the US 800 numbers for Capital One. The Canadian side helpfully did an internal transfer to their US collegues who told me my history as a Capital One customer in Canada was irrelevant to a US application.

[AndySoCal]

I cannot believe any company can be that stupid but live and learn.  If I understand correctly AMEX gave you / updated your account so that it is US based ?  If so did they transfer the credit history with it?  If borh steps have been completed and the credit bureau is updated with it you should have a score.  See if you can find or if some one can PM you the phoine number of the Capitol One executive office and explain what has happened and give them an earful ( there is another term but I cannot use it here).