Barclay with Apple Denied and 2nd recon denied. Any advise?

[Anonymous]

Hello everyone,

Until now, I was an occational lurker but I happened upon a post about recons, which seriously peeked my interest. I made some poor choices regarding my credit due to sheer ingnorance of how credit works. So here I am now, trying to rebuild with no success. 

With my newfound knowledge, I applied for the Barclay with Apple Rewards card. I was denied, which I expected, but still had hope because of the new infomation I had acquired. Well those hopes were shot down quickly when I called for a recon and was denied. But I still had a little faith left, so I called back a couple hours later only to be denied again. My faith is literally the size of a mustard seed at this point. I am answering the questions honestly of course but the reps still won't budge. However, I feel that they are looking for me to say something different in regards to their concerns (which varied between the two reps btw). 

Their concerns(Rep 1 & 2):

Very limited credit history (after messing up when I was younger, I refused to apply for any more credit cards until I gained more knowledge about them.)

BoA CC CO(I was in the hospital after a Lupus flare and once I recovered, I called to make a payment only to find out that it was sent to collections that same day. I paid the debt off immediately)

Rep #2 (in addition to above):

Verizon collection ($1,500 when asked what happened, I told the rep about me opening up this account for someone who messed me over but was working on paying debt off)

Inquiries (was looking for the best rates on an autoloan, but was once again ignorant to the amount of lenders each dealership used)

Any advise or should I stow away what little faith I have left for another option, which I am aware are very limited. 

[Anonymous]

My guess is that you'd be better off with secured card for now. In case you're able to put in good amount of money ($1000 or above) for the secured card, BoA or Primor (First Choice Bank) cards are good bets.

When compared to low limit, high fees unsecured cards which do no good to you rather than sucking your money off, secured cards are always better...

[crrredit]

I wouldn't let the recon denial reduce your faith in your ability to rebuild. We can learn from denials as much as we can learn from each other here on this board. It's all knowledge, and knowledge is power. I learned that I couldn't get a prime card, or even a second-tier card. But I learned about secured cards here, and how to use them. I learned how to address negative items on my report, what I could do something about and what I just had to accept for now. Six months later, I qualified for a major bank unsecured card and a 0.9% auto loan. Still have a long way to go, but I'm still learning from these boards. for example, my score was hurt by the fact I didn't have an installment loan. Now that I have one, because it just reported before even my first scheduled payment, I lost points because my loan balance is too high. It would be easy to get down about that, but I've learned what to expect, and I know how this loan is going to help me moving forward. I learned here about score simulators that show me how much this loan can actually help, so I have realistic expectations and hope moving forward.

And, no matter where we are in our rebuilding efforts, there's somebody here who is just ahead of us in the process giving great info and advice.

[Anonymous]

Thank you for the advise, this seems to be the most realistic approach. It was worth the learning experience and knowledge gained.

[Anonymous]

You are absolutely right, I didn't walk away completely empty-handed. I did gain knowledge and experience in requesting recons in the future. I would greatly appreciating you sharing your knowledge or pointing my to some info on taking care of what is on my report now, how to rebuild, and what to expect. Had I only been aware of this awesome community earlier, I'd be so far ahead but I also understand that timing is everything. Thanks for the encouraging words.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Hello everyone,

Until now, I was an occational lurker but I happened upon a post about recons, which seriously peeked my interest. I made some poor choices regarding my credit due to sheer ingnorance of how credit works. So here I am now, trying to rebuild with no success. 

With my newfound knowledge, I applied for the Barclay with Apple Rewards card. I was denied, which I expected, but still had hope because of the new infomation I had acquired. Well those hopes were shot down quickly when I called for a recon and was denied. But I still had a little faith left, so I called back a couple hours later only to be denied again. My faith is literally the size of a mustard seed at this point. I am answering the questions honestly of course but the reps still won't budge. However, I feel that they are looking for me to say something different in regards to their concerns (which varied between the two reps btw). 

Their concerns(Rep 1 & 2):

Very limited credit history (after messing up when I was younger, I refused to apply for any more credit cards until I gained more knowledge about them.)

BoA CC CO(I was in the hospital after a Lupus flare and once I recovered, I called to make a payment only to find out that it was sent to collections that same day. I paid the debt off immediately)

Rep #2 (in addition to above):

Verizon collection ($1,500 when asked what happened, I told the rep about me opening up this account for someone who messed me over but was working on paying debt off)

Inquiries (was looking for the best rates on an autoloan, but was once again ignorant to the amount of lenders each dealership used)

Any advise or should I stow away what little faith I have left for another option, which I am aware are very limited. 

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I would suggest Cap One before Barclays. My understanding is that Barclays likes to see a year or so of recent CC payment history and are rather CO sensitive. Cap One is much more forgiving. Try the prequal first and see what they say.

[TRC_WA]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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I would suggest Cap One before Barclays. My understanding is that Barclays likes to see a year or so of recent CC payment history and are rather CO sensitive. Cap One is much more forgiving. Try the prequal first and see what they say.

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Agreed...

I started with CapOne in May 2013 and August 2013.  I got a Barclays Apple in Sept 2013.  I got a Barclays Sallie Mae in December 2014.

Barclays is big on history... and history with them carries a lot more weight.

I'd go after CapOne now... Barclays Apple in 6 months.  It's a good card to get in the door with Barclays...