Credit Card...Rebuilding

[Sobo]

I posted a little over a week ago maybe....or not even a week ago....about my mother and a credit card etc. Anyway....my sister who has excellent credit is going to add me as an AU on her credit card to see if I get the bump. I applied for Credit One and was declined. I even looked into personal student loans and cannot get without a cosigner. My FAKO is 690 - TU is 667 and Ex is 627.

Do I have to go get a secured card? How do those even work? Is that what I should do? I have cut back expenses tremendously and will be applying those savings to my debt to pay the card down where my mother is on, then hopefully as my score bumps, I can do a balance transfer and remove myself from the situation.

Any help is appreciated.

[llecs]

Do you have any CCs? Do you have any open credit accounts?

Some creditors do offer secured CCs. Whatever you put down in security, like $200, $500, $1000, etc., will usually be your credit limit. They'll often hold the funds in a CD or savings account they control and in turn, issue you  a new CC with that amount you put down as a limit. As it gets used it'll report like any other CC. Once you pay it off and decide to close it, then the creditor will return your money, often with a little interest.

[p-]

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@llecs wrote:

Do you have any CCs? Do you have any open credit accounts?

Some creditors do offer secured CCs. Whatever you put down in security, like $200, $500, $1000, etc., will usually be your credit limit. They'll often hold the funds in a CD or savings account they control and in turn, issue you  a new CC with that amount you put down as a limit. As it gets used it'll report like any other CC. Once you pay it off and decide to close it, then the creditor will return your money, often with a little interest. 

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+1

The AU might help... but you should avoid subprime lenders like credit one if you can.  Try going in person to a local credit union and talking to someone there.  Often they offer secured cards connected to cd's that do not show up as secured on your CR.

Or, once the AU is reporting you could app with Capital One.  They might put you in a subprime product, i.e. annual fee, but their executive office has been pretty good about transitioning you to a prime card once your file is improved.  If you try and are denied, make sure you recon.