topic Re: 19yo looking for advice for a first "real" card in Credit Cards

19yo looking for advice for a first "real" card

Anonymous — Fri, 28 Sep 2018 18:54:54 GMT

Hello all, first a disclaimer: I am dad, my credit is abysmal, I am focusing my energy on helping my son avoid the mistakes I have made.

Okay, my son is 19, he has a thin file (this is the first month a score has reported). He is self employed, legit LLC, current income is around $30k.

He has only one CL, a Capital One Secured card. SL $300 ($149 deposit) Automatic CLI $650 after 5 months.

no lates or baddies, 1 CL reporting, UTI ~10% he lets it report and PIF's the day each statement cuts.

Current Scores from myFico product

ex 742 (3) eq 721 (3) tu 726 (3)

-The first HP was a poor decision rooted in our collective ignorance about how credit works, at the time he had a $50k W2 job and obv no credit so he applied for Best Buy CC receiving the now obvious result of denial. good news is that it has been nearly 12 months.

-The second HP was from the Capital One Secured after we decided to start educating ourselves about credit.

-The 3rd HP was wishful thinking combined with more ignorance. We thought FAKO=FICO, he had his eye on a new piece of equipment for the business and his CK "score" was in the approval range for Sheffield Financial, they HP'd and we learned the meaning of FAKO the hard way when he called Sheffield to ask why he was denied, they told him he had no credit score! This was about 5 months after the Capital One HP.

Fast forward a couple of months, he has joined myFICO subscribing to the 3 bureau monthly product. He is shopping for a "real" CC. His initial goal is to get approved obviously, he is looking for cards with the best chance of a higher SL or short term CLI (aka AMEX 3x in 61 day option) I have no experience let alone expertise, I am deferring to the community for guidance.

He is prequalified for:

Discover Chrome

Discover CB

AMEX Cash Magnet

My gut tells me AMEX simply because of the possibility of 3x CLI in 61 days, and possibly again in 181days. But I am sure there are many more options we are unaware of, other bank cards, CU cards etc. Basically looking for the highest probability to add a 6k CL to his file within the next 6- 8 months.

His next step in his credit journey, approx 6-8 months from now, will be to buy that piece of equipment. Depending on his CL from his first "real" card he may forego another finance company HP and put it on the card. If not he will be crossing his fingers as he decides to finance it with Synchrony or Sheffield both of which work with the dealership.

I should not leave it unsaid that he has the cash for this purchase, but is interested in leveraging this large-ish purchase to thicken his file.

A longer term goal to shoot for is a new company truck, probably the end of the 2019 model year.

Re: 19yo looking for advice for a first "real" card

Anonymous — Fri, 28 Sep 2018 20:29:17 GMT

This looks "real" to me.

Re: 19yo looking for advice for a first "real" card

Anonymous — Fri, 28 Sep 2018 19:36:19 GMT

I get "message not found" when I click the link!

Re: 19yo looking for advice for a first "real" card

xaximus — Fri, 28 Sep 2018 20:10:26 GMT

I would definitely check pre-qual sites if you havn't already. Discover and Amex are good lenders especially with thin profiles. I would recommend to start with those and see what you can get.

Re: 19yo looking for advice for a first "real" card

Anonymous — Fri, 28 Sep 2018 20:32:05 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I get "message not found" when I click the link!

That's odd. I re-entered the link. It's here also -- tale of a 19 year old got a 24K SL. Seemed apropos.

Re: 19yo looking for advice for a first "real" card

pinkandgrey — Fri, 28 Sep 2018 20:54:17 GMT

Wow congrats to your son for getting a successful business off the ground. $30k! That's awesome. Honestly I would shoot for the Discover card. That was the second card I ever got and I had only about 6 months of credit history. Discover tends to be friendly to credit newbies. Good luck!

Re: 19yo looking for advice for a first "real" card

Anonymous — Fri, 28 Sep 2018 22:18:11 GMT

So happy and proud you guys are educating yourselves regarding credit! I myself flew to America when I was 18. So no credit history at all. My 1st CC was Cap One Platinum. 2nd is Citi Dividend for students. I could go on and on about mine and how I have 10 cards at age 23 but I suggest Amex. I have the BCE. 3X CLI happened to me too and it was SP as everybody knows. Discover is generous with CLI even only 3 months within each other.

More tips as you probably know, don't get the cards with AF.

I'm practical so I don't pay for any credit monitoring and just check the credit cards info.

CONE has score and report - Vantage 3.0 Transunion

Citi has score - Equifax

Discover score - Transunion Fico 8

BOA score - Transunion Fico 8

AMEX score - Experian

Chase score and report - same as CONE

Lowe's score - Transunion Fico 8

Good luck!!

Re: 19yo looking for advice for a first "real" card

Anonymous — Sat, 29 Sep 2018 12:23:08 GMT

Another poster had a similar question. Below is the link to my reply(if I'm linking this correctly) if not, it's reply number 8.

https://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Credit-Cards/CC-app-for-child/m-p/5369854/highlight/true#M1592542

Re: 19yo looking for advice for a first "real" card

Anonymous — Sat, 29 Sep 2018 22:04:37 GMT

@xaximus wrote:
I would definitely check pre-qual sites if you havn't already. Discover and Amex are good lenders especially with thin profiles. I would recommend to start with those and see what you can get.

Thanks for the reply xaximus, given his current scores, file and goals do you see any downside to him apping for both AMEX and Discover?

Re: 19yo looking for advice for a first "real" card

Anonymous — Sat, 29 Sep 2018 22:06:56 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
I get "message not found" when I click the link!
That's odd. I re-entered the link. It's here also -- tale of a 19 year old got a 24K SL. Seemed apropos.

Thanks for the reply, thats a great story. Hopefully in 9 months his scores are similar to those in the link and he follows a similar path. Joining NFCU is officially on the to-do list, my father is a veteran I am going to get him to join so we qualify for membership!

Re: 19yo looking for advice for a first "real" card

Anonymous — Sat, 29 Sep 2018 22:08:14 GMT

@pinkandgrey wrote:
Wow congrats to your son for getting a successful business off the ground. $30k! That's awesome. Honestly I would shoot for the Discover card. That was the second card I ever got and I had only about 6 months of credit history. Discover tends to be friendly to credit newbies. Good luck!

Thanks for your reply, do you see any downside (other than a 2nd HP) to him apping for both the Discover and AMEX simultaneously?

Re: 19yo looking for advice for a first "real" card

Anonymous — Sat, 29 Sep 2018 22:11:17 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
So happy and proud you guys are educating yourselves regarding credit! I myself flew to America when I was 18. So no credit history at all. My 1st CC was Cap One Platinum. 2nd is Citi Dividend for students. I could go on and on about mine and how I have 10 cards at age 23 but I suggest Amex. I have the BCE. 3X CLI happened to me too and it was SP as everybody knows. Discover is generous with CLI even only 3 months within each other.
More tips as you probably know, don't get the cards with AF.
I'm practical so I don't pay for any credit monitoring and just check the credit cards info.

CONE has score and report - Vantage 3.0 Transunion
Citi has score - Equifax
Discover score - Transunion Fico 8
BOA score - Transunion Fico 8
AMEX score - Experian
Chase score and report - same as CONE
Lowe's score - Transunion Fico 8

Good luck!!

This is really good advice, thanks for your reply. A good goal would be to have cards repoting all 3 scores in the stable. Thanks! Since you have both Discover and AMEX in your wallet, do you see any downside to him apping for both at the same time?

Re: 19yo looking for advice for a first "real" card

Anonymous — Sat, 29 Sep 2018 22:14:37 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Another poster had a similar question. Below is the link to my reply(if I'm linking this correctly) if not, it's reply number 8.

https://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Credit-Cards/CC-app-for-child/m-p/5369854/highlight/true#M1592542

Thanks for your reply. Unfortunately he isnt a student, but those are good DP's and I assume they would be pretty similar to a non student card with a similar file/history.

Re: 19yo looking for advice for a first "real" card

Anonymous — Mon, 01 Oct 2018 19:41:09 GMT

Well he apped for preapproved Discover IT and AMEX Cash Magnet simultaneously today. The Discover IT was flat out denied, the AMEX was approved for 1k! I am shocked by the Disco denial, is there a recon possibility? Should he app Discover IT Secured to take advantage of the HP he sustained?

Re: 19yo looking for advice for a first "real" card

shiftomnimega — Mon, 01 Oct 2018 21:06:20 GMT

I am surprised Discover didn't approve him. If it were me, I would be interested in reading the rejection letter they'll mail. I'm coaching my girlfriend in credit and went with the Discover Chrome Secured to start her off. We will look to get her converted between 6 to 12 months. My goal for her is to build a relationship with Chase for the trifecta. I figure once she gets past all that, then she won't need to worry about 5/24 and can go nuts apping everywhere else.

I like the NFCU strategy as mentioned before as they have also extended me incredibly generous lines. Oddly, when they approved the last one for 25k, several of my other creditors increased my CL with them. This might be a way to make your son's file more attractive.

There is a credit blogger who opined that one's first AMEX should be the Platinum. That's because only folks without a relationship with AMEX get offered the incredibly generous 100k SUB. AMEX has been incredibly good to me and currently is my oldest account. I have never been targeted with that 100k SUB and only get the standard 60k offers.

Re: 19yo looking for advice for a first "real" card

JustBPatient — Mon, 01 Oct 2018 21:06:22 GMT

You might as well recon, but in the meantime, I would use the heck out of that AMEX, get the 3Xcli hopefully in 61 days, and reapply for DCVR in 6 months.

Re: 19yo looking for advice for a first "real" card

Anonymous — Tue, 02 Oct 2018 14:59:20 GMT

I am not sure regarding applying at the same time for Discover and AMEX. I know AMEX pulls EX and Discover pulls TU. Both will report to Credit Bureau so if he has high scores, I'd say you have nothing to lose except a few points in score. AMEX will grom 3X after 61st day for sure.

Re: 19yo looking for advice for a first "real" card

Anonymous — Sat, 16 Mar 2019 21:48:20 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
I get "message not found" when I click the link!
That's odd. I re-entered the link. It's here also -- tale of a 19 year old got a 24K SL. Seemed apropos.
Thanks for the reply, thats a great story. Hopefully in 9 months his scores are similar to those in the link and he follows a similar path. Joining NFCU is officially on the to-do list, my father is a veteran I am going to get him to join so we qualify for membership!

***Update: While it hasnt been 6 months, my sons scores are all over 750+, he used the blueprint provided in the story you linked and got approved for a $15k SL with Navy Federal. I posted his DP's in the thread you linked. Thanks for the great timely advice, we appreciate it!