topic Re: College Student, sorta lost in Credit Cards

College Student, sorta lost

charleeislegend — Sat, 21 Jul 2012 10:06:54 GMT

So I'm a 22 year old sophomore in college. (took a couple years off with a full time job), had no idea about credit and recently decided to build it (for my future auto loans etc). A couple months ago I applied at my local credit union for a credit card (for some reason I thought creditors were dying to give out credit cards) and learned the hard way its not so easy to get a credit card. So I instead got a AU account on my sister's True Earnings AMEX. Its been a month since I've had it and felt I needed another card as since its my sister's AMEX, im not allowed to use it for my own expenses. My question is if I'm just on my sister's AMEX as an AU, is that enough to raise my credit a substantial level? Anyways I applied for the citi dividend student card and got the 7-10 day notice (should i call them for an update?), and am thinking of applying for the discover open road card (with a cosign if i have to). Just wanted you guy's input to see if I'm going the right direction as I already learned so much from these forums!

Re: College Student, sorta lost

crunching_numbers — Sat, 21 Jul 2012 12:23:58 GMT

Welcome to the myFICO boards!

It takes a minimum of 6 months to get a FICO score. Your best cards at this point will be student cards or student versions of cards, such as the Discover More for Students. Wait for other responses of more experienced myFICO members before apply for anything else. There are students in exactly your situation who will give you solid advice on what to apply for, and more importantly what NOT to apply for. I am sure someone will post shortly with solid advice for you.

Re: College Student, sorta lost

jsickz32 — Sat, 21 Jul 2012 12:37:20 GMT

I also got the 7-10 days notice from citi when i applied for the foward. I called them everyday for 5 days but they kept telling me i had to wait, then 13 days later they sent me a "youve been approved" email. Try applying for a student card first

Re: College Student, sorta lost

webhopper — Sat, 21 Jul 2012 13:27:42 GMT

I would look at the student discover, or amex zync. I don't know if the AU accout will help though. Again wait for other students to post!

Re: College Student, sorta lost

jsucool76 — Sat, 21 Jul 2012 15:36:57 GMT

I was in the same situation when I turned 18 and was in college. I applied for all the student cards, citi forward student, the citi dividend student, discover more student, discover open road student (the two discovers I actually got mail offers for) and was denied for all of them. I learned the hard way you need credit to build credit, like 9 inquiries later. haha.

If you have no luck with citi, I would try one of the discover student cards, and if you can't get that, you need to lower your sights and probably aim for one of the Cap1 student cards, or, do what I did the other day. I opened a bank account with wells fargo ($100 minimum deposit) and they instantly pre-approved me for their student card, and was accepted. lol. The guy at the bank told me as long as you open an account, you can pretty much get it.

Re: College Student, sorta lost

Anonymous — Sat, 21 Jul 2012 17:03:54 GMT

I'm a student as well and my income is fairly low. I got denied for the Discover More (Student) card because my income was below $14,000, so keep that in mind. My first credit card was from Wells Fargo since I had a checking account there for some time, and their minimum for the student credit card was much, much lower; I suspect this is the same case for Citi. Credit is all about getting your foot in the door -- now that I had history, I was instantly approved for the Zync months later.

Re: College Student, sorta lost

jsucool76 — Sat, 21 Jul 2012 17:13:41 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I'm a student as well and my income is fairly low. I got denied for the Discover More (Student) card because my income was below $14,000, so keep that in mind. My first credit card was from Wells Fargo since I had a checking account there for some time, and their minimum for the student credit card was much, much lower; I suspect this is the same case for Citi. Credit is all about getting your foot in the door -- now that I had history, I was instantly approved for the Zync months later.

The minimum income for the wells student card is $3,000, anything lower than that you need a co-signer, and if you're above $12,000, they recommend the regular cash back (non-student)

Websites ftw.

Re: College Student, sorta lost

marty56 — Sat, 21 Jul 2012 17:17:43 GMT

I would also recommend becoming a member of a local CU. That may offer you a CC down the road and CUs are the way to go for banking, mortgages and autoloans as well.

Re: College Student, sorta lost

charleeislegend — Sat, 21 Jul 2012 17:33:58 GMT

Thanks guys! If my two remaining apps fail, im going to go get me a checking account from wells fargo Ill keep you guys updated

Re: College Student, sorta lost

jsucool76 — Sat, 21 Jul 2012 17:35:22 GMT

Good luck. If you open a checking account in a branch and the person doesn't say anything about the card, just ask if you're pre-approved. They can see it on their screen, I don't think you'll be able to see it on your online account.

Re: College Student, sorta lost

charleeislegend — Sat, 21 Jul 2012 17:37:08 GMT

lost on how to edit a post or quote a post to reply so ill just make a new one
Marty56 I had a checking account with a credit union for over 3 years, they were the first to deny me .

Re: College Student, sorta lost

jsucool76 — Sat, 21 Jul 2012 17:39:20 GMT

@charleeislegend wrote:
lost on how to edit a post or quote a post to reply so ill just make a new one
Marty56 I had a checking account with a credit union for over 3 years, they were the first to deny me .

To edit a post click "Options" on your post and "Edit Post"

To quote, click the reply button on the post you'd like to quote (every post in a thread has it's own reply button) and then when the reply page comes up, on the top right there is "Spell Check" and "Quote"

Re: College Student, sorta lost

charleeislegend — Sat, 21 Jul 2012 17:42:21 GMT

@jsucool76 wrote:
@charleeislegend wrote:
lost on how to edit a post or quote a post to reply so ill just make a new one
Marty56 I had a checking account with a credit union for over 3 years, they were the first to deny me .
To edit a post click "Options" on your post and "Edit Post"

To quote, click the reply button on the post you'd like to quote (every post in a thread has it's own reply button) and then when the reply page comes up, on the top right there is "Spell Check" and "Quote"

Oh thats cool, sorry all this forum has me overwhelmed with all this info! haha

Re: College Student, sorta lost

jsucool76 — Sat, 21 Jul 2012 17:44:25 GMT

It took me like 2 months to find the quote button, lol.

Re: College Student, sorta lost

andyaycw — Sat, 21 Jul 2012 18:08:35 GMT

Wow, from reading some of these posts, it seems like things are gotten VERY tough for college students now to establish credit thanks to the CARD Act and the whole "proof of income" deal.

When I turned 18, I applied for and was approved for the (to the best of my memory) Citi Driver's Edge and Citi Dividend. I believe they were both Student versions of the card. I just kept paying in full and on time and that opened up the door for me a year later to apply for other credit cards as well. Heck, eventually Penfed offered me a card via pre-approval based on my credit only, no proof of income, and the only relationship I had with Penfed prior to the pre-approval was a $5 balance in their Share account, $0.02 of interest that had accrued over two years, and nothing else.

I guess the hardest part is getting started with zero credit. I would mirror other advice here though, and start with Student Cards. If you have a job, then maybe the Wells Fargo with a min $3k income might be worth looking into.

Good luck

Re: College Student, sorta lost

jsucool76 — Sat, 21 Jul 2012 18:14:25 GMT

Wells fargo gave me their student card the other day with no proof of income, and I know that for a fact because the bank agent filled the app out for me and didn't ask me about any employment or anything. lol.

Re: College Student, sorta lost

charleeislegend — Sat, 21 Jul 2012 18:44:48 GMT

I just got the 5-7 day wait notice for discover too. Do I call them to see whats up? Or wait it out?

Re: College Student, sorta lost

jamie123 — Sat, 21 Jul 2012 19:49:58 GMT

Call the back door number and ask about the status of your application and if they might need any additional information.

Good luck!

Re: College Student, sorta lost

Exonumist — Sat, 21 Jul 2012 22:36:12 GMT

I was in the same boat as you a little less then a year ago. I applied for a Chase card thinking it was almost guaranteed since my checking account with them had about five years of history. Declined. Then I tried a Citi student card. Declined for insufficient credit history. Then I tried a Capital One card thinking they would definitely approve me. Declined. At the time I didn't realize I could call them and try recon. I gave up on the apps and decided I would wait until my car loan was a little bit older as it was the only form of credit I had received. About three months later Cap1 sent me a pre-approved offer for a platinum card with no annual fee and I took it. That card had a crappy $300 limit and it's still only at $500. A few months after that I applied for a Discover More Student card and was approved only after calling them. They gave me a $2500 limit. What I would do if I were you is go ahead and call Citi and Discover since you already applied with them. Use the backdoor numbers that are in this forum. They're stickied up at the top. If you get lucky they will just need more information and approve you. You may end up having them deny you though. If they deny you try a recon with a different person. Wells Fargo may be a good option for you. I never applied with them, but one of the personal bankers had told my Mom to tell me to come in and that she could almost definitely get me approved.

Re: College Student, sorta lost

Anonymous — Sun, 22 Jul 2012 03:00:10 GMT

I am a student as well. You best shot right now is to get approved/recon with Citi and Discover.

I got Cap One Journey and Discover More (both for students) 15 months ago without credit history.

Crappy limits but you have to start somewhere.

Don´t apply if it´s not for students.

After a year of credit history go and apply to more student and some retail credit cards if you want to increase your CLs/get more cards.

What´s your income anyways?