Advice for thin file to get card to help with dental work (CareCredit denial)

[barsandrhyme]

Hi, so I made some mistakes in my early 20s and took part in a state funded vacation for the last ~7 years and have started to re-build my credit. I just hit the 6 month mark two days ago and saw my first Experian score on Experian's site. My Experian is 709, Equifax 699, and TransUnion 698. My file is paper thin. I have a $500 Self Credit Builder loan, a $175 Self secured card, and a $300 Discover secured card. My oldest account (the Self loan) is just 6 months old. I tried around November 2022 to get a CareCredit card to help with dental work once I noticed some improvement on WalletHub's score (over 70+ points from when I started), but I did not pass the pre-approval. I tried again but was told I had applied too recently. Does anybody have advice for an unsecured card that I might be able to qualify for to help with the dental work? It was quoted at about $1900, but if I can't get a card yet/you'd recommend I wait, I'm open to hearing any advice. As for inquiries, EX 2, TU - 0, EQ -1. 

Thanks for any help.

[Hoben02]

Is there a dental school where you are. For the last few years I have no dental insurance and have been visiting univ of so cal dental school for dental work and it's a fraction of what a dentist would cost. The treatment is done by sometimes practitioners that want advanced degrees to students who are about to graduate 

[barsandrhyme]

How funny, I was considering that very option. My brother went there for his undergrad and suggested I check out the school's sub-reddit. When I asked, they seemed to all say that there can be lengthy wait times depending on the procedure and I need some pretty major restorative work, so I'm not sure I want to wait too much longer as I feel so embarrassed to talk much let alone smile/laugh. I do have insurance though and found a dentist I like (oddly enough, he's an alum of USC's dental school). I paid $440 for two extractions and bone grafts and $623 for 8 more extractions including a wisdom tooth. It's the next procedure that I was really hoping to get CareCredit for. It was quoted at $1900 for the dental bridge work. The front desk receptionist realllly tried to push CareCredit during my first visit, but I had basically nothing on my credit report at the time and I knew I wouldn't qualify, so I declined to try. That is what prompted me to start rebuilding though. I was just curious if I might be able to try for a "real" card yet that could ease the cost of the next set of work.

[RedKhaos]

I'm guessing Discover is out since you already got their secured card recently. You can check CapitalOne's online preapproval form to see if you qualify for their Quicksilver or SavorOne, which normally have intro 0% APR period. These two are fairly friendly to new credit folks.

[barsandrhyme]

I did barely get my second statement from Discover so I thought it would be too soon as well to try for an unsecured card with them. I tried out the Capital One preapproval and it just recommended two different secured cards. Does that mean it's likely too early to try? Discover doesn't even seem to have my FICO score thing yet unlike the Experian site (Discover's credit tracker says it's too early for any FICO scores to have been generated). Do you think it would be best to wait a bit longer? And is the Capital One thing generally pretty reliable (like if I check again in a month or so and see unsecured cards, does that mean the odds are decent I might qualify?)

[RedKhaos]

Standard disclaimer about pre-approval=/=guaranteed approval aside, I'd consider CapitalOne's preapproval tool to be as reliable as you can hope for in this business.

When do you need to do/pay for the dental work? You can always YOLO apply for some 0% APR prime cards, but I'd consider your chances of success to be poor right now if CapitalOne won't give you their unsecured QuickSilver. It's better to wait and check every month for when offers for those cards pop up.

[OmarGB9]

May just want to look into a personal loan for the dental work, as prime cards/good cards with an intro 0% APR/BT APR will probably be out of reach right now.

[barsandrhyme]

I needed about $900-$1000 for the dental work. I can probably just wait for the Capital One to pop up/try to save up for the rest myself. They took 10 of my teeth and I'll need implants down the line (so hopefully I can get CareCredit at some point in the future), but I really just wanted to focus on getting the bridge for $1900. You know the song "All I want for Chirstmas is My Two Front Teeth"? I need my four front teeth and really don't like smiling/laughing right now because of it, hah. I wish I hadn't been so trigger happy to try for CareCredit just 4 months into my rebuilding journey. Thanks again, I'll just keep checking the Captial One page every 3 weeks or so to see if that Quicksilver pops up. 

[Steeled]

Personal loans will be completely out of the question.  The underwriting on a personal loan, with a thin file, is going to immediately reject it.

 I was in a similar spot and as soon as I had a FICO score, I got approved for a $6k Discover, which would've been my suggestion if you didn't already have the ol secured version.

The GM card by Goldman is kind of a useless card for rewards, but it has an intro APR period and the whole soft pull and limit before you accept deal.  I can also tell you that from my experience, Goldman might not give approvals until you have an unsecured, 'higher' limit card, but it's worth a free shot 

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@OmarGB9 wrote:

May just want to look into a personal loan for the dental work, as prime cards/good cards with an intro 0% APR/BT APR will probably be out of reach right now.

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[barsandrhyme]

Yeah, it seems like you were 100% right that they want to see higher limits. I tried and it says stuff like "low credit limit and insufficient payment history" and "amount of secured installment credit is lower than required"