Denied b/c of thin file - Try again now?

[Anonymous]

I'm a recent college grad (employed, no debt, pay all bills on time) and I applied for the Capital One Venture card in March assuming I would have fine credit because I never had any debt or late payments in the past. I was summarily rejected and soon realized I had thin files with most agencies. My name had been on my parents' cc for the majority of my life but because my own SSN was never associated with that account it did not build my score at all. Since then, we have attached my SSN to that account (9 years old, always paid in full on time) and I received a notification from Credit Karma that my scores with TU and EQ are now established and above 760. Not sure about EX. 

Three questions:

1) Is it worth applying for the Venture card again now that my credit has been "established" and appears to be quite solid?

2) Will my thin file denial make me less likely to get capital one and other cards approved in the short and/or long term?

3) Is there any harm to trying out the pre-approval process on capital one's website? Will that show up on my report as another application for credit or have any other adverse effects?

Thanks for the help!

[ojefferyo]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I'm a recent college grad (employed, no debt, pay all bills on time) and I applied for the Capital One Venture card in March assuming I would have fine credit because I never had any debt or late payments in the past. I was summarily rejected and soon realized I had thin files with most agencies. My name had been on my parents' cc for the majority of my life but because my own SSN was never associated with that account it did not build my score at all. Since then, we have attached my SSN to that account (9 years old, always paid in full on time) and I received a notification from Credit Karma that my scores with TU and EQ are now established and above 760. Not sure about EX. 

Three questions:

1) Is it worth applying for the Venture card again now that my credit has been "established" and appears to be quite solid?

2) Will my thin file denial make me less likely to get capital one and other cards approved in the short and/or long term?

3) Is there any harm to trying out the pre-approval process on capital one's website? Will that show up on my report as another application for credit or have any other adverse effects?

Thanks for the help!

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Checking the prequal won't be a HP so no harm done. Try it out and see what cards come up for you. Try Chase also as they are pretty dead on. 

[Anonymous]

You need to build a credit profile IMO. Is that right, you only have 1 credit card on your file and you are an au on it? What card is it, and what is the limit?

By a credit profile I mean a variety of accounts such as maybe 2 store cards, and one lower tier credit card. I would try for a Macys in store to test the waters. Do your parents have 2 other cards they could add you on? Cards with a low balance which maybe are 4 years old or less since you are young? You always must put your ss# on an authorized used form.

You would have had a better shot applying for a lesser Capital One card IMO as Venture is a prime card with a $5000 minimum starting limit.

[Anonymous]

You are correct - as of recently I am an AU on a card that websites all say requires excellent credit, account is 9+ years old, no missed/late payments, limit is between 30-50k, very reasonable utilization. Do I really need to work my way up or will some more time with this card be enough to get the Venture soon?

Thanks for the help so far.

[Anonymous]

You need to work your way up. You need a file with multiple accounts on it, not just one. At least 6 is a good round amount however I wouldn"t open 6 accounts all at once. That is why I said try a Macys account in store and let us know the results,and try a lesser Capital One card. You could try the Shopping Cart Trick. Just do a search on here to see how it worksand see if you could get 1 account that way with a soft pull. J Crew and Overstock are the ones I would try.

Then by fall you could try to move forward. 2 more au accounts on your file would be best if you can do it.

[Jpmack29]

IMO- you can't piggy back as an authorized user for prime cards. It's best if you get a sub prime card, and build up a profile with you as the sole user and maintain a timely duration of payments on your own, with low utilization.

[Anonymous]

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@Jpmack29 wrote:
IMO- you can't piggy back as an authorized user for prime cards. It's best if you get a sub prime card, and build up a profile with you as the sole user and maintain a timely duration of payments on your own, with low utilization.

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You can piggyback because I have done it, BUT the mistake that was made is instead of rolling over 1 card, it should have been 3, and once those showed up the op should have been actively building credit on that file, not just using the parents card and not building any of his/her own credit. I got $26,000 in accounts that way and my wife has 3 major accounts in her name plus is au several of mine. Some creditors may want to ignore au accounts but many do not.

The opportunity to get college credit cards was lost as well. I don't think a subprime card is needed, Maybe a Quicksilver 1 could be considered.Just a rouded file. Most people on this forum have a mix of store cards, some au cards, and gradually get some majors during the process. Credit building is a process. That file can be phenomenal with some elbow grease put in the rest of this year. At some point that au card will really pay off, but not as a stand alone card.

[chalupaman]

If you can't do all of that or get a Macy's card like people are saying, you can try to see if you can get the SCT for a J. Crew card since that card will actually grow with you in less than 8 months. If that doesn't work, go the secured card route. And don't rely on CK scores either.

Check prequals on Chase, Amex and Citi's websites too or look into seeing if you can get a Discover card to start out with.

[AeroKrix]

Try the student card from Capital One, Journey.

[Imperfectfuture]

Do not flood accounts with shopping cart trick. I started with sole secured card from credit union. Then got sub prime card (you could start with capital one quicksilver). After 1.5 years, got in with Amex. Fico scores do not discriminate between secured cards and non secured, and they don't care about limit. But major approvals care about the number of "charge accounts", because they are so easy to get. I have no active store cards, haven't since 2008 (though it is still on report). Banks like other bank cards.