I know you mentioned that nobody with good credit can help you. But my question is do you have anyone who have a creditcard that has no negative on it. Ie, pay on time, no late, low usage, and around 2-3 years old min. They can add you as authorized user on the card, so you can inherit that card's age and good payment history. then, your chances of getting approval for any of the card you mention would be higher. Also, try to pull your real fico score from this website. So you know where you at. I were once at your position and the above is what i did to get approved for my 1st card, and so on. Another note, if you like Chase, establish a banking relationship with them, it helps in the long run to get approved for credit card
@Anonymous wrote:Hello! I'm new here (first post). Twentysomething, small-business owner. I have been scouring the internet for info, but I need some help on questions I can't seem to find good info for based on my situation. I'll go straight to it:
Objective:
Build credit for responsible future use (for travel, rewards benefits, and possibly business growth or car/home loans in the future)
My situation:
-Absolute zero. I have nobody with good credit who can help me and no credit history (until recently - will elaborate in a min.)
-No negatieves at all (no medical bills, overdue utilities, nothing)
-I'm a Sole Proprietor business owner (growing & succesful etsy shop). I worked and have an employer W2 from 2014, but after that, I started a business and do not yet have a tax return for it. So my income is not verifiable and I'm not currently "employed" (rather, "self-employed")
-No property or car loans or ownership/assets - I live with family who need help, and live small/make my own way
-No education loans
-Income around current U.S. minimum wage at the moment, as I do my business part time.
So, I realized I needed to do something to build credit. I applied (and got approved) for a Captial One secured platinum credit card. (They wanted a $49 deposit for a $200 line of credit).
I now have 4 months of perfect credit history using that card. I know the breakdown of what % your credit is based on - history lenght, debt utilzation, on-time payments, etc. I get all of that and have read like crazy on every aspect of building and maintaining good credit, and am happy and on board to apply it all. But I have a couple questions I'd love to see help on and can't find much because my situation is kinda unique (ergo asking here).
For reference: My TransUnion and Exifax scores are both 679 according to CreditKarma. Captial One's credit tracker puts me at 728.
I know I just need to wait mostly & that those scores are not great. But here's the thing: I want to close Capital One eventually, because of it's annual fee, YET still have another line of credit that's almost as old to fall back on, for the sake of maintaining a good score through long hisotry. So applying for another card as soon as reasonably possible after CapOne was my plan from the beginning and I don't see a lot of reason not to try for a couple, soon.
My questions:
1) I've read that applying every 4-6 months is ok. So I'm thinking of applying for another card(s) at the 6-month mark. I'm not sure I trust credit karma that I have 'fair' odds of being approved for these... but I'm considering: Discover It, Capital One Quicksilver, BankAmericard Cash Rewards, AmexEveryday from American Express, and Chase Freedom. Do you think I have a chance at all? Should I? Or is this a matter of "keep the one card and wait until a year's passed"? I have heard mixed reviews, such as people with barely any history or income getting a Chase Freedom as their first card, etc., yet others who should qualify, being denied. I'm a bit confused and feel like I should just try applying for a couple soon. (I'm aware that calling backdoor numbers if I get denied, and working on getting approved after a denial is a good idea, so I'd def. do that and be fine with a low CL)
2) If yes to applying, should I apply to one now, another next month, etc.? Or in a burst? I've read that the idea of burst applications is not very supported by facts about how banks really work. Guidance would be appreciated.
3) Does the Amazon.com Visa Rewards Card (by Chase) count as a store card? If so or not, would that be a good option?
Any suggestions would be soooo, so very appreciated. I'm generally good at research and weeding out facts, but the world of credit is impressively hard to fact-check and hack and I'm way out of my depth.
Thanks in advance!!
bigbang91, thank you 
I appreciate you latching onto that to bring it up again, because upon thinking about it harder, I do realize there is one person who could help. I probably will wait a little longer and see how I do on my own before hinting at it with them, because it's something I would never directly ask of this person.
Great tips - I'm going to look into setting up a checking/savings account with a bank I might get a card at. Also, as mentioned, soon I'll sign up and get my 'real' fico from this website and go from there.
I really appreciate everyone's suggestions and help! Thank you all so much for taking the time!
1. Apply for those cards at the 6 month mark. You already have a FICO score generated since you got your report from CK. Apply in this order, Discover It, ED from Amex, BankAmericard Cash Rewards, then Quicksilver if you really need it.
2. Do the applications within a few days. Or atleast before the new accounts report.
3. No it's a cobranded card. If you spend less than 750 a month on Amazon I'd recommend the Sallie Mae from Barclays instead.
Thank you kdong! Sounds like a good plan - I'm thinking that's basically what I'm going to do. Good to know about the Amazon card.
Just to update everyone, out of curiousity I checked to see if BofA and Discover pre-approved me, and they did - Discover IT was discover's suggestion, and Cash Rewards was BofA's.
Last night, Citi and Chase didn't suggest anything when I checked for pre-approval.
Just a waiting game from here I guess
(btw, I'm caffeinatedperson2 because I somehow forgot my first account's password, yet did not provide my SSN when I first registered to post. Apparently, you cannot recover an account OR contact customer service to sort it out if you didn't provide an SSN at signup, unfortunately, so I just had to make another account)
@Anonymous wrote:Thank you kdong! Sounds like a good plan - I'm thinking that's basically what I'm going to do. Good to know about the Amazon card.
Just to update everyone, out of curiousity I checked to see if BofA and Discover pre-approved me, and they did - Discover IT was discover's suggestion, and Cash Rewards was BofA's.
Last night, Citi and Chase didn't suggest anything when I checked for pre-approval.
Just a waiting game from here I guess
(btw, I'm caffeinatedperson2 because I somehow forgot my first account's password, yet did not provide my SSN when I first registered to post. Apparently, you cannot recover an account OR contact customer service to sort it out if you didn't provide an SSN at signup, unfortunately, so I just had to make another account)
be careful with some of the pre qualify sites as some of them are not very accurate at all. I would wait until your 6 months reports personally before I go apping. Chase usually likes to see a year of history before they will issue you a card. Seems like you could get a Discover card and possibly Sallie Mae and maybe BofA or Captial one (be warned they do all 3 beaureus HP). I would also get a Lowe's card purely to get build a high credit line that others will see. As Credit Addict said list employed and your income since you work for your own company. Hope this helps!