Need advice on building credit

[Ahava18]

Hello All,

My wife has been trying to build credit but she seems to hit a brick wall everytime.

She has a pretty thin credit file but, I'm surprised she's getting rejected everywhere even for things that are typically easier to get, such as auto finance. 

Recently tried a couple lenders for an auto finance. 1 lender rejected the application despite stating a 753 TU score on the letter. While Toyota declined stating a 713 EX score. In both cases, one of the reasons stated is a lack of installment loans.

Tried a number of banks for an auto finance in an attempt to add new trade lines to the profile, and didn't get approved. Tried a number of personal loans (and cards) pre-qualification did not yield a positive result either.

Looking for advice on how to best boost the credit file either with cards or loans.

EX report:

Capital One $5,300 CL $0 UTIL (opened 4/18)

Barclay (AU) $20,000 CL $6,584 UTIL

A couple closed accounts in good standing (some closed 5-7 years ago). Does that have a negative affect perhaps?

Inquiries: 

Capital One 11/21

Amex 2/22, 4/22

EQ and TU reports look the similar to EX, except for some inquiries. 

TU inquiries: 

7 auto finance inquiries in a span of 7 days in Jan 23.

Barclay 11/22, 09/22, 06/22

Capital One 11/21

Any advice on how to proceed is much appreciated. 

[StephenH]

Ideally, 3 open CCs and 1 installment loan reporting is the baseline. 

Check pre approval for Cap 1 and Disco, and get a SSL loan through Penfed (search the forums; there's a guide). Apply to the 2 cards on the same day and there's no hp for SSL. Let these age for 6 months.

AU cards dont really matter.

On a separate note, please don't ever run your credit without a deal on the table, don't even walk into a dealership until there's a negotiated and agreed upon deal on the table. 

I'm assuming the excess of inq are from that; please correct me if I'm wrong

[SweetCreditObsession]

You might try to get an auto loan approval through your CU or bank. You might also increase the down payment so as to reduce the perceived risk.

In addition, perhaps adding her as an AU might make her profile a bit more desirable. 

If that doesn't work, I would hold off on trying to apply for a bunch of additional credit until her profile ages a bit more and then try again.

[Beefy1212]

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@Ahava18 wrote:

Hello All,

My wife has been trying to build credit but she seems to hit a brick wall everytime.

She has a pretty thin credit file but, I'm surprised she's getting rejected everywhere even for things that are typically easier to get, such as auto finance. 

Recently tried a couple lenders for an auto finance. 1 lender rejected the application despite stating a 753 TU score on the letter. While Toyota declined stating a 713 EX score. In both cases, one of the reasons stated is a lack of installment loans.

Tried a number of banks for an auto finance in an attempt to add new trade lines to the profile, and didn't get approved. Tried a number of personal loans (and cards) pre-qualification did not yield a positive result either.

Looking for advice on how to best boost the credit file either with cards or loans.

EX report:

Capital One $5,300 CL $0 UTIL (opened 4/18)

Barclay (AU) $20,000 CL $6,584 UTIL

A couple closed accounts in good standing (some closed 5-7 years ago). Does that have a negative affect perhaps?

Inquiries: 

Capital One 11/21

Amex 2/22, 4/22

EQ and TU reports look the similar to EX, except for some inquiries. 

TU inquiries: 

7 auto finance inquiries in a span of 7 days in Jan 23.

Barclay 11/22, 09/22, 06/22

Capital One 11/21

Any advice on how to proceed is much appreciated. 

---

Any reason you are not co-signing the loan?

The asnwer seems pretty obvious to me she needs an installment loan! Look into an SSL loan from PenFed FCU basically you put up the cash for as collateral for a loan and as you pay it back they return your collateral. This type of loan is often referred to as a credit builder loan, what makes Penfed special is they allow you to make extra payments that pushes the due date out for months/years without advancing the maturity date of the loan. Get a 5 year loan pay it off immediately to something like 50 bucks and then just pay the pennies in interest each month.

The process is explained better here: https://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Personal-Finance/New-to-the-US-optimizing-SSL-for-a-boosted-score/m... 

[SouthJamaica]

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@Ahava18 wrote:

Hello All,

My wife has been trying to build credit but she seems to hit a brick wall everytime.

She has a pretty thin credit file but, I'm surprised she's getting rejected everywhere even for things that are typically easier to get, such as auto finance. 

Recently tried a couple lenders for an auto finance. 1 lender rejected the application despite stating a 753 TU score on the letter. While Toyota declined stating a 713 EX score. In both cases, one of the reasons stated is a lack of installment loans.

Tried a number of banks for an auto finance in an attempt to add new trade lines to the profile, and didn't get approved. Tried a number of personal loans (and cards) pre-qualification did not yield a positive result either.

Looking for advice on how to best boost the credit file either with cards or loans.

EX report:

Capital One $5,300 CL $0 UTIL (opened 4/18)

Barclay (AU) $20,000 CL $6,584 UTIL

A couple closed accounts in good standing (some closed 5-7 years ago). Does that have a negative affect perhaps?

Inquiries: 

Capital One 11/21

Amex 2/22, 4/22

EQ and TU reports look the similar to EX, except for some inquiries. 

TU inquiries: 

7 auto finance inquiries in a span of 7 days in Jan 23.

Barclay 11/22, 09/22, 06/22

Capital One 11/21

Any advice on how to proceed is much appreciated. 

---

1.  If she wants a car loan, my recommendation is that she not deal with lenders directly, just do it through the dealer; the dealers have clout that she doesn't have.

2.  I would recommend that she ditch the AU account, because your utilization is pretty high on that.

3.  I would recommend that she apply for an Amex Blue Cash Everyday card, and perhaps a credit union card.

[jamie123]

Auto loans are hard to get right now. With the rising interest rates, lenders are having a lot of their older loans go belly up so they have tightened lending standards for auto loans.

Get her a couple of credit cards. I would suggest Discover, AMEX Blue Cash Everyday and Chase Freedom. All those cards should be approved with her profile.

Good luck!

[Stealthboxer]

Have you looked into having Capital One do the auto financing? You can get prequalified with them with no hit to your credit.  They seem hungry for car loan business so I think you should try them 

[FireMedic1]

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@Ahava18 wrote:

Hello All,

My wife has been trying to build credit but she seems to hit a brick wall everytime.

She has a pretty thin credit file but, I'm surprised she's getting rejected everywhere even for things that are typically easier to get, such as auto finance. 

Recently tried a couple lenders for an auto finance. 1 lender rejected the application despite stating a 753 TU score on the letter. While Toyota declined stating a 713 EX score. In both cases, one of the reasons stated is a lack of installment loans.

Tried a number of banks for an auto finance in an attempt to add new trade lines to the profile, and didn't get approved. Tried a number of personal loans (and cards) pre-qualification did not yield a positive result either.

Looking for advice on how to best boost the credit file either with cards or loans.

EX report:

Capital One $5,300 CL $0 UTIL (opened 4/18)

Barclay (AU) $20,000 CL $6,584 UTIL

A couple closed accounts in good standing (some closed 5-7 years ago). Does that have a negative affect perhaps?

Inquiries: 

Capital One 11/21

Amex 2/22, 4/22

EQ and TU reports look the similar to EX, except for some inquiries. 

TU inquiries: 

7 auto finance inquiries in a span of 7 days in Jan 23.

Barclay 11/22, 09/22, 06/22

Capital One 11/21

Any advice on how to proceed is much appreciated. 

---

Get removed off that card. Util % is a bit too high. Many lenders ignore it anyway.

[FishingGuy]

Have her set up a self lender loan which acts like a Holiday Club...... you make deposits monthly for a predetermined amount.  I would do it for the highest amount you can afford.... the funds are returned to you at the end of the term (less fees)..... so it is forced savings.  However,   It reports as a loan with a term and fixed payments.   It will help build her credit greatly.....  just don't miss a payment.

Also run her credit,  and see how many inquiries she may have...... in addition to credit card denials,  some auto dealers will run multiple times and shop your credit.... too many denials or credit seeking attempts can be an issue.

[FishingGuy]

Have her set up a self lender loan which acts like a Holiday Club...... you make deposits monthly for a predetermined amount.  I would do it for the highest amount you can afford.... the funds are returned to you at the end of the term (less fees)..... so it is forced savings.  However,   It reports as a loan with a term and fixed payments.   It will help build her credit greatly.....  just don't miss a payment.

(I see you did run credit ) Also ...... in addition to credit card denials,  some auto dealers will run multiple times and shop your credit.... too many denials or credit seeking attempts can be an issue.