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But I can't get approved for anything.
I tried to get into Andrews FCU, but they did not accept my membership application.
I got into SDFCU, but they declined me for their EMV card. They told me to send in a written recon, which I did and explained that I lost my job in 2008, but now realize that it was actually 2007 and I put the wrong year down. So I have a feeling that my recon will get declined.
I want to try for the BoA Travel Rewards, but have a feeling that I will be declined for that too.
What do I do?
yes, EMV = Europay, Mastercard, Visa Integrated Chip
Chase Hyatt? Your scores are borderline and I don't know your history, but Chase has one of the most flexible and reasonable recon options I've seen. Unless you already have a Citi card of some sort, in which case a PC attempt to one of their EMV options might be possible. There is also a prepaid card (travelex?) if that would work for you.
The exchange rate for that travelex is awful.
I am thinking about applying for a few extremely sub-prime UK cards once I get to UK. If I can get any of these with no credit history, they will help me build UK credit and save me money over the travelex.
Or, possibly, wait it out for a year and try not to go outside often unless I am carrying a decent amount of cash with me. Then I will try again. depressing. I wish I had better credit. I hope that a year might help me.
I think BoA is my best shot. I will try applying Monday so I can call them when my app gets declined.
EDIT: just noticed that BoA won't let me select an APO address for my billing statements on the application page. I will try to do a walk-in application at a branch on Monday.
@DaveSignal wrote:I think BoA is my best shot. I will try applying Monday so I can call them when my app gets declined.
EDIT: just noticed that BoA won't let me select an APO address for my billing statements on the application page. I will try to do a walk-in application at a branch on Monday.
Your scores are borderline for any card with an EMV chip. These cards are typically higher-end travel rewards cards, since people who rarely venture outside the US don't need them.
To be safe, you should have a FICO in the 700s to stand a good chance at EMV cards. YMMV though.
You need to probably take what ever card you can get for now to try and improve your scores! You can't be picky with scores like that but if you do get a card that you don't like for the time being you can at least be working towards improving your credit at the same time and then a year from now you can try again for a better card. It's really the only way this is going to work my friend.
I have good US cards already. Are you saying I should NOT apply for the BoA card and just a wait a year? I still have a chance for the SDFCU recon.... I realize now that I didn't get the dates wrong. My explaination was pretty good.
Current Cards:
NFCU - $14k
USAA - $4.5k
Milstar - $4.2k
Capital One - $750
None of these have EMV. Even Capital One which has a presence in UK and issues EMV there will not transfer my account to Capital One UK.
I just got my BOA Travel Rewards Visa Signature card last week. No EMV. Do you have to request it? Seems weird. Didn't really think about it until I saw this post. I just go to Canada a lot and I know they take any American card, so this is just an afterthought. If you go to some other countries, do they not have the old magnetic technology anymore? Is this really a big deal for going to, say, Europe or Asia?