New here, and new to credit

[Startome]

Hey there everyone, I've spent a lot of time over the last couple of weeks reading posts and trying to learn everything I can from your experience. I've learned a lot but I want to be more actively part of the community. I made an account and here I am!

I have 0 credit. I've applied for a couple cards but got denied each time, and at the moment nobody can co-sign for me (my dad is making a really big business purchase so he is clearing his credit as much as possible at the moment, and my mother is in a harder financial situation than I am). I recently made a trip to Fifth Third Bank (53rd) and got a 300 dollar Secured Credit Card for $24 annual fee (the only fee they have as long as I pay everything on time which is nice). I found the Harley Davidson secured card which has no annual or monthly fee at all (forever, not just the first year) but didn't get accepted and am not sure why. Hopefully a reason will come in the mail soon but that was a couple weeks ago.

Anyway I'll be using that 53rd Secured Card to buy the gas I already buy to get to work and back, and maybe groceries from time to time. All of this is already budgeted as I have a particular budget and am VERY frugal, to the point of needing to be less so to prevent nutrient deficiencies in my diet. So I know I'll make all payments on time easily.

The thing is I feel like I need to do more. Does anyone have any suggestions for other ways I can build my credit? I work at a bank and applied for one of their cards but yet to hear if I'm accepted.

Startome

-Build your own dreams, or someone else will hire you to build theirs. –Farrah Gray

[parakleet]

Have you checked your CR from all three agencies? What's on there? Do you know your fico score? There are many rebuilding CCs out there - Cap1 and BoA's 99/500 secured cards seem popular.

[Startome]

Yes, I have straight 0/0/0 lol. Starting from ground zero =)

I haven't looked at BoA's stuff, I'll go do that now!

Startome

-Build your own dreams, or someone else will hire you to build theirs. –Farrah Gray

[FinStar]

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@Startome wrote:

Yes, I have straight 0/0/0 lol. Starting from ground zero =)

I haven't looked at BoA's stuff, I'll go do that now!

Startome

-Build your own dreams, or someone else will hire you to build theirs. –Farrah Gray

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IMO, you're off to a good start with the 5/3 secured account.  While you may have an innate feeling to do more, building credit takes time and patience.  No tree ever grows overnight.  Otherwise, if you keep applying and not getting aproved, those inquires are going to hurt you in the end more than help you.  Research and plan strategically rather than just apply indiscriminately.  Also, it may help to visit the "gardening" thread to get some perspective from other folks with similar situations.  Everyone starts somewhere, but with proper planning, time is on your side.

[Startome]

Thank you. It's very hard to wait lol. Budgeting was that way too. Making yourself wait till you see how it turned out, and tweaking it. Honestly It's still difficult. Frugality I'm good at, but well... Patience is not one of my strongest traits lol.

[PCMedic]

You do not mention what your income situation is, or if you may be a student.

I agree with one of the other replies that a bunch of hard inquiries on your CR's is going to hurt more than help at this point in the game.

My suggestion if you insist on (can't resist) a few more attempts and have not already done so, then try some of the pre-qualify options that do not effect your score with a hard pull. Discover IT comes to mind and they have a prequlify option on their site for both the Standard and Student cards. Bank of America, and Capitol One also offer this on their sites as do others. If it only asks for last 4 digits of your social AND states that completing the form 'WILL NOT EFFECT YOUR CREDIT SCORE' , then no harm done.
 Just remember to watch the results closely if you do this as the wording can be tricky. For example... 'Congratulations, you have been PRE-QUALIFIED' is not the same as (or what you want to see) vs. 'Congratulations, you have been PRE-APPROVED' . Pre-approved in my opinion would be worth a hard pull as you will most likely get accepted. Pre-Qualified on the other hand just means that you met certain criteria and in your current starting point, would not get approved or be worth the hard inquiry.

Cap Ones Credit Steps may be a very good lace to start as well.

[Startome]

Thank you PCMedic, I'm currently pulling in about 1200 a month post-tax, 600 every bi-weekly paycheck. I'm not a student as I ran out of money before I could come close to finishing college. (plus ran out of tolerance for one or two meals a day, ick). So I have been working at a bank, learned a lot here. BoA has their closest loacation to me in Illinois and if I move over one zip code, none within 100 miles. lol. I tried to do some stuff online but it told me I was out of their service area.  It looks like checking further into Capital One is my next best bet, headed there. But I am trying to be more cautious of Hard Pulls now. How much do Soft Pulls effect your report?

[FinStar]

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@Startome wrote:

Thank you PCMedic, I'm currently pulling in about 1200 a month post-tax, 600 every bi-weekly paycheck. I'm not a student as I ran out of money before I could come close to finishing college. (plus ran out of tolerance for one or two meals a day, ick). So I have been working at a bank, learned a lot here. BoA has their closest loacation to me in Illinois and if I move over one zip code, none within 100 miles. lol. I tried to do some stuff online but it told me I was out of their service area.  It looks like checking further into Capital One is my next best bet, headed there. But I am trying to be more cautious of Hard Pulls now. How much do Soft Pulls effect your report?

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Soft Pulls (aka Soft Inquiries) do not impact your credit score.  Those inquiries do not display to other companies, only to you.

[Startome]

Sweet news, I like Soft Pulls, thank you FinStar!

[Creditaddict]

I would go over to Capital One and try pre-qual on them... they will usually issue something like the journey card with no credit

Citicards.com is another that use to give out the forward card sometimes with no credit.

i would get the backdoor number in the sticky above listed "Back door numbers" for usbank and call them now... someone can manual review and probably approved that secured card... then if you can just get a capital one or that loan on your other thread that would give you the 3 I would sit on for the next 6 months and wait for a fico score to be generated... then maybe open 1-2 unsecured cards or continue to use your secured cards to the 12 month mark and get them unsecured and you should be just great.