Okay! so I applied for a credit card

[ccnewcc]

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@BearsAndTurtlesRtheBest wrote:

Applied got the leter and was not approved obviously. But wanted to give it a try. I applied for the buckle credit card issued by Comenity Bank. Okay so I received my letter and it says MY fraud risk score as of 11-25-12 is 595 range from 0-999? what!? My question is what is a fraud risk score dont like the sound of that one

most significant factors that affected my approval was

lack of revolving trades or at or above credit limit on new revolving trades

low level verification

lack of new credit activity

low level of validation

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What about a student card?  Since techically you are a student.  And after you graduate HS [insert plug to encourge BearsAndTurtles to go to College] im sure you will still be able to use the card.

Discover and Citi i know of have great student cards.  Citi even says that you don't need a cosigner.  Not sure if they let HS qualify, since i know Citi's student card actually has the word "college" in their student card's name.  

Are the cards and app still reporting to your dads name?  Have you tried running your own free CR to see if that will help?

[Tran92]

i don't think he would qualify since he's in high school. I know that most banks needs to have the actual school name and some only accepts 4 year universities so no community college. I noticed BofA  online application does this. They usually ask for verification of college enrollment too. 

[bradpitt]

I also think its great that your thinking of credit so early in life.

Since you are in high school please concentrate on grades first.

If your grades are mostly all A's go ahead and get a part time job, otherwise wait till summer to get the job.

Then save up at least $500 and get a secured credit card.

This will get your credit started so you will have a log AAoA when your older.

And always remember to not spend more on your credit cards than you have cash on hand to cover it.

Too many people don't take that to heart and wind up in trouble.

[FloridaState12]

As another young person (21), I pretty much echo everything said here. I was stupid when I was a teenager and applied for a crapload of cards with no income and guess what? No approvals.

I finally got approved when I was 19, almost 20, with Cap1 @ $500 CL. I eventually also got approved for another Cap1 and a credit union card, all at $500. At the time, my only income was from scholarship overpayment, which explained the really low limits.

I got a job at 20 and you'd really be surprised at how relatively easy it was to get approved with very low income (don't even remember what I put as income but it was under $10k). I now have an American Express Zync card, Chase Freedom, Bank of America Cash Rewards, Citi Forward, Citi Dividend, Barclay's NFL, Discover Cash Back, and Walmart store, with my highest limit being $4k with the Citi Dividend.

So just be patient...graduate high school, get a part time job and spread out your apps. Don't apply for something there's virtually no chance of getting, do your research. Many cards have student versions, but it's my experience the the really good student cards (Citi, Discover, BoA) like to see at least a little history, about 6 months. Get a Cap1 Classic Mastercard or whatever it's called, keep it for 6 months or so, then go for some student cards. 

Know your options, too. This forum is awesome and provides so many tools you can use...I had to recon twice with Barclays (backdoor #) and went through a whole ordeal with Citi before getting my second card (Forward). The "needs further review" doesn't always mean a denial...in fact, the only cards I ever got instantly approved for were my AMEX and Chase Freedom. All the others I had to call in and verify income, address, enrollment, etc. 

Good luck! And fill those applications out SPARINGLY! They're not free, take it from me. You'll regret it when you get a copy of your credit report and have 2 dozen inquiries with no cards to show for it.

[bluesnowman]

I agree with the above posters. I found a job before the summer of my senior year of High School, and I currently make about 12,000 as my income while going to school for most of the time ( I have a part time job waiting tables and have another small job about 15 miles from my house that pays me another 300 a month, every little bit helps.) My current scores are EQ: 705 EX: 692 TU: 701. I recently started my credit history back in April of this year with a BOFA Cash Rewards card and now I have a PRG, More, and a forward card. Here is what I would advise you of once you find a job (whether you decide to be full or part time, going to or not going to school.)

#1- Be RESPONSIBLE- I cannot stress this enough. I know there is plenty of stuff you want to buy right now, but, unless you have the cash sitting in the bank, dont buy it. Trust me, you will be wondering why you got a large bill this month. Just be careful, and if you can pay before the statement cuts.

#2- Pay on time- Pay on time, or at least pay before the statement cuts. Lenders will generally take this into account very importantly when you apply for Credit. Be faithful to your lenders, and they in turn will be faithful to you. 

#3- Inquires- If you can limit your inquires when you can, do so. I currently have a total of 7 inquires (Amex decided to be mean to me and pull all 3 bureaus.) I did not decide to apply for anything for the first 6 months that I had my first card because I wanted to my score to be okay when I went with my first creditors (other then BOFA). Just don't apply unless you really want or need the card, because getting the cards I have currently required me to have scores 710+ (yes I checked my scores before pulling the trigger). And don't apply for cards you really dont have any chance for right now (like the CSP or the US Bank Cash +). With time, you should be okay though. 

#4- Spending and utilization- General rule of thumb is to keep your balances at all times under 30% (1,500 CL, dont go over 450 at any given time). Lenders and Fico model really like to see utilization under 10%. Ideally 2% is what most lenders like to see when they approve you, or you can be like to me and just PIF all your cards before the statement cuts so that way, they always report 0, unless you have a big purchase and you slowly need to pay it off. Don't overspend, Credit cards are really just a short term loan that you have to pay back soon. The more faithful you are with your creditors, the better they will be able to you, and they might even help you out when times might get hard for you. 

#5- Lastly, Just take it easy, credit, as I have learned, is easy to destroy and it can take years to undo the damage. Starting on the right foot ( I have been fortunate enough to do so) will help you immensly. Just be patient. And when it comes time to garden, garden for a while so your scores can recover. When you apply as well, make sure your scores are decent ( I mean if you have 720+ on all bureaus, chances are you will be approved.) and apply in a spree in a given month. Meaning if I apply for a Freedom and BCE, that's it for 6-12 months year. If you get denied, you tried, and it did not happen. 

Good luck my friend, and in no time your credit will be golden and any home loan, car loan, and credit card will be attainable here.

-Snowman

[ObeyJohnny12]

It's hard to be approved for a credit card without any income. 

In my opion, I believe it's best if you apply for a secured credit card (once you get a job obviously) and believe it or not Cap One is a great choice to start building credit, or you can get a secured card through your bank.

I'm currently 19 and I was in your same situation an year ago. I did not know about credit so I applied anywhere without knowing it was hurting my credit. My first card was through Wells Fargo. I got their secured and a few months later I applied for Cap One. I let my two secured cards grow and now I have been able to get better cards, even with rewards from prime lenders. 

I also did this on my own, no AU no joint accounts, no nothing. 

It's hard at first but patience is key in achieving a great credit score. 

Once you have a source of income, I suggest you apply for a secured card, let it grow and once you realize you will have your own collection of cards.

Good Luck. 

[BearsAndTurtlesRtheBest]

WOW!!!! Am I surprised with all this information and personal interest! Thank you guys! I will take ALL of your guys advice. For now I will stay in school because I will be taking an ROP class beginning Jan 14 2013 right after christmas break to hopefully get a job as a medical biller and coder in the summer So for now finish school and start my credit when I'm 18 in a half. So that I can either get into a joint or getting a good secured card. Like they say no credit is better than bad credit!

[jsickz32]

hey im young too (21) i started my credit journey with BofA. i had checking with them since i was 16 and the same morning i turned 18 i went to my local branch to app for a card and was approved for their student plat plus for 1k. that same day i appd and was approved for Macys card with a 300cl. i gardened those 2 cards for 2 years with nothing but asking cli on my BofA card. i maxed my cards more than once and carried balances sometimes because being young and with credit sometimes you get crazy lol

[distantarray]

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@jsickz32 wrote:

hey im young too (21) i started my credit journey with BofA. i had checking with them since i was 16 and the same morning i turned 18 i went to my local branch to app for a card and was approved for their student plat plus for 1k. that same day i appd and was approved for Macys card with a 300cl. i gardened those 2 cards for 2 years with nothing but asking cli on my BofA card. i maxed my cards more than once and carried balances sometimes because being young and with credit sometimes you get crazy lol

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we can tell by the number of cards in your signiture

j/k  but seriously the younger you are more people tend to app a lot more. Quality over quantity

[jsickz32]

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@distantarray wrote:

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@jsickz32 wrote:

hey im young too (21) i started my credit journey with BofA. i had checking with them since i was 16 and the same morning i turned 18 i went to my local branch to app for a card and was approved for their student plat plus for 1k. that same day i appd and was approved for Macys card with a 300cl. i gardened those 2 cards for 2 years with nothing but asking cli on my BofA card. i maxed my cards more than once and carried balances sometimes because being young and with credit sometimes you get crazy lol

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we can tell by the number of cards in your signiture

j/k  but seriously the younger you are more people tend to app a lot more. Quality over quantity

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it was worth it! i went from 8.7k total cl to 43k