Trying to get my first credit card

[Anonymous]

I recently started a management consulting job, and I travel all the time.  Getting the credit card points and frequent flyer miles is supposed to be one of the big perks of the job, but I have never had a credit card before.  As a result, I do not have any revolving credit history (just two very small student loans), and I've been using a corporate card to cover the expenses.  I recently applied for the Chase Freedom card, but was denied.  I had a very informative conversation on the reconsideration line, but Chase said they need to see some sort of revolving credit history.

I have employment, a solid income...but no revolving credit history.  Does anyone had advice on what credit card I should pursue to establish history?

[Anonymous]

Welcome to the board, Ryan!

The good news is that there are a lot of options that have lower initial requirements than the Chase Freedom. The trick is figuring out where you fit in. Worst case scenerio, you need to start with a secured card (where you make a deposit that the card issuer holds as a guarantee while you prove yourself credit-worthy). But there's a good chance you won't even need to do that.

A lot of banks have tools on their websites that allow you to see what cards you pre-qualify for. You enter some basic information, and they do a soft pull of your credit (soft pull, meaning that it doesn't impact your credit report at all). And then they'll tell you, based on that information, what cards (if any) you appear to qualify for. It's not a guarantee that you'll be approved, but it's about the best indicator you can get.

For instance, go to capitalone.com. Then hover your mouse over "Credit Cards" on the menu bar. Then select "See If You're Pre-Qualified" from the drop-down menu. That'll give you a better idea where you're at right now.

Good luck!

Edit: I should add that if you do apply, then they'll do a hard pull of your credit, which will show up on your report and impact your score. But that's just part of the process.

[wmweeza]

Also you could go the secured card route. I started out that way.

Two options with Bank of America:

Apply for a card, they will probably decline you but offer you a secured card, the standrad one is a $99 deposit for a $500 CL. It does unsecure and grow fairly well if you pay on time.

Second: Apply for the secured card and put down a significant deposit, they'll make your secured line equal to your deposit (I have heard random stories of starting lines bigger then the deposit). 6 months to a year from now you'll have a great unsecured card.

That's just my 2 cents

[SouthJamaica]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I recently started a management consulting job, and I travel all the time.  Getting the credit card points and frequent flyer miles is supposed to be one of the big perks of the job, but I have never had a credit card before.  As a result, I do not have any revolving credit history (just two very small student loans), and I've been using a corporate card to cover the expenses.  I recently applied for the Chase Freedom card, but was denied.  I had a very informative conversation on the reconsideration line, but Chase said they need to see some sort of revolving credit history.

I have employment, a solid income...but no revolving credit history.  Does anyone had advice on what credit card I should pursue to establish history?

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It's best to start out with a Capital One card.

[Anonymous]

I recommend to apply for the capital one Platinum. Use it for 2-3 months  then hop on LIVE CHAT and ask to be upgaded to a Capital one QuickSilver with no annual fee. (just to get rewards for using the card)

If you dont get approved for the Platinum then apply for the Cap. one secured (if still avaiable). It should use the same hard point pull as the one used on the Platinum apply you just did. However,  you might be able to get the Platinum right off the bat with a smaller credit limit like $500.

Just stay with capital one because there the easiest for many.

Stay away from companies like credit one or any tailered specfically for "bad credit" as they are rip offs in the credit world.

 After you get some months in with cap. one you can try other companies pre quail tool or just try for the Capital One Venture but it will take some time to get good enough history for the cards you want. 

[myjourney]

Welcome to the forum

1) apply for the Discover secured card or Cap1 with $39 AF or both

2) if secured open it with a decent amount enough to cover your travel expenses

3) use it for 4-5 months keeping UTL at statement cut under 10%

4) app Amex gold or plat whichever travel perks best fits your needs

5) 6 months later pick between a hotel card you stay at or CSP, Prestige, Premier

More info needed 

Do you know your scores? (Fico only)

Any other TL's I.E. auto etc etc beside SL?

No baddies correct?

[Anonymous]

Leave capital one as a last resort, just my opinion.  You sound like someone that will be spending quite a bit, and can take the fast track to great credit.  Capital one will not work with you in the future for big credit limit increases, or interest rate reductions.  They are however, excellent at approving people, reporting to the bureaus, and honoring the limits they issue to folks.  I wont hate a person for starting out with capital one.  But long term, they are not worth your time.

I like the idea of Bank of America, Discover, etc.  I would go for them first and if you cannot get approved, then go for capital one.

What are your scores, where are they from, what is your average age of accounts, and how many inquiries do you have?  Any late payments on anything in your history?

Does this corporate card have any ties to your reports?  It might be helpful if it did.

Also you could always call back to chase and try for a 2nd recon.  They have approved folks in the 500-600 range for the freedom card.  Are you a member at any local credit unions?  It may help you out to go to your current bank and apply for a card with them. They can use some of your checking account history as leverage to open an account.

TLDR, is there anyone that you can have add you as an authorized user, someone that is meticulous with their credit and does not carry large balances compared to their limits?  After trying for BOA and Discover, if that fails, anyone that may be willing to cosign? If not, then consider capital one.

[Anonymous]

Everyone,

Thank you for all of the responses.  New to the community, and really impressed with everyone's eagerness to help.

Credit scores are mostly from credit karma

Transunion: 670, Equifax: 653.  On the recent denial for Chase Freedom, the letter said my Equifax was a 594, which was surprising.  Apparently this is because Equifax doesn't show that I've begun to make student loan payments.

My current accounts are just two small student loans for about 3K, which recently came out of their deferred period.  I've only had to make one payment on each so far; however, I even made a payment during the grace period.  I only took out the loans to begin establishing credit, and I could pay them off in full at any time.

I have two recent hard credit pulls: one in June/July for an apartment that I signed on, and then the second is from the unsuccessful bid at the Chase Freedom.

Tomorrow, I think I'm going to go to capital one and my personal bank (TD Bank)  talk with a representative about my situation.  I'd really like to skip the secured card step, and go straight to unsecured and potentially receive rewards.  But at this point, I'll take anything.  I'm hoping TD Bank might be able to take my savings/credit accounts into consideration (Chase said they would have done the same, but I do not have an account with Chase).

Do the trips to CapOne and TD seem like good ideas?

[happypill]

Welcome ryan10, I agree this is a great community.  I'll second what others have said that Capital One is a great first step.  Whatever they start you out with, they will reward you quickly with higher limits if you use their card.  I went from a $200 secured card to a $3k QS1 to a $5k Venture to a $30k Venture in the span of about 12 months.  As a consultant with all your travel, you'll have a chance quickly for much higher limits, no matter what you start out with.  It's probably true that Capital One may night give huge credit increses to cards you have, but they are more than happy to approve you for a new card at a higher limit in just a few months.  That said, Capital One isn't necessarily known for favoring thin credit files (without much history like yours), so you may have to start out with a secured or maybe platinum.

Discover loves people with thin files.  This biggest problem with Discover for someone who travels a lot is that they are not as widely accepted as VS/MC.  This used to be a huge problem to the extent that a business traveler wouldn't even consider Discover.  I think that has improved a lot recently, but for business travel it's still a distant 4th behind Amex/VS/MC.  Still, it might be a good starting point and they do sometimes counter-offer with a secured card if they don't approve you right away.

Your suggestion of going into your own bank (TD Bank) if probably a good choice.  Have no idea what their CC approvals are like, but at least they are seeing the regular deposits and expenditures going through your account.  Another idea might be Barclay's.  The pull TU which appears to be your highest score (would definitely advise ignoring Credit Karma and getting a genuine FICO right here) and if you are not approved instantly they are very friendly toward recon and are willing to give a chance to people with low inquiries and few recently opened accounts.

My suggest would be to apply with Capital One (I'm not sure about walking into a Capital One, never seen a physical location but it couldn't hurt I guess), your TD Bank, then also Discover or Barclay's.  Might as well get 3 of them going at the same time to build your credit history.  It's not like you're going to hurt your AAoA (average age of accounts) so let them all grow together.  One thing to note is that Barclay's is taking over the Jet Blue card and should be releaseing it around March I think.  Barclay's has a few pretty good travel cards in their lineup now, but if you get a card from them today, you'll probably want to wait around 6 months before trying for a second.

Good luck!

[Chris679]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Everyone,

Thank you for all of the responses.  New to the community, and really impressed with everyone's eagerness to help.

Credit scores are mostly from credit karma

Transunion: 670, Equifax: 653.  On the recent denial for Chase Freedom, the letter said my Equifax was a 594, which was surprising.  Apparently this is because Equifax doesn't show that I've begun to make student loan payments.

My current accounts are just two small student loans for about 3K, which recently came out of their deferred period.  I've only had to make one payment on each so far; however, I even made a payment during the grace period.  I only took out the loans to begin establishing credit, and I could pay them off in full at any time.

I have two recent hard credit pulls: one in June/July for an apartment that I signed on, and then the second is from the unsuccessful bid at the Chase Freedom.

Tomorrow, I think I'm going to go to capital one and my personal bank (TD Bank)  talk with a representative about my situation.  I'd really like to skip the secured card step, and go straight to unsecured and potentially receive rewards.  But at this point, I'll take anything.  I'm hoping TD Bank might be able to take my savings/credit accounts into consideration (Chase said they would have done the same, but I do not have an account with Chase).

Do the trips to CapOne and TD seem like good ideas?

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I would go to annualcreditreport.com and pull all three reports to make sure you don't have any negative accounts on there that are lowering your credit score and holding you back from approvals.  If you have no revolving history and no negative accounts on your file I would expect to see scores in the upper 600-low 700 range.  You might have an old collection like a phone bill that could be easily removed and would boost your score making it easier to get approved.  

I also think Cap One is a great starting point, Walmart is another easy one to get.  Once you get 6 months of revolving history you can look at something that's more in line with the rewards you want.