What card can I get with a 657?

[Anonymous]

Hello.

First of, thank you to all those who have posted here.  I have spent the last three hours reading and learning, and have learned a whole lot.  Thank you again.

I unfortunately could not figure out what to do in my situation.

I just pulled a FICO score and it read 657. My credit was really awful from 5+ years ago, but no dings since then and the last of the bad stuff is due to come off in a little over a year.  Only credit I do show is paying my student loan.  No other credit activity. 

I would like to obtain a credit card for the purpose of building/improving credit score.  Could some of you experienced folks suggest which credit card(s) I shuld apply for with the 657 score, please?

Thanks in advance.

[My2cents]

mrsmith 

Try WAMU if you have not defaulted on a Providian or Wamu or chase card.  657 is pretty good, lenders will work with you.  HSBC will treat you like you have a557 so I not quite sure about them.  They(HSBC) also like nickels and dimes, which they will try to get from you monthly.

Enough from me, My2cents

[Anonymous]

Thanks My2cents.  Errr, yeah, ummm Providian.... right.   Other options please?

[SCF]

Why don't you head over to the Bank of America site and check out their pre-selector?  That should give you an idea of what you might qualify for based on your report.  Also, even if you apply for a BoA card and are denied, they may counter-offer with their partially secured card, the 99/500, where you send in a $99 deposit for a $500 limit.

I think you should be good for an unsecured card at this point, you can also try the pre-selector at Capitol One to see what they offer you, but if you have to take a secured card for 9 months to get in the door with a prime lender like BoA, I think it will be well worth the effort.  BoA will treat you well once you unsecure.

[Anonymous]

I am in the same boat as you and we have the same score.

If you look at my thread "penfed material or not" you should find some good info .

Back in April I received a 99/500 card from BOA and have been happy with it so far. The customer service reps tell me that it take a year for it to become unsecured, but i have also read 9 months on this site.

My next plan is to get in with Navy Federal Credit Union. if you can also i recommend it, as the other people say this is a bank you want to grow with.

For the last three years I have been banking with E Trade and they are by far the best bank I have ever been with. they treat there customers like GOLD>>>> When ever i have had a problem they are there to eliminate and correct without blame and the is also to include when i was at fault.

Best of luck and feel free to ask more questions

Charlie

[Anonymous]

Try the cap1, boa, hsbc pre-approval sites.  Also if your with any credit unions, talk to them about cards.

[smallfry]

At this time I would avoid WaMu. A local credit union might be a good place to start. Keep the applications to a minimum. I would try for Capital One and BofA. Don't try to do too much at once. Good luck. 

[score_building]

local cu, boa, citi, cap1 -in order of preference

---

@Anonymous wrote:

I would like to obtain a credit card for the purpose of building/improving credit score.  Could some of you experienced folks suggest which credit card(s) I shuld apply for with the 657 score, please?

Thanks in advance.

---

[Anonymous]

Check out these 2 sites:

http://www.creditcards.com/

http://whogavemecredit.com/

[Anonymous]

With a decent income and decent average age of accounts, you may get a nibble from Chase, Citi, and HSBC.