I thought that having utility bills in my name through college and even taking on debt in the form of installment loans would be enough to establish credit card history. After a year of paying these student loans in a timely manner I tried to apply for a CC through the bank I've banked with for some five years now (Wachovia). I should pause and state that my FICO score was 680 and initially there were two potentially negative accounts in my credit history. One was resolved. The other is pending.
During the time I first started paying my loans, I had them consolidated. Somehow one consolidation loan was being held bytwo different organizations: CLC Servicing and Citigroup. I NEVER knew about the Citigroup account until one day the CLC account magically went to zero and I was told they no longer hold my consolidation. I continued to get late payment warnings from CLC even though their own managers showed my account with a zero balance. After a 3 month calling affair I able to get that removed, but Citigroup seems less inclined to believe that I my side of the story. The whole time I was paying CLC on time, Citigroup was sending late charge notices to a previous campus address. I only explain this to give you all a better picture of the *only* negative accounts on in my history. I'm truly innocent but again, Citigroup doesn't seem inclined to believe me.
So fast forwarding. I applied for my Wachovia CC and was told I had insufficient credit history. My brother suggested I come here and ask as I don't know what to do. I was simply trying to stay loyal to the bank I've been with for so long; however, I suppose all that counts for nothing in the realm of credit. So how should I go about building credit card history?
