What CC for my wife (570 scores)

[Anonymous]

I don't need to repeat the same ol' story we've all heard before... before I knew my wife she was in college, made bad decisions with credit, didn't pay her bills blah blah blah. Now I'm trying to clean it up. I've made her an AU on my Amex and Chase cards, mainly because I want the points and all spending to be centralized among a couple cards. Anyways, I'd like to get her a card of her own. Her myfico scores are all in the 560s/570s. She has 4 open collections, 3 are small utility bills and a library fine that I plan to do a PFD eventually. The other is $2100 from a Wells Fargo CC. She also has lots of late payments on student loans (we're still trying to get that mess sorted out). She has no inquiries because she knew nobody would give her any credit.

I want to start getting some positive information reported on her file. The AU cards have helped her FAKOs on CK and CS, but she needs something in her name only. I'm thinking of getting her the Capital One secured MC, but I know even a secured card isn't a guaranteed approval. Does she have a shot or is there another card to look at? 

Thanks!

[scubaqueen]

I got an capital one secured credit $1000, USAA secured mastercard $1000 and Usaa secured amex $250 with my scores way below hers.  Also try a credit union they are more forgiving and offer unsecured credit cards and a credit builder loan. 

[finallyfixingit]

My scores were similar to your wife’s when I started rebuilding back in July. I got a capital one secured card and I started the fingerhut fresh start. I just completed the fresh start program and was upgraded to a fingerhut credit card.

[Anonymous]

Just wanted to update this and say that my wife was approved for a Cap 1 UNSECURED card with a $500 limit and no AF! Of course the spending limit is a joke, but it's all about new POSITIVE information which her report desperately needs. I was hesitant about her applying for an unsecured card with her scores but Cap1 seriously BOMBARDED her with pre-approved offers so I figured one inquiry won't hurt. Just wanted to give some hope to anyone who stumbles across this thread doing research later on, you don't necessarily need to settle for a secured card!

[Shokk]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Just wanted to update this and say that my wife was approved for a Cap 1 UNSECURED card with a $500 limit and no AF! Of course the spending limit is a joke, but it's all about new POSITIVE information which her report desperately needs. I was hesitant about her applying for an unsecured card with her scores but Cap1 seriously BOMBARDED her with pre-approved offers so I figured one inquiry won't hurt. Just wanted to give some hope to anyone who stumbles across this thread doing research later on, you don't necessarily need to settle for a secured card!

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Congratz to her.  Cap One is great for rebuilding. As I noted in a couple other posts, they are good with CLIs.  Keep in INQ down and request a CLI in 6 months.  Good shot to get it especially if you get some of the other cleaned up.  My Cap One Quicksilver jumped from 1000 to 2500 without a request.  I had the same 500 beginner CL and they converted it to QS at 1st 6 months.  That was with several charge off and 3 or 4 collections still on ym account.  Another good thing is all Cap One pulls are soft after the original pull.