Zero credit at 40 years old where to begin?

[Anonymous]

One more update: 

I called transunion to try and initiate a dispute for the account I refer to above

CHASE#...............

Balance:zero

date updated :. (a date in 2003)

Loan Type:Credit Card

Remarks: Purchased by another lender

Date opened:.(a date in 1999)

Date Closed: (a date in 2003)

And he said this is not negative that banks sell and buy things all the time and that nobody will look at this adversely and there is no reason to remove it. Is that possible?  I took his word for it but I can call back!

Thanks again.

[cashnocredit]

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@Anonymous wrote:

One more update: 

I called transunion to try and initiate a dispute for the account I refer to above

CHASE#...............

Balance:zero

date updated :. (a date in 2003)

Loan Type:Credit Card

Remarks: Purchased by another lender

Date opened:.(a date in 1999)

Date Closed: (a date in 2003)

And he said this is not negative that banks sell and buy things all the time and that nobody will look at this adversely and there is no reason to remove it. Is that possible?  I took his word for it but I can call back!

Thanks again.

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Yes, he's right. And it is a positive factor on your FICO scores as well.

[Anonymous]

Thank you so much Cashnocredit!   You rock.

[Anonymous]

Brainfreeze,

Might I recommend that you attain a copy of your credit score and visit local banks and CU. At the time, I would use the current credit score to see if I can get a secured card while reducing the amount of hard inquires on your account. Given your "limited" credit history, a hard inquire will impact you more then one with a well established credit history.

Also, when applying for a secured card make sure that the provider actually reports to a credit agency, some do some don't.

And good luck with everything.

[lamb]

Hi! I actually dealt with a similar issue a year and a half ago (and at the same age!) after a divorce and living abroad for a decade.

Since my credit file was empty, I started with a secured card from Bank of America, which was unsecured after 12 months with a credit limit increase. The card was secured with $8000 and I think it helped me to have a large credit limit later on, as well as with encouraging other lenders to give me decent limits. I charged everything I needed to buy and paid my bill in full every month.

My advice would be to stay away from the bad credit rebuilder cards as much as possible. I started working on this very methodically about 18 months ago and now have a fair amount of unsecured credit, including my original BofA card, an AMEX gold (which they backdated to 1988), a Discover More, and some store charge cards that I actually use. Amazon (GEMB?) was quite generous and I use it regularly. I was also able to get a conventional mortgage at a good interest rate a year ago, although I did put down a significant amount of money (50%).

Good luck! It took a lot of careful planning, but I'm happy with how things have turned out. I'm now just letting things age and keeping balances low - my score keeps increasing every few months.

[lamb]

I forgot to add - I also took out an auto loan with a 50% downpayment. The interest rate is higher than I like, but my plan is to have it paid off within 2 years.

[Anonymous]

I would suggest going to your bank and getting a secured personal loan.  You put, say $3500, in a secured savings account and the bank loans you $3500 against it.   You have to make your first payment and then that amount comes off of "secured" status and is available to use to pay the next payment.  The interest on these loans is minimal and you even get paid interest on the savings account.  This type of credit is A credit and highly desireable as it shows as a bank loan.   I'm not a credit wiz but was told to do this myself and it will get you credit without getting you in debt at 25%

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@Anonymous wrote:

Hello. I am new to this forum. I'm pretty sure I have no credit. I was living in England and France from 2000 until 2007 and since returning four years ago have been renting a house and using my ATM/Visa from Wells Fargo for everything. I have bought two cars since I've been back but have paid cash for both. Before I went abroad I had some student loans which were not quite paid off so I paid them off in 2002 it looks like.

I did file for bankrupcy in 2001 before marrying my husband because I didn't want him to have to assume my credit card debt from college (less than 10K.)  This is nowhere on my credit report so must have fallen off.  

My husband and I bought a house in France in 2002 and renovated taking numerous loans to complete it and recently sold it (one year ago) repaying all the loans in full with the sale, and a perfect paymeny history but this does not reflect on a US credit report. They do not actually have Credit Reports in France at least they didn't when I was living there. 

I tried to run a free yearly credit report on myself just today and it looks more or less blank. Two agencies Experian and Equifax were unable to validate my request using the questions. Equifax in fact asked 4 questions that had absolutely no relationship to me, and Experian asked only two out of four questions that were valid. Trans Union on the other hand asked four questions that related to me and provided me with a free report and here is what it said:

The only reporting on it is two items listed under satisfactory accounts. One is certainly my old student loans which lists as paid as of 2002 with a zero balance. The other says credit card (no memory of this) CHASE opened 1999 and closed in 2003. Zero balance. Remarks are purchased by another lender. This was possibly an old apple computer loan or maybe in fact a credit card I had long ago.  Then there's something under the Student Loan saying last 31 months paid OK with a bunch of little green OK boxes.  I'm curious why these two old bits of information are even on there if it's all suppose to fall away as time passes. Or is it just the bad stuff that falls away? And isn't this last one in fact bad as it shows "purchased by another lender". Does that imply something negative?

Here are my questions (and thanks in advance for any and all help.)

• Do I need to follow up with these other agencies and mail in paper with a photo ID etc?  Or is one agency reporting enough?
• What can I do to improve my pretty much nonexistent credit (I understand from reading that I may need to open an actual credit card, my husband has a AMEX would they give me a card as well? Or some lesser entity? How many cards do I need? I really don't like ahaving credit cards and would prefer to just keep them in a file somewhere and use them only to build my credit if needed. Who would give me a credit card? Do I really want one?
• It worries me a bit that I am 40 years old and have this empty credit. If I had a score, which I'm assuming I don't, would it be a regular score? I did the estimator for FICO and reprted as never having had a credit card as having Zero is not an option. Would my score actual be a good score? 

Excuse the rambling. I will start using the shorthand in my next post. I am familiar with it so please feel free to use it in any replies. I am eager to get my credit looking like a 40 year woman should so any and all help from those of you who know your way aound this stuff so well would be greatly appreciated. I am a quick study so send me all the links and advice you are able!

Thanks again!

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[Anonymous]

Hello,

To build Credit, a great trick is to place a small amount of money in a savings account at WF where you currently bank. Say $300 to $500, then go to the loan department of that bank and ask for a secure loan equal to the savings account. The loan will be easy to get and have a low interest rate unlike a secured credit card witch has higher rates. After you get the loan, wait one week and make your first payment, wait another week and make your second monthly payment, wait a third week and make your 3 monthly payment. When your first monthly payment is actual due, pay the payment on time and on time every month after that. At the same time you get the loan, get a secured credit card and one unsecured like capital one. By the time you reach 90 days you will have a 800+ fico score.  With all 3 CB

[Slab]

There are very few banks that offer secured credit cards that report to the credit bureaus. Capital
One does offer secured credit cards and I got one with $200 deposit and no other fees involved or if there was a fee, it

was minimal. I received the card in about ten days and immediately charged $109 on it and paid it off three days later.

To my surprise, 1 to 2 months later, I checked my credit and it raised my score by 40 points. That was the only credit card that I had

so, it only takes one card to raise your score but you have to charge something and pay it off immediately, or that is the way that I did it.

Once my credit score was raised I applied for another card and received a $3000 unsecured limit. The only 2 banks that I know of that

issue secured cards and report to the credit bureaus are Capital One and Orchard. Feel free to ask for more advice as far as my credit

adventure continued.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Hello,

To build Credit, a great trick is to place a small amount of money in a savings account at WF where you currently bank. Say $300 to $500, then go to the loan department of that bank and ask for a secure loan equal to the savings account. The loan will be easy to get and have a low interest rate unlike a secured credit card witch has higher rates. After you get the loan, wait one week and make your first payment, wait another week and make your second monthly payment, wait a third week and make your 3 monthly payment. When your first monthly payment is actual due, pay the payment on time and on time every month after that. At the same time you get the loan, get a secured credit card and one unsecured like capital one. By the time you reach 90 days you will have a 800+ fico score.  With all 3 CB

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Ah-hem!  As DS would say, "Whatchabeensmokin?"