Islandsnowz

Is there a minimum requirement?

Reason I ask that is because I wanted to boost my credit with one but have gotten declined by 2 stores already.

Last year October, I applied for a Macy's card in the store and received a letter saying I was declined due to insufficient credit which is true...I don't have any.

I only have 1 bill, have a consistent and current job history, but bought my car cash from a private seller.

So last week I applied for a Banana Republic card and was declined for the same reason as Macy's. Clearly i'm not meeting the requirements.

Last year I worked at Banana Republic as a seasonal as a 2nd job and learned the pros and cons of the card but whats crazy is when 18-21 year olds would apply, they got instantly approved without any help which lead me to believe it would happen to me too.

Is the "recession" causing them to crack down on approving people with no credit?

I've looked up my credit report and it was a clean slate, nothing negative. But looking up your actual score you have to pay a fee which complete bs.

Almost every month Wells Fargo sends me their Visa card application with my info already printed on it and just want me to fill out my employer and contact information. Which I'm sure I will probably be denied for that too anyway.

Since I've already got declined for 2 places I think I'm gonna lay low for a bit.

Both stores do report to the credit bureaus btw.

-your is welcome here-

Anachostic

Here's a story about my first credit card. Many years ago, I had no credit also. I had always gotten by with a cosign from my dad, who had awesome credit. One year in the Christmas shopping season, I applied for a Sears card. I got denied, but I noticed on the rejection letter that they mis-spelled my name. The next day I went to Sears' customer service counter and they let me call the credit center. I explained that the reason they couldn't find any credit history on me was because they had my name wrong. At the time I didn't know that's not how it works.

I don't know if I convinced them that was true or whether they were feeling generous because of the holidays, but they offered me a $600 line of credit. At the time, that was huge. I had my first credit card. From that point on, getting credit was too easy, but I always remembered that I might be able to sneak by if I spelled my name poorly.

Now, times have certainly changed since then. I'm not sure if a CSR would have any leeway to decide whether you get a card or not these days. But I think a little social engineering may still have value. They always say "Never take no for an answer" and "Never accept the first offer", so maybe a phone call is in order. Maybe it would need to be deferred until peak shopping season. This Christmas is going to be another massacre, so maybe that's the time to strike.

On a more practical note: applying for multiple cards at once is a red flag for credit issuers - space out your requests.

Go to Quizzle.com and CreditKarma.com and get the free score estimates to see where you stand in your credit file. They're not the FICO score, but they are decent representations.

You might get lucky with your WF card. Pre-approval offers would be a waste of paper if they sent them to people would couldn't be approved - hence "pre-approval".

Finally, your last resort for building credit may be a pre-paid card that "graduates" to a full credit card after a evaluation period (maybe 90 days). I can't think of any off the top of my head, but credit.com has a full list: http://www.credit.com/products/credit_cards/secure.jsp

Good luck!

Islandsnowz

Thanks for the good advise.

Waiting until christmas season sounds good. On the Wells Fargo app, they said the offer with the 0% Apr is good until August, so i should have my mind made up by then.

I hate prepaid cards with a passion, I had the Rush Card and the Walmart money card, its a SOB to load it with money.

Too bad my name is so simple not to mispel, i need a german or spanish name

Anachostic

Don't confuse prepaid credit cards, which I should have referred to as "secured", with prepaid debit cards. With secured cards, you get something like a savings account and whatever you put into it is your credit limit. Then, you forget about the money and just pay your bill as normal. So you only "load" it once, when you open the account. I don't know about the cards you mentioned, but I really doubt they would report to any credit agencies.

I do think you have better options than this, though.

doopstr

I always thought department store cards were a good starting point. When I was 18 my first credit card was a Macy's card with a $300 limit . I even remember that my first purchase was a pair of Totes boots that went over shoes. I didn't even have a full time job.

If you are a student get a student visa/mastercard.

MR1

Another route is to join a local credit union. They are easier to deal with and more likely to work with you. Store cards are very high interest and should be paid off every month.

If you read the fine print on the WF offer you will find that it is only approved if you meet their requirements.

Islandsnowz

I do have a savings with my local credit union that i rarely touch, kinda hate doing business with them because they close early than others and not open on weekends.

Do you know any criteria that they look out for when applying for a card, such as account activity, balance etc.?

MR1

[QUOTE=Islandsnowz;11054208]I do have a savings with my local credit union that i rarely touch, kinda hate doing business with them because they close early than others and not open on weekends.

Do you know any criteria that they look out for when applying for a card, such as account activity, balance etc.?[/QUOTE]

Varies by organization. Easy way is to ask them!
Close early & not open weekends = lower overhead=easier terms. Nothing is perfect and there is no free lunch.

Thought you wanted a credit card, you are now asking for a full service 24 hour financial institution located within walking distance. Sorry, you might have to go through a little trouble to get established, life sucks.

Islandsnowz

Yeah i was reading up on those recently, the "good grades = reward points" are kinda neat. Yahoo suggests the Mtv Citi Visa Card.


lol, Well when you are in a tight situation you need those small benefits, a few years ago I was living in Hawaii and my cell phone deactivated my bank card, it was a Friday and Hawaii is 5 hours behind Alabama and the Credit Union closes at 4pm so it was a SOB to get in touch with someone to mail me a card till that Monday. Basically I went the entire weekend + another week without cash until I received another card. My mom had to send me money out of my account just so I could survive. Now a days you can do this over a automated system which is good.

LuvMyTSX

Back in college, I signed up for a student visa from Citibank. I still have the card to this day. I think I started out with a $500 limit. I think a normal credit card would be better for you than a store-specific card. If you get a normal card, you can put groceries or something on it on a regular basis to build up your credit. Just make sure you get one with no annual fees.

TS_eXpeed

Best solution for trying to establish some credit and a line to boost your credit, is like luv said; a student credit card.

I could be wrong, but my guess is, unless your parents had a card in your name when you were young which was building credit for you before you were the age of consent, you won't get a department store card. That happened to one of my friends. She said she applied for a Kohls charge/credit card and got denied. Turns out she didn't have any credit history whatsoever.

You need to establish history for a bit with a general lender before you try to get credit lines through specific stores. At least IMO.

ctsport

Thats weird, the 2 CC's I have are the ones I applied when I was 18 and got approved w/o my Dad co-signing or anything. One of my CC is from my bank and I think its a lot easier to get one from your bank, try that first.

anx1300c

iTrader: (2)

Get a BOFA secured card. They'll turn it into an unsecured card after some time. It will report the three CRA's like a normal card in the interim.

http://www.bankofamerica.com/creditc...cc_secured.cfm