I am a 22 year old frustrated college student. I pulled all three of my reports and have absolutely NO credit and obviously no score. I searched these boards and others to figure out what to do. I applied in a fashion that would spread my inquiries out over all reports. Bank of America student â?? denied Avenue Plus â?? denied Chevron â?? denied Patelco â?? denied All for the same reason: insufficient credit references. I thought student cards, with the exception of AMEX, were SUPPOSED to be for people like me. Awaiting answer from: U.S. Bank student MBNA student Citibank student Chase student Discover student I am afraid I wonâ??t get any cards. I donâ??t want a secured card, due to the way it reports. I chose to wait until my senior year to get cards, because I did not want to charge up and off cards my first year. Now banks seem determined to punish me for being responsible. I have a full-time job, same residence for 3 years, and a 3.7 GPA. I chose not to graduate with student loan debt. This is an upsetting situation, any words of advice?
American Pacific Bank has a secured card that does not report as secured. Also, maybe you are eligible to join a local Credit Union and you will find their rules to extend credit are less restrictive
Be careful, alot of companies look at how many recent hits to your credit report have happened in the last 30 days and might deny you just based on that. You fastest way to establish a credit history is through a credit union, take out a secured loan for whatever you can afford like 1000 dollars which they freeze for you in a interest earning account and you pay it off in 12 months then do it again. By the first 6 months you should have enough good payments to get a store card. I would suggest something you would use alot like Circuit city which you can buy small things you want and pay them off in a timely manner. Also when I started out with no credit history I went into Sears and they approved me for a charge card since I was buying a video camera and could put that balance on there to start which they love. I had a picture perfect credit history from 1994 to 1999 the year I got married hehe.
Update: denied Chase student -- too many inquiries denied Discover student -- insufficient credit history No word from U.S. Bank, MBNA, or Citi but expecting rejections. What is the point of these people offering student cards if all they do is reject?
I believe you are being denied because you have no fico score, the creditors have nothing to base their decision on. too risky at the moment. try taking out a small student laon this will help establish credit once reported for 5-6 months you will obtain a fico score from the CRA I am told. it takes time to build, I was in the same boat 6 months ago now I have 5 CC but I make sure to keep low balances on all like show only 20% of my credit limit used that way my fico stays high. another way to get started is to take out a car loan for like 5or 6 K$ car dealers & banks like people with no credit . you can qualify under their first time buyer program, as long as you can meet their income requirements . since most students only work PT you may be able to get financial aid and show the grant $ as income, if you start out small you can handle the payments then work your way up. hope this helps you.
denied U.S. Bank student - insufficient credit history denied Discover student because of no credit history denied MBNA student due to no credit history No word from Citi...surely denial.
Hi...sorry to hear of your troubles.. Honestly, i think your best bet is to go the Authorized User route. Be careful who you pick..you want someone responsible and who (hopefully) has a long (positive) record.. hope this helps.. DB
Re: Re: Frustrated college student... Not all secured cards report as secured. Do some searches on this board and you'll find some that dont' report as secured. Getting one of those will help build a history. I see that Chase denied for too many inquiries, not insufficient history. You might try calling the executive offices and asking for reconsideration. Tell them that the reason you have so many inquiries is because everyone denies you because you don't have a history. Tell them you just want one card so you can build some history, and if they give it to you they'll be getting a loyal customer for years to come.
