I've posted on this board before about my own problems with my all-too-lengthy credit history. My fiancee has the exact opposite problem: she doesn't have any credit history at all - as in, Experian (I think) couldn't find her when she asked for her free annual credit report for the first time this year. Both of our names are on our rent and utility bills, but as we've never been late on a payment, they've never been reported. We're young, but she's a couple of years out of college, and so she doesn't have the same options college students have for newbie credit card offers. In fact, nobody's offered her a credit card - WaMu (her primary bank, and where her paychecks go) appeared to offer her one a few months ago, but when she told them that she wanted to take them up on the offer, they changed tack and told her they had just been inviting her to apply for one but couldn't offer her a card because of her lack of credit history. They then offered her a securitized card. I know these cards are a bad deal, but are they as helpful as advertised in establishing a credit history? Is there another, better way to establish a credit history these days? We want to be able to buy a house in a few years, and the longer we wait for her to start out, the shorter her history is going to be when it really matters. Any suggestions are appreciated. Many thanks, --Chris
Try reading the Featured article that's on the right side of this page, "How to Start Building Credit From Scratch". It gives good advice for individuals in your situation. Piggybacking, secured cards, and retail cards are all effective ways to start out.
Yes - a secured credit card is one way. Becoming an authorized user on someone else's card/s is another.
Look around at the secured cards. Some of them report as secured cards, others report as unsecured (in other words, they don't note that it's a secured card). I believe BoA reports as unsecured, but I'm not positive. Yes, it will help build her credit. And has been mentioned, so will becoming an authorized user. If your credit is pretty good, adding her will help a little. Getting her added to an aged tradeline will help even more.
Wow, at least congrats on her getting out of school, with what must be no student loans, if she is still a "ghost". Yep, pick out your two oldest cards with perfect payment history, that aren't over-utilized and make her an AU. That will at least jump start her. She might also ask her parents. Just make sure they are ones that report to the bureaus!
Make sure it is Chase, BOA, AMEX, Discover, Citi and you should be fine in terms of adding her as an AU.
There is at least one bad aspect of the advice everyone is giving you. All of them end up being very expensive ways of obtaining new credit. Think about it. If you get a credit card you have to spend money and stand still for getting socked with a very high interest rate, maybe late or over limit fees and other hidden charges. Another problem is that if she gets herself put on her parents card and actually gets a card she can use it may hurt her parents score badly because it will show unusual activity and may also make their debt to available credit ratio go through the roof. Going with the suggestion that Apex advances won't do that. Won't be a worry. There is also another way I know of and that is buying credit. There are companies who will make people a fake loan. For a rather small price they will loan a certain amount of money. How ever much you want and can afford. Might be only $10,000 and might be as much as a couple of million. Getting a loan of say $50,000 would probably cost somewhere around $500. What it really boils down to is that you pay the fee, say $500, and they report that they have loaned you $50,000. They report that you made your payments on time for each of 12 months. But of course they never actually loan you any money at all. You just pay them to say they did.
I suggest you avoid any company that would take money from you to issue a "fake" loan. Not a good idea. The other suggestions given are the best ways to start out, and they're not really expensive. Stick with those, keep your credit utilization low, live within your means, and pay your balance off each month.
Cap, those companies are out there but, most have been shut down by the CRA's. I saw literally hundreds bite the dust during the big FICO 08' fiasco.
Quite so! And more new ones keep popping up about as fast as they can be shut down. They breed about as fast as rabbits.
Last year i started my credit repair Venture (12 months to the day) I had 16 medical collections 3 judgements I had 0 Credit cards I had 0 installment loans I had no Credit Score This is what i did mid way thru removing Judgements and collections thru disputes via the CRAs I applied for and received a Creditone Bank card with a $200 Limit I applied for and received a Capital one Bank card with a $300 limit received them both by the end of Dec. Made all my payments on time and applied for NO MORE CREDIT (keep those inquires down) After disputing my Credit file for 6 months i ended up with 0 Judgements 0 collection accounts my score of 718 posted (after 6 months of revolving credit) July 1st. I then went into my local VW dealer with $1000 and purchased a $24,500 VW Jetta financed by a local credit union. The same day another Local credit union also gave me a $500 visa card My advice would be to try Capital one and Creditone bank I would stay away from some of the above mentioned citi , Chase ect anything less than 1 year of credit history is an instant decline with them if all else fails try you local banks and credit unions for a low limit starter card or even secured
You're case would be the exception to the rule. I just wanted to note that but, good job nonetheless.
Just another exception I've monitored this forum for some time and now feel compelled to contribute. I began my credit repair journey in August, 2007 with 24 collections, one judgment and no positive history for almost 10 years. I began this journey because I wanted to finance a car and the best deal I could get was from Westlake Financial at a very high interest rate. By reading this board and others, I was able to get my reports completely clear by April, 2008. During the repair process, my scores rose from around 500 to the mid 600's. I applied and was granted credit first by Macy's store for $300. Best Buy for $500. Orchard for $300, Walmart for $300 and Cap 1 for $300. All while there were still baddies on the reports. Since April I have asked for CLI's and new credit cards and received: Macy's store $1300 Macy's Visa $3000 Best Buy Store $4200 Best Buy M/C $950 Walmart $500 Hooters M/C $2300 Discover $3000 Chase $2500 Care Credit $5000 I closed the Walmart, Orchard and Cap 1 lines because of low credit lines and annual fees (Orchard and Cap 1). I also didn't like their lack of customer service. Now, I PIF the small charges each month and carry very little balance. My scores are all around 720 - 740 and I can look forward to my first home purchase next year. So, it can be done and thanks to you all.
