I am a Mexican National who has lived on and off in the United States since attending high school in 1985. I do not have a credit card and recently applied to Capital One and was rejected. The letter began as follows: Thank you for your recent request for credit privileges with us. After careful consideration of your application, we have determined that we are unable to grant your request for credit at this time. The reasons for our decision are as follows: LACK OF AVAILABLE CREDIT INFORMATION I already know that there is not anything in my credit file and I'm not even sure I have a "header" but I have a working US social security number. Does anyone know where I can apply for a card with a chance of getting one. I have an American friend who is going to get me a card with my name on it but I feel bad since she will have sole responsibility for its repayment and I don't think it will even be reported on my credit file.
RE: Foreign National Needs Cre Hi. Just get a secured card, or an unsecured sub prime, and pay on time for a year or two. You should have excellent credit within those 2 years.
RE: Foreign National Needs Cre 2 options: 1 - Apply for a secured credit card- Your credit limit will be the amount of your deposit, some banks such as Providian.com may even issue you a larger credit limit than your deposit. 2- Try applying for a department store credit card, they will usually issue your a small credit line but it's a good way to establish credit. Once you have a good payment history you will be able to apply for an unsecured card, larger credit limits and lower interest rates, the key is to pay those bills on time and never to go over your credit limit. Good luck to you Jaime. Alex. ------------------ Bad Credit? No Credit? Let Us Help! http://www.Creditinsiders.com
RE: Foreign National Needs Cre My sugestion is to apply for a secured card, and once you get it then get 2 other store cards like Target, and Best Buy. After 1 year you will be able to get a Citibank, B of A, or Chase card with no problem. For a good secured card try FCNB First Consumers Nat. Bank they even give you 50% more on your deposit to credit ratio!
RE: Foreign National Needs Cre I agree with the others that you should apply for a secured card. However, it would be best to apply with a bank that does not report the card as secured to the credit bureaus. Providian does this but Capital One and Orchard, for example, do not.
RE: Foreign National Needs Cre Apply for a secured Capital One card. That was my first card, paid $50 deposit and got $200 credit limit. Then pay your bills in time, use the online payment method, i've heard horror stories about Capital One's payment processing habits. Open a savings account with your bank, it helps a lot. After several months you'll start getting offers for unsecured credit (and I bet Providian will be among the first ones) Then you'll be on your merry way. Just don't be late with payments, don't bounce checks and have a stable US job...
RE: Foreign National Needs Cre I see Jaime can take two paths one is with such as FCNB card you recommend while giving a higher credit limit is still a sub-prime company and card and will result in offers 'soley' from other sub-primer's. Or, deal directly with a major bank and obtain their secured card, but most likely will not place him on the sub-prime sucker list. And when he finally receives an offer it will be from a prime bank. Either way will net him the department store cards which require a least that one credit reference.
