Credit score? What's that? About a month ago I found out we (hubby/self) don't have a credit score. When we got married we decided to close all of our previous accounts because we didn't want to be in credit card debt like most of our peers, we have paid cash and used debit cards for everything for the last 6 years. Now we are wanting to buy a house and a (much) larger car since we have 4 children now but when we couldn't get a car loan I started down the credit repair route only to discover the world of credit scores and all the ugliness and injustices of the system So we have no positive credit all that our credit reports consist of is (mine) 3 re-aged collections that were long forgotten from 6-7 years ago that have been tossed around and reported by many differnt CRA's and (his) an old American General Installment loan my husband took out with his mom for some gear back in 94-96 and a few more collections. Anyway, my question is this: I've started the clean up process for the negs (woo woo) and my mom put me on her MBNA and Bank one as an AU... but MBNA told her that they only report if the AU is your spouse. Is there anyway around this? I really need this history (obviously) and the Bank One is pretty new...Any ideas would be appreciated. Also, how long does it usually take for it to show up on reports? I'm looking forward to participating in all your fun banter about sleazy CCCs but I have to be "counted" first I just want a number... any number will do at this point just give me something to improve Funny system where one is penalized for not incurring debt!
You may have to start with a secured card. I here that Bank of America has a pretty decent secured card program, and they don't report the card as "secured" on your credit report. I'm sure others will pipe in here.
I agree with Jlynn, Bank of America, and American Pacific Bank both offer secured CC's with low annual fee (20-30$) and interest rates about 12%. American Pacific Bank does not report CC as secured, not sure about BoA though. One of the best options available is if you can get a local bank or credit union to give you a "passbook secured" or a "share secured" loan. Make sure they will report to the CRA's.
BofA does report as secured; know it for a fact from seeing it on a colleague's report. There is a good secured card program at Digital Credit Union. 8.9% APR, no annual fee, min deposit = $500, thereafter $100 increments. Anyone can join this CU -- you need to contribute and become a member in American Association of People with Disabilities ($8 per year) and through that membership, claim membership in DCU. You can download that application here: http://www.dcu.org/DCU_aapd_application.pdf Best of luck.
Oh, I forgot --- DCU does not report as secured (which is not exactly the same thing as saying unsecured, but for all practical purposes the same)
Re: Re: Starting from negative No difference as far as score goes; but there's the "eyeball" factor .... too many secured cards give out an impression that you are unable to get unsecured cards on your own, especially coupled with lots of inquiries ..... leaving the reviewer wondering why
