Hi... I was wondering... My girlfriend is going to be moving into my house on her birthday which is October 3rd and she will be turning 18. Knowing that I we are both young (I am 21) I was going to help her out with establishing credit with 1 major credit card. Knowing that she has no credit history... I was thinking the best thing for her would be a secured card with the ability to contribute more money if she ever wants to increase her limit. So I was thinking along the line of a Sterling Bank and Trust Silver Visa or Mastercard. Or a secured card by Capial One. Knowing that Capital One is extremely tight on increases and stuff... When does Capital One give you the chance to contribute money to increase your limit Also I am going to be applying for the Sterling Gold Visa with Sterling Bank and Trust. I have the 3750.00 in the bank to have them draw up a cashiers check.. But I need to know... What are the chances of them approving me because I don't quite meet their minimum income requirements (30,000) Which to me..is kinda stupid because you are securing 3750.00 of the 5000.00 limit... I mean... I have the money.. Just don'twant to waste an inquery on my report. Help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you very much. Have a great day.
RE: Trying to help my girlfrie I would recommend a secured card with a prime lender. You can get a secured card at any bank ie. chase,Citibank, First Union etc. You can establish a credit rating and relationship with your own lending institution.
RE: Trying to help my girlfrie I have a secured application for Citibank if you want it. It took them 2 weeks to send me the application! I know it will take the application no more than 4 days max (that's CA to NY) if I send it to you. Just email me (using the link) with your address and I'll send it ASAP! Just some info about the card. They require a minimum of $300 and they do not report the account to the credit bureaus until the account goes to unsecured status (after 18 months of positive pay history). THat's how I got my first start w/ Citibank.
BETTER OPTION Why not try American Pacific Bank, or First Coinsumers Nat. Bank. They report to the bureaus every month, and FCNB has a programme that gives 25% more credit than deposited! Also if your girlfriend is a student at college many banks offer student cards with $300-$500 limits on them for students starting out like her.
RE: Trying to help my girlfrie A rep already is sending me an application. What is the annual fee? Also when they eventually do report the the Bureaus after unsecured statis.. Do you get an APR similar to their unsecured classic cards as well as no annual fee? Let me know.
RE: BETTER OPTION My g/f goes to an all girls school and when she moves in with me.. she will be taking an at home diploma course which I am not sure if they consider that as a student. I will have to check into that. maybe a Capitol One Student card will work. That way she will possibly have a no annual fee student card.
RE: BETTER OPTION "Student Cards" typically require the applicant to be attending a four-year college/university. It sounds like she is in high school. While Capital One does apparantly still have a card for high school students, it requires a co-signer with good credit, which might have to be the appliant's *parent*. I generally recommend Capital One for secured cards. They report as unsecured on credit reports (or, rather, they just don't mention the secured status), and they have decent customer service. Extra money can be added to the deposit at any time, and the limit can be increased in $100 increments. Unsecured limit increases may take time, but, after 18 months or so of on-time payments, the cardholder will be elegible for regular cards from other issuers. A couple of other things I noticed: 1. You have said that *you* will be using *your* money for the deposit. And she doesn't have a high school diploma yet, which reduces her job prospects. So you are essentially trusting an unemployed, fresh-from-mommy's-house, just-turned-18-year-old high school dropout with this money. And going to an all-girls school suggests it's a private school, which suggests a priviledged background where she is accustomed to being given things. So who is going to pay the bill? What if she runs up a large debt and then breaks up with you? 2. Why is she dropping out of school? If she is almost 18, she shouldn't have very much more time to graduation. Why the urgency for that, and for moving in with you? 3. Are you *sure* you two even know each other well enough to be dealing with these kinds of risks and impositions on each other? At your ages? 4. I am quite suspicious of the relationship and financial skills of a 21-year-old man who, in a public forum, openly indicates that he has a *17*-year-old "girlfrind." Do you understand that there are criminal laws about that sort of thing? And even if you haven't done anything against those laws yet, perhaps your judgement is being seriously clouded by a, "young-man-in-anticipation" frame of mind, if you know what I mean... Good Luck. You'll need it. -- CardReport.Com - Credit Tools, News, And Reference http://www.cardreport.com/ Everything You Need To Know About Credit And Debt --
RE: BETTER OPTION Wow...well, that was certainly a hell of a lot more than what StUplfleD was looking for, I'm sure, but, a good opinion, anyway...;-D
Statutory Rape First of all, any connection between this puppy's financial skills and the statutory rape or "unlawful sexual intercourse" laws is remote at best. Second, in most states it is unlawful for ANYONE, not just an adult, to engage in sexual intercourse with a female under the age of consent. A 1980 Supreme Court decision mentioned "a compelling state interest in preventing teenage pregnancies." Prosecutors routinely ignore the intent of the law and use it to punish adults only, but the law is there to protect teenage girls, not to segregate juveniles from adults. So let's question millions of illegal relationships, not just one mentioned on a message board.
RE: Trying to help my girlfrie I'm not quite sure about the annual fee. I know it's under $35. When they do report to the bureaus (assuming that your card goes to unsecured status after 18 months), your APR is the same as all the other classic cards. As someone mentioned that Capital One would even be a better idea, I would look into them also. They might be better in a sense of giving line increases (because Citibank doesn't offer line increases and I don't think you can even add money to your deposit to raise your limit because your money is in a CD account....but I could be wrong), etc. but the bottom line is after everything is said and done (i.e. your card goes to unsecured status), would you rather have a classic card with Capital One or Citibank?
RE: Trying to help my girlfrie "As someone mentioned that Capital One would even be a better idea, I would look into them also. They might be better in a sense of giving line increases " It was probably I who offered them, because they're good for (re)building; But let's make one thing clear: They are as hard as they can be with credit increases. Their fees are fair. However, if your main concern is credit limit (rather than low fees), go with Providian. They let you build fast, but be prepared to pay a lot for the pleasure. Saar
RE: Trying to help my girlfrie Why dont you try Washington Mutual. They reported my secured card immediately. I closed the account during the application process and got my deposit back, but it still made it onto all three credit reports. You can open up a $300 CD which draws interest and they will give you a visa. #800-450-6717. also you can check out this cool list of secured cards at http://quicken.aol.com Look under banking and credit cards. Good Luck.
