I am curious about this. Several times while cruising aroud looking at sub-prime credit card sites I have seen listed as part of the criteria "no delinquencies in the last six months". What does this mean, exactly? If, for example, someone had a loan or a credit card that they stopped paying on all together and therefore had the account closed, but that was six months ago, do they now already have the opportunity to qualify for a sub-prime card? That just seems awfully soon, even for a really high interest rate. Or does it mean that every debt showing on your credit reports has been current for six months? I'm just curious; been seeing that "rule" a lot and wasn't sure what it meant. Anyone know?
RE: What exactly does 6 months This means if you have been late on other credit cards in the past, you can not of been late in the last 6 months. No late pays period in the prior 6 months.
RE: What exactly does 6 months I was told by the creditors, it means, if you have any active accounts, they must be perfectly clean (all paid on time). This includes charge off's. They must be either "inactive" charge-off or you will be denied. (Citibank is an example of someone who will post Charge-off's for years on end every month, rather than give it up). YMMV. Every credit is different. It's safe to say they mean exactly what they said. If you got a 30+ on another account in the last XX months leave them alone BUT: I applied for one of those cards with a criteria, a mistake on my part, and had a 30 day late on my report in the past six months, and got it. I'm not going to name names but it started with FIRST and they charged an ASS of fee's and were a pain ever since i got it, so i cancelled it, and paid an Cancellation fee to. GRRRRRRRRRRRRr. So, take that with a grain of salt, even though they posted, and explained the no lates, that money-grubbing creditor still said yes.
RE: What exactly does 6 months So then, *actually*, if a person had an account closed for not paying it, say 4 years ago or so, and they have never paid on it, they would not meet the "six months" rule because it still counts as an "active" account. Right? Does "active" mean simply that you still owe, i.e. the statute of limitations for collecting on it has not run out? I have been wondering because I have a friend with several closed accounts, charge offs, etc. who thinks she can be approved for a sub-prime card because the last one was closed on her about a year ago. She thinks she meets the "six months" criteria she keeps seeing. I tell her she won't get anything but an inquiry and I'm trying to save her from that and discourage her from applying. I really appreciate you guys' input here. Thanks.
RE: What exactly does 6 months Which bank are we talking about, be straight up and tell us, cause i've applied for just about EVERYTHING there is online, no joking, my inquiries list is a page long. She needs to be careful of the gougers out there that have that similar "6 months" statement but charge you like $200 in fees to start up an account.
RE: What exactly does 6 months To tell you the truth, there is no particular bank in her mind as far as I know. I only know that she has been looking around and seeing this "six month" rule repeatedly. She thinks she's okay applying and I think not. Are there any banks that *you* think she'd qualify for? If so, I'll pass it on, but I just worry about her getting silly and applying at these banks who publish this criteria that I believe she is misunderstanding. By the way, are secured cards pretty much a given? Does anyone ever get declined for a secured card? If so, why?
RE: What exactly does 6 months United Credit National Bank is another one that reports the charge off as active. They won't give up!! sam wrote: ------------------------------- I was told by the creditors, it means, if you have any active accounts, they must be perfectly clean (all paid on time). This includes charge off's. They must be either "inactive" charge-off or you will be denied. (Citibank is an example of someone who will post Charge-off's for years on end every month, rather than give it up). YMMV. Every credit is different. It's safe to say they mean exactly what they said. If you got a 30+ on another account in the last XX months leave them alone BUT: I applied for one of those cards with a criteria, a mistake on my part, and had a 30 day late on my report in the past six months, and got it. I'm not going to name names but it started with FIRST and they charged an ASS of fee's and were a pain ever since i got it, so i cancelled it, and paid an Cancellation fee to. GRRRRRRRRRRRRr. So, take that with a grain of salt, even though they posted, and explained the no lates, that money-grubbing creditor still said yes.
RE: What exactly does 6 months I would tell her to try. Capitalone Secured. Its pretty much a given. The rates are from $49 for $500 to $199 for $200 limit. Now, keep this in mind, most of these sub-prime banks don't really care about a lot of inquiries, because they KNOW what you are doing, your credit profile, and that you WANT their or anyone elses creditline bad. I've got a stack of denials about 6 inches thick in the past 9 months of trying to get credit, and i've still gotten some darn good offers. Places i didn't mess with: 1. No online account balance/payment 2. Any place that holds payments or is known to treat their customers bad in past (orchard, first national). 3. Any bank that does not have a 1-800 customer service # or does not have 24 hour customer service. 4. Any banks that charge $200 in service fees for a $200 credit limit. 5. Any place that charges a "MONTHLY" participation fee. Suggest: Capitalone secured. Aria/providian(only if she/he has had 6 months of positive tradelines) Alot of people here like FCNB. They asked for a bunch of documents which i was too lazy to send them.
RE: What exactly does 6 months I wouldn't worry about the inquiry. First of all, one or two inquiries won't hurt anyone, and even if she does rack up several inquiries trying to get some credit, it doesn't sound like she has good enough credit that she will be able to get any credit where where inquiries are a factor. If ya want my opinion, she is better off at least trying for providian/cap1, and get some positive lines going, so when everything is paid off or expired, there will be some positive credit.
