Question
I have a friend with no credit cards and basically no credit history. She paid off her student loans 10 years ago or something and that is the ONLY thing on her credit score. She has a company card she can use where necessary and her boss lets her put occasional personal charges on that--but then he gets the miles. She has always been afraid that credit cards lead to geting in debt and avoided them, but she sees all the points I earn by charging and asked my advice what card to get. We are just about to go on a vacation using a ton of hotel points and she ws mentioning today she would like that...
My thought for her was the Starwood Amex. I think she could charge a lot if she wanted to and that hotel benefits would be more useful than air miles. But I have no idea if she would qualify for an Amex or not. What cards are easiest to qualify for? Is there any harm in applying for one and getting turned down? Or is it better to apply for an easy one, make some charges and pay the balance every month and then maybe apply for a better card in a year or something? Are there things she could do to increase the odds of acceptance?
Answer
I would avoid Amex: SPG is great but they do require 1 or 2 years of history.
I would start with a Citi Dividend Select. 5% cash back on gas/groceries/pharmacy, 1% on rest. No annual fee.
I got declined by Amex and Discover when I moved from Canada to the US. Citi gave me credit right away. So did First USA (now part of Chase).
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I would avoid Amex: SPG is great but they do require 1 or 2 years of history.
I have to respectfully disagree; I have not worked/lived in the US since I left at the age of 13, but was able to get the AmEx SPG card with NOTHING on my credit rating.
As my employer has a US office, they were able to confirm my employment to AmEx and quote my salary in US dollars, even though I live and work abroad. Second, I had to use and uncle's address as my mailing address. Third, they requested a SSN, which I have because I was born there.
I would say try - you have nothing to lose.
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I have to respectfully disagree; I have not worked/lived in the US since I left at the age of 13, but was able to get the AmEx SPG card with NOTHING on my credit rating.
As my employer has a US office, they were able to confirm my employment to AmEx and quote my salary in US dollars, even though I live and work abroad. Second, I had to use and uncle's address as my mailing address. Third, they requested a SSN, which I have because I was born there.
I would say try - you have nothing to lose.
True, but I would only do it after applying and getting another card. You wouldn't want the credit pull from Amex (which will lower your score some) to jeopardize the surer bet.
I have had a different experience with Amex: I got refused 6 years ago when I moved to US. The thing that really bugged me was that I was a corporate card holder when in Canada. Hopefully they have changed.
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As a very first step, try to get a free credit report form each of the three and see if there is a report on this person.
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As a very first step, try to get a free credit report form each of the three and see if there is a report on this person.
I had her do this first thing, and had her do the one with Score Power to get the score. She got the credit report, but all it showed was the student loan, and they would not give her the score. I told her to call in and they told her they would refund her the money for the score report but could not give a score with nothing on there but a student loan paid off like 10 years ago (I forget exact date of that).
Thanks all for the advice!
Answer
It seems that you already done homework.
Now: ask a friend or relative to add her to their cc. Within a few weeks these cards will also show up in her reports. then she could apply herself.
Very best success!
I had her do this first thing, and had her do the one with Score Power to get the score. She got the credit report, but all it showed was the student loan, and they would not give her the score. I told her to call in and they told her they would refund her the money for the score report but could not give a score with nothing on there but a student loan paid off like 10 years ago (I forget exact date of that).
Thanks all for the advice!
Answer
It seems that you already done homework.
Now: ask a friend or relative to add her to their cc. Within a few weeks these cards will also show up in her reports. then she could apply herself.
Very best success!
Best, thank you. But does this really work? I mean, she would get a better score just from being on a card with someone with a high score? Or does it matter what the other person's score is even? Are there factors which could enhance this benefit (same last name, proximity to the person geographically, etc.?) She is really in no hurry so if anything like this can give her a head start I am pretty sure she would do it.
Thanks, Stef
Answer
You friend would have to be a Secondary or Joint user on a acct with someone with Good credit for it to really benefit her.
Actually with anyone with a good credit history.
You do see when acct have authorized users it will post on ones credit bureau but most merchants knows that if it states AUTHORIZEd user they dont have any financial responsibility for acct
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It will create a nice credit report account for her.
Do not know about the FICO initially because they like longer history.
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She could also get a secured card that would mean she has an open credit account so then she could switch. The only airline one I know of is the Korean Air Skypass Secured Card (see http://www.rewardsdb.com/finance/US_Airline_Rail.html for all US airline cards) - after a year of good history they let you switch over to the no annual fee skyblue card. Korean Air miles are redeemable on Skyteam so would be fine for DL, CO, NW (assuming she spends enough). The other good thing about the card for her is that you can set the credit limit as low as $300 so if she is hesitant about getting into debt she could start really low and see how she handles it.