31 Comments Add your own

• 1. Angel    May 3rd, 2008 at 6:56 pm

  I applied for Target, JCP, Sears, Wal-Mart, Macys and Sears they rejected my credit card application because I have No Credit history?! I think, No credit is much better than Bad credit!!!!

  What can I do in this case? I need to build up my credit history.
  Please advice.

  Angela

• 2. Jack Olson    February 2nd, 2009 at 3:57 pm

  Angel,

  Get added onto someone elses credit card as an authorized user. This will put that account onto your credit report. Despite any rumors you may have heard, do this and your scores will respond. make sure the payment history is clean and the balance is below 50% of the credit limit.

• 3. SLP    February 27th, 2009 at 3:32 pm

  Apparently, this “RULE” was changed so “Authorized” users do not generate a Credit Score any longer. This was modified in 2008 under the Bush Administration.

• 4. H    March 2nd, 2009 at 2:38 am

  Actually authorized users are reported to the credit bureus. And being added as an AU is an awesome way to gain credit, especially if the primary is really good at keeping their account in good standing.

• 5. Bridget    April 28th, 2009 at 4:37 pm

  Try Macy’s. I have bad credit and I got approved for a Macy’s card. They may start you off with a 300$ limit but its better than nothing. Also maybe just try for a regular card just don’t try Total Visa, I had one of those and if you are even a single day late, they call you 10 times a day!

• 6. Jorge    May 23rd, 2009 at 5:48 am

  Angel, before you do anything else, stop trying to get store cards at this time. Your already developing negative marks on your credit as you have already stated you’ve applied at 6 dept stores. These inquiries will stay on your credit report for two years and drop your score. It’s great that you have “No Credit History”, but you need to do this right. “Piggybacking” is one way, but you have to make sure that the “AU” your using has great credit as well and usually this will only last for 6 months.

  I actually helped consumers with their credit issues and help them create a new credit file… So your getting this info for free…So, I’ll give it to you in steps. Five Steps To Obtaining A-1 Credit: Walk away with 3 bank loans, Visa, MasterCard, & 2 dept. store cards!
  Now that you understand the basics of what credit is, and why it is so important, you are ready to follow a plan to get you well on your way toward building a solvent and solid credit record. Follow my 5-step process and you will finish with 3 bank loans, a Visa and MasterCard credit cards, and at least 2 major department store credit cards. But that’s not actually the end; it’s just the beginning! You will then be in control of your financial destiny and will be better able to make the kinds of purchases embodied in the American Dream.
  As you follow each step, remember that lenders and retailers count on making loans or selling goods on credit. The system helps them as much as you. They want to extend credit to you. Through this plan, you make them do so gladly and legitimately.
  Step One - Obtaining Bank Loans
  Laying the Groundwork
  The first objective after developing a new credit file or removing negative credit from your report is to add positives. This can be achieved by obtaining three bank loans to serve as credit references for future maneuvers. Have you ever noticed that most loan applications require three credit references? Follow this first step and you will have three impeccable references to use for various kinds of credit and loan needs.
  This step requires some up-front capital to get you going. The results can be achieved using anywhere from $300 and up, although I recommend investing $1,000. Take heart - the money will not be spent, but is used as secure backing in a savings account until the plan is completed. If you need to raise the cash, you can do so through creative means such as a temporary, part time job or a garage sale. You can also consider borrowing the money because, again, it will not be spent.
  Just be careful not to start off with funds that you may be likely to need in the weeks to follow. Withdrawing this money before the plan is completed would jeopardize your credit and potentially leave you in greater debt. LOCATING THE RIGHT LENDERS
  Now you are ready to locate your three lending institutions, which can be banks, savings and loans, or credit unions. You can use the bank where you currently have your checking or savings account, although you will still be opening a new savings account. Use your local yellow pages to call area banks and ask these questions:
  What is the mini mum amount they will loan on a passbook savings account?
  What is the percent you can borrow?
  For these purposes, you are interested in opening only a regular passbook savings account, so don’t get more details than you need about other types of special account and offers.
  Choose a lender that offers high yields and allows you to borrow as much as possible against a secured account. We will now label the banks you have selected Bank A, Bank B, and Bank C.
  DEPOSIT, BORROW, AND PROSPER!
  Go to Bank A and open a savings account with your $1,000 (or whatever amount you have allocated). This should be an interest-bearing account earning the highest rate you can find. Take your passbook home and wait three days.
  Return to Bank A (dressed and poised for success) and ask to see a loan officer. Take your passbook with you, and explain to the officer that you wish to take out a loan, for which you are willing to place your savings account as collateral. This is the easiest type of loan to obtain because it is completely secured with cash. Be prepared to name a reason for the loan, although it should be granted regardless of the purpose because it will be backed by your savings account. Make sure you obtain an installment loan, amortized over one year with monthly payments required. Remember, you are building credit, so a loan that is due all in one lump sum at the end of 180 or 365 days will not serve your purpose. While a credit check is not always made for this type of loan, be prepared to acknowledge any bad marks on your credit record and explain that you are trying to re-establish your credit. Assure him/her that you will faithfully make your loan payments.
  Assume you get a loan for 90% - or $900 - of your savings account, with a 6% interest rate. On a $900 loan you would pay $29.52, owing the bank a total amount over one year of $929.52. Your monthly payments will be $77.46.
  Once this loan is made, Bank A will freeze your $1,000 so your loan collateral cannot be withdrawn. However, each time you make a payment on your loan, an equal amount (minus interest) will be unfrozen in your account and available for withdrawal.
  Take your loan check for $900 to Bank B and open another savings account with this amount. Wait three days, and get your second loan - this time for $810 (90% of $900). Your monthly payments here will be $69.71. (Again, assuming 6% interest)
  Now use your $810 and open an account at Bank C. Wait three days, and obtain a 90% loan for $729, with monthly payments due of $62.74. DON’T PANIC!
  By the time you obtain your third loan, about two weeks have passed. You now have three bank loans totaling $2,439 and $729 in cash (your loan from Bank C). How will you pay these loans back? It’s easy. Use enough of your $729 to make your first payment on your Bank “A” loan ($77.46). Do the same at Bank “B” and Bank “C”. You should now have made payments that are ahead of their due dates by about one week at Bank A, two weeks at Bank B, and three weeks at Bank C. You have used about $200 of your $729, but you have also freed up frozen funds that can be withdrawn later.
  Now wait about another two weeks and repeat the loan payment process described above, making another set of payments with your remaining cash. At this point, you should be approximately one full month ahead on all three loans. With the balance left from your cash loan, make your third set of payments on the second payment’s due date. By now, your $729 should be almost depleted. Approach each bank and withdraw the funds that have been unfrozen to use towards your next set of payments.
  Continue this process until at least six payments have been made on each loan. You can pay off your loan in full, if you wish, after that point. Do not pay them off before six months, because this is the time frame usually considered when a payment history is calculated as a possible credit reference. This ends step one. Hope this helps.

• 7. Ashley    September 27th, 2009 at 7:42 pm

  Ok I have to say…

  1.) some of you people write too damn much &..
  2.) if you want to build credit, go to a credit union, they can help you out alot!!! plus it helps you stay out of that “bad cedit” zone.. they can let you know what your credit score is even if it’s as low as 600 to as high as 850.. mine is at about 701.. thanks to my credit union!

• 8. Ashley    September 27th, 2009 at 7:44 pm

  And Bridget.. are you blonde or something?.. The girl said she applied for Macy’s and got denied!! READ my dear.. hahaha!!!

• 9. Dianne    October 27th, 2009 at 4:37 pm

  I ‘m wanting to opt out of a couple credit cards because of the increase rates they are changing to,will that hurt my credit at all.If I haven’t used a credit card for a long time or haven’t activated it ,can I just cut them up and assume I’m not on their list of credit card holders anymore?

• 10. Roxy    November 3rd, 2009 at 10:22 pm

  How exactly can applying for credit if you have no credit count against you as a person who has credit? My husband is from another country and has been trying to get credit. I declared bankruptcy, so I have no credit to add him to help him out.

  The rejection letters say that he is denied because he “has no credit file”. How exactly can the inquery go against him if he has no file.

  He has a social and a green card and has an unrestricted social… I have tried to sign up with Trans Union, Equifax to pull his credit but they of course do not have anything for him so I can’t pull his credit and see what it looks like cause even the credit bureau says it doesn’t exist. Do we have to call the bureaus and have them “set up” a file?

• 11. kellie langley    December 8th, 2009 at 5:42 pm

  so this is what im thinking to establish credit you should go to zles friedmns or something and purchase a piece of jeewelry but make payments on it insstead of buying it directly that goes on your credit and it helps if you pay it on time and i think you guys just wanna buy things hell and thats about it basically you have became financially unstable and money hungry. good riddens get a damn job and open a savings account!!!

• 12. Chris    December 10th, 2009 at 2:21 pm

  any cards in particular any of you guys recommend to star with? (without annual fees)

• 13. David S.    December 15th, 2009 at 9:47 pm

  Try Kohl’s credit card.
  I have no credit history and they approved me online for $300.

• 14. Kassie    January 7th, 2010 at 3:22 am

  I work at Kohls and got denied because I have no credit!
  any other ideas besides department stores?

• 15. charline    January 16th, 2010 at 9:22 pm

  Roxy

  No credit file simply means that one has not yet been established. If your husband has a green card and an unrestricted social than he should be able to get a credit card. I am not from here either and was denied several times before I was able to get a credit card. He should stop applying for unsecured cards because it will only hurt him. I ended up applying for a secured credit card with Orchard bank. It was a great decision . When I filled out the on line application, I had to give them my bank information and allow them to withdraw the $200 minimum deposit that they asked for. About two weeks later I received my card with a $200 credit limit. I was able to increase my limit by sending them money orders for the amount that I wanted my limit to be increased. They put it in a savings account and I get that money back when I close my account or they keep it if they have to close my account for non payment. My bank account is linked to my credit card account, I make my payments on line for free and they take three days to post. If he pays his bill a little before the due date each month and keep a balance below 30% of his limit ( I recommend starting with a $500 limit and never charging more than $150), after six months, he should be able to easily get another card.

  Good luck!

• 16. Lisa Brown    January 17th, 2010 at 12:11 pm

  The BEST card, more rewards for your money is the Dick’s Sporting Goods Rewards Card. Get the actual credit card (not the in-store only card), accepted anywhere Mastercard is. You get $10 in Dicks Certificates for every $300 you spend on the Mastercard. For me, this is anywhere between $20-$40 a month of FREE money at Dicks! It’s the best deal I’ve found, and I’ve looked & compared everywhere!

• 17. Erica    February 4th, 2010 at 10:03 pm

  Try getting a credit card through your bank, or if you have a debit card use it as credit instead of debit.

• 18. Asia    February 7th, 2010 at 2:22 am

  Jorge,

  That was the most genius sht I ever heard!!! Thanks for the advice! It was a lot, but it was sooo worth it!

• 19. jenni    February 10th, 2010 at 4:11 pm

  The easiest credit card to get is JCpenny

• 20. Jessica    February 25th, 2010 at 4:46 pm

  Actually, I applied for a JCPenney card and got denied because of not having enough credit history.

• 21. shena    March 2nd, 2010 at 3:36 pm

  I have no credit and am trying to get credit. I have tried getting credit cards, personal loans, j c penny cards nd even overdraft protection on my bank account. they wont let me because I have NO CREDIT. I dont know how to get any credit, my parents dont have credit cards either. thanks

• 22. Mary    March 3rd, 2010 at 11:36 am

  I’m a college student. I had ZERO credit card history as well. The fact that I had no credit history does not give the reassurance of my reliablity and timely payments. They don’t want to risk giving you a card and never getting paid back for the purchase you made on their card, it would be a loss and hurt their business and ultimately your credit score. But it isn’t the end of the world. I tried Wal-Mart and was turned down. I also tried other department stores…I struck gold with Boscovs. I think it’s just a matter of trying different places until one of them approves you. After two months and paying my Boscovs bill in full as soon as I got the statements, I tried Wal-Mart again and was approved. Now I am happy and I get to shop at my two favorite stores

• 23. Rae    March 16th, 2010 at 9:05 pm

  My advice would be to get a secured credit card if you think you MUST increase your credit score.

  I would be remiss to encourage you to start buying things you can’t afford.

  Budget and save! You will get the things you want in the long run and it will be so much more satisfying. For example if you make 3000/month and you put 7% into your clothing budget that is $210/month for clothes or $2520/year! I think that’s pretty decent without a credit card. If you could even get a card large enough to let you charge that much in a year, it could cost you over $500 more in interest!

• 24. lilly    March 18th, 2010 at 2:58 pm

  My credit score goes up and down 572-575 got approved of first primear bank card then applyed for a macys a few months later got approved and fashion bug to im new to credit also

• 25. dylardmcrylard    April 8th, 2010 at 1:01 pm

  Can you get one of these credit cards without having a bank account?

• 26. Nickles    April 19th, 2010 at 3:47 pm

  I am a pretty much perfect person so naturally, my credit is perfect. Here is how:

  When I turned 18 in 2007, I opened a student checking account and my mom was the co-signer. At the same time, I applied for the Student Visa Platinum card and was approved for that. I didn’t use it too much though.

  So in about september of 2009, I discovered that I was loosing A LOT by not being rewarded for not using my credit card!! Can you believe it? That stupid bank of america was giving me NOTHING back for spending my money with that card! So, I applied for a Starwood Preferred Guest American Express card online at americanexpress.com and I was approved. That became my card that I used for 100% of my purchases, so then I can get points to use for free hotels. (i work for an airline so I can fly anywhere for free!!!) Since september, 2009, I have paid my AMEX credit card off in full every month. And I charge about $800 every month on that bitch.

  But, there is just one problem…. My spending isin’t really enough to get me a lot of points. It’s pretty rare that I get to book a reward stay because their hotels cost a lot of points to use. So, I applied for a BANANA REPUBLIC credit card when they offered me 40% my purchase! OMG like Yes i’ll do it. Since I spend about 300 per month at gap/bananrepublic and sometimes oldnavy, I get 10 dollars free to use! Plus, every tuesday I can get a $10 reward card for my purchase when I use my card, and every wednesday they have 40% off 1 full priced item but it’s 45% off when you use your gap/banana card!!! So, not only do I get free things with this card, I save a ton of money on my purchases.

  I recommend building your credit with a student credit card for like 6 months. trust me - it will suck when you don’t get anything back for spending money on that thing but the sooner you apply the faster you will be able to get another card that is worth something to you. I think the Gap Inc credit cards are the best store cards to get though!

• 27. Sharon    April 26th, 2010 at 2:07 pm

  Do not use GE Money Bank! This company backs many of the store cards on this list. You will be sorry if you use them. I had a Lowe’s store card to build credit and FAITHFULLY paid on time and over the minimum for almost 3 years, thinking I was building credit, when for no reason GE Money Bank lowered my project limit to zero and closed the card. This happened when I had almost paid off a fairly large balance. Imagine my surprise! Now I have a ding on my credit score. There was absolutely no reason to do this to me. Since then, I have learned that GE Money bank has crooked billing practices and routinely does this to good customers. They’ll change your bill due date without telling you, misapply funds, hold timely paid bills until after the due date, in order to make them late in order to get a late fee. Their customer service is overseas in India — and they are incredibly rude. Don’t choose this company. They will only hurt you. I was a good customer of Lowes, but no longer.

• 28. Cindy    May 28th, 2010 at 1:56 pm

  I would check out www.creditkarma.com to keep an eye on your credit score. It’s free and only does a soft inquiry so it does not negatively effect your credit score. Just remember that every time you apply for credit, your score will take a negative hit from the hard inquiry that the credit company will do. This will stay on your credit for at no less than 1 year, but normally 2.

  This site rocks, too http://www.whogavemecredit.com/ You can search by your credit score and see if the companies that you are interested in gave credit to other people with a similar score as you, how much they gave if so, etc.

  I am not an owner nor do I get anything for recommending these two sites, but I personally use them often myself.

  I second Orchard Bank, even if you have to get a secured card. It is definitely a start.

  Good luck!

• 29. Using Store Credit Cards &hellip    June 27th, 2010 at 1:56 pm

  […] There are tons of other store cards out there from which to choose. Not all of them offer the same benefits though. Here are a few things to consider when choosing the store credit cards for which you would like to apply: […]

• 30. Danielle    July 26th, 2010 at 5:17 pm

  I want to apply for a VISA student credit card soon but I’m afraid that I will get denied for two reasons

  1. I have no credit.
  2. I am not taking out any student loans this year.

  Honestly, they punish people who don’t need loans because they have money by not allowing them to get a credit card, but on the other hand, people who don’t have money and get loans they let them have a credit card. It like makes no sense to me whatsoever but if they want risk it on people who may not pay them back whatever.

• 31. Young1    August 13th, 2010 at 9:06 am

  My very first credit card came from jewelery store. Kays Jewelry owns their own line of credit and there for made it a lot easier for me to get a card. I was 20 at the time and didnt have much of a credit history at all and didnt expect to get approved but did in mere seconds with a low credit line. Interest rate was rather high, but if you pay it off in a timely fashion it really doesnt affect you all that much. I then applied for an Old Navy card and got approved for that, and I use that to maintain a balance on and make payments that are generally 50% of the balance on the card. And finally I just received my non-store credit card through Citi bank, called the Citi “Forward” Card. I have no introductory APR for 7 months and my APR is only 15.99% when the 7 months are up.

  This isnt spamming or anything but if you would like to view your credit report for free, everyone is entitled to 3 free credit reports you can visit the 3 major branches for yours. Or you can check out www.creditkarma.com and they will a credit report for you as well, but it does not go into detail about your credit accounts and what not, but will deliver a credit score for you.

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