Best Credit Cards to Rebuild Credit (pay, rent, collector, dispute)

[Stoj]

Here is my predicament, I have applied to for a few credit cards that I thought I would be able to get with my current situation however I have been denied. I have a credit score between 650-670. My fiance and I have just recently purchased a home as well. Outside of that I have no debt. I'm looking for a credit card I could get that would help rebuild my credit. I know I have the secure card option but I didn't want to tie up 500-1000 dollars in a Secure Card. Does anyone know of any other options/companies I could look into?

[Niftybergin]

You might do better just to wait for a little while and let things settle. Part of the problem is that a person's score is affected by how often he applies for credit, so if you've recently applied for a lot of different cards and been denied, you're getting dinged a little each time. That will push your score lower, if only by a few points, and that just makes you look like more of a credit-risk to lenders. Is the new house in your name as well as your fiance's? If so, 6-12 months of on-time payments on your mortgage should help your score.

If you're determined to try to find a card, have you tried STORE cards? Like when you go to Target and they tell you you can save 10% off your purchase by opening a card with them...have you tried that? Or Best Buy. I bet this time of year, Best Buy would LOVE to give you a credit card.

[berdee]

Who did you apply with?
What reasons did they give you for the denials?
Do you already have any major credit cards or store cards?
Do you have any negatives reporting?
Did you apply with HSBC or Capital One?
Does your fiance have any major credit cards that are in good standing and that have been open for 2-3+ years that she can add you as an authorized user on?

[Stoj]

Originally Posted by berdee

Who did you apply with?
What reasons did they give you for the denials?
Do you already have any major credit cards or store cards?
Do you have any negatives reporting?
Did you apply with HSBC or Capital One?
Does your fiance have any major credit cards that are in good standing and that have been open for 2-3+ years that she can add you as an authorized user on?

I applied for a card at Bank of America that a rep suggested.
I do not have any Credit Cards
I have negative reporting. I took a line of credit out for my sister and had payments sent to her. She didn't pay. I didn't find out until the collection agency called. I paid the remaining balance and that was it. (This is my biggest issue)
I haven't applied with either of these companies. I think I've done CHASE and Bank of America.
She has a credit card, it may be possible to get added onto.

[KevK]

What you want to do is get a credit card backed by a savings account. You get a credit limit of $500 or $1000 by putting that much in a savings account with the issuer. Then you never ever charge more than about 1/2 your available credit and pay it on time every month. After about a year, it will raise your score enough to qualify for a non secured card.

[berdee]

Originally Posted by Stoj

I applied for a card at Bank of America that a rep suggested.
I do not have any Credit Cards
I have negative reporting. I took a line of credit out for my sister and had payments sent to her. She didn't pay. I didn't find out until the collection agency called. I paid the remaining balance and that was it. (This is my biggest issue)
I haven't applied with either of these companies. I think I've done CHASE and Bank of America.
She has a credit card, it may be possible to get added onto.

Unless you are a student and had gone for the student card then Chase wouldn't give you a card since you don't have any revolving credit and you also have a negative reporting. BoA would have either turned you down or offered you a secured card. The secured cards with BoA are actually pretty good since they (usually) don't report as secured and they generally unsecure around 9-12 months if the card had been kept in good standing. The card then turns into a regular card and you get your deposit back.

If you can get added to your fiances account then you should do that and wait until it starts reporting before trying to apply again. Have your fiance request that it report on your credit reports. Since you and your fiance have the same address then being an authorized user on her account should be picked up by FICO and also be recognized by lenders. Also, if she has a store card that has some age on it and is in good standing you might see if she will add you as an authorized user on that too. It would give you a little bit of a mix on your reports. Just make sure that the account(s) she adds you to have a perfect history, if they don't then being on the accounts won't do you any good at all and may actually hurt you.

Once you start building up your own credit history she can then remove you from her cards, if she is somewhat uncomfortable in having anyone on her accounts as a user. If she adds you to her card(s) and wants to remove you, once you start building up your own credit, then try to wait until your first account has been open for at least 13 months before you are removed from her account(s). If she adds you to more then one card then try not to be removed from her accounts all at once, space out each removal over several months. You will take a score hit when you are removed from her accounts but you will be building your own history with your own accounts and your scores will eventually go back up, if you keep your accounts in good standing.

Just be sure you are added as an authorized user and not as a joint user.

While you are waiting for the authorized user account(s) to report you should attempt to have that collection account deleted from your reports. You should have requested deletion upon payment, but that's water under the bridge now. Since you had been denied credit you can use the information in the denial letters to obtain a free copy of the credit report that was used. You can go to annualcreditreport.com to get your free yearly credit report for any credit report that you don't have a denial on.

Look at how the collector is reporting and dispute anything that is inaccurate. Since the account had been paid you may get lucky and the collector won't bother to verify/correct what you dispute and it may get removed. If you are unsure of what constitutes a violation you can post how they are reporting on here. Just be sure not to post any sensitive information !! No account numbers, etc., just the basics of what they are reporting and also any remarks they may have showing (settled account in full, in partial, factored account, etc., etc.)

[whoisjongalt]

If you don't have any debt except your house, you don't NEED a credit card. You'd be much better off if you just pay for everything with cash or debit card. Many people would love to be in your situation these days. If you absolutely must have a credit card, join a local credit union and apply for theirs. The major banks and credit card companies SUCK. They are basically glorified loan sharks.

[runrgirl]

Try Orchard Bank. You may be able to get a low fee( like 29$ per year) unsecured credit card there. They are pretty good to deal with too IMO. Whatever you do, do not use Premier Bank they are a total rip off scam with astronomical fees and hidden small print method of assessing them. I agree with not using the card for anything except an emergency or when you need to rent a car. We did not have a credit card on our last vacation and tried to rent a car at an airport and were totally screwed- they won't do it and would not even use our debit card, it was a disaster. So we got the card for this reason because we do travel about twice per year and need to rent a car.

[Sunny-Days-in-Florida]

Originally Posted by Stoj

Here is my predicament, I have applied to for a few credit cards that I thought I would be able to get with my current situation however I have been denied. I have a credit score between 650-670. My fiance and I have just recently purchased a home as well. Outside of that I have no debt. I'm looking for a credit card I could get that would help rebuild my credit. I know I have the secure card option but I didn't want to tie up 500-1000 dollars in a Secure Card. Does anyone know of any other options/companies I could look into?

With scores in the 650-670 range you should qualify for tons of decent to good cards.

There is something on your report that it is getting denied for.

Find out what it is and make sure it is reporting correctly.

Orchard has a pre selector website that will tell you if you pre qualify for one of their cards or not.

Do not over do applications as inquiries will drop your score 8-12 points per inquiry.

Can I ask why do you call it rebuild your credit if you just bought a home and have scores in the mid to high 600's?

And if the house is closed why do you need higher scores? Afterall the idea of rebuilding is to remove old negatives and add positives to get your FICO scores higher.

Guess I do not understand what it is your goal is.

[berdee]

Originally Posted by Sunny-Days90

With scores in the 650-670 range you should qualify for tons of decent to good cards.

There is something on your report that it is getting denied for.

Find out what it is and make sure it is reporting correctly.

Bits and pieces from the OP's two posts:

"My fiance and I have just recently purchased a home"
"I do not have any Credit Cards"
"I have negative reporting."
"I've done CHASE and Bank of America."

OP has a new major trade reporting, the mortgage.
OP doesn't have any open credit cards at this time. May have had revolving credit in the past, may have had other types of credit in the past, may have other types of credit open right now, such as car loan, a personal loan, a student loan etc. (Those reasons along with the new mortgage and the one negative may be the reason the OP's scores are in the mid-high 600's and not lower and not higher.)
OP stated that there is a negative reporting.
OP app'd with Chase and BoA.

With no currently open revolving credit reporting then Chase and other prime lenders probably won't approve an application. BoA might have, but more than likely would have denied a regular card and may have offered a secured card instead.

Orchard has a pre selector website that will tell you if you pre qualify for one of their cards or not.

Orchard, HSBC, Capital One (and even Amex) all have pre selectors on their sites, but that doesn't mean an approval is guaranteed if an application is done on a card that is offered.

With no currently open revolving credit then Orchard, HSBC, Capital One or even Hooters would probably be the best bets in having a major credit card, to build revolving credit, even if there is a small annual fee attached.

Can I ask why do you call it rebuild your credit if you just bought a home and have scores in the mid to high 600's?

And if the house is closed why do you need higher scores? Afterall the idea of rebuilding is to remove old negatives and add positives to get your FICO scores higher.

Guess I do not understand what it is your goal is.

Rebuilding credit, or building credit, is not just to make ones scores higher, it's also to be able to have credit, and, to eventually have prime credit.