Comments on: Amex Won’t Give Me a Credit Card — Ideas on What to Do Next?

By: Progress on improving my credit score and developing a credit history.

Progress on improving my credit score and developing a credit history. — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 03:24:39 +0000

[...] I am denied a card from Amex who doesn’t recognize any credit history. [...]

By: ro

ro — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 20:46:20 +0000

Talk to your bank and get a secure credit card. sometimes they want a 100 or 200 dollar deposit and at the end of probatory period you get the money back. AMEX is hard to get with no credit history. work at it and you might need to pay a fee, no having credit history sometimes hurts.

By: wealthy_1

wealthy_1 — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 00:05:08 +0000

Back in the day before credit cards, one way to establish credit was to get someone (mom, dad) with good credit to co-sign a small personal loan. Then pay it back in 6-12 months with the loan proceeds.

By: Writer's Coin

Writer's Coin — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 12:21:31 +0000

My father told me to get a credit card when I went away to college at age 17. I asked him why, he said: You need to start your financial life and that will give you a place to start. So I did and without knowing it, followed his principles of not spending on anything you don’t need. Also paying the card in full every month. Now I’m 26 and have an awesome credit history. So there you go.

By: Kiran

Kiran — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 22:11:07 +0000

I’d say apply to your bank for the ’student’ credit card. They either require no proof of being a student, or just a student ID. I was rejected at my own bank when I was nineteen. But when I was twenty I applied for a student credit card at another bank.

Apply for student credit cards at a bank a month until you get one. I would recommend getting your own seperate from Micah, until you get used to credit cards.

Its easy when the number of ’shared’ bills increases for both parties to assume that the other has handled it. My parents pay a bill late every other year because of such complacency.

By: Tanya

Tanya — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 18:20:26 +0000

I got my first ever credit card with the bank I had my checking account with (Bank of America). They all have the same online account page, so I can see them all at once, plus you can set it to directly take the payment money from your checking account at the end of the billing cycle so there’s no risk that your credit will be anything but perfect through any random error.

By: Jon

Jon — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 16:34:26 +0000

Yup the Chase Freedom card or a secured credit card are the way to go.

Orchard Bank is a pretty popular secured credit card. They have an annual fee of $35 I think.

By: Christine

Christine — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 05:32:04 +0000

I have a student VISA through my bank — which I didn’t apply for at all. I just gave into their pestering after a while, and I use it almost exclusively for internet purchases. Because it’s a student card, I have 0 fees, annual or otherwise. (I’m not sure what the interest is; because I don’t get charged for paying early I use my credit card like it’s a debit card and never carry a balance for more than a day or two).

By: Early Retirement Extreme

Early Retirement Extreme — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 03:35:57 +0000

I think nobody mentioned secured credit cards? Basically you put an amount like $2000 in escrow with the bank in return for a credit card with a limit of $2000. After a year you get your $2000 back (dunno about interest) and you can get a normal credit card from the bank. Personally I started getting ridiculous sub-prime offers ($300 limit, $69 in annual fees, etc.. as if!) some months after I opened a broker account (I guess they sold my info). Then capital one sent me a no fee offer with a $500 limit. This was increased to $750 after paying off the balance for the next 3 months. After 7 months I applied for a citicard but was rejected due to too short a history. After 12 months capital one increased my limit to $2750 which is all I need ($750 was kinda annoying since I had to get some thing on debit). After 13 months I got a store card without problems. Now I’m just waiting for someone to send me a 0% offer so I can start doing arbitrage

By: Dad

Dad — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 03:35:37 +0000

That is perennial Catch-22. I started with an Exxon card. But today, they are issued by major credit card companies (Citi I think). So they may be a problem. I like the suggestion of trying your bank. I believe they process their own cards these days rather than farm it out to a company specializing in it. Begin added as a co-applicant on a card Micah has would probably work as well. If the bank turns you down, you should go in and talk with a person at a branch and ask for help. You could also call Amex and ask them if they have anything you could try. Someone mentioned a process by which they were reconsidered. Good luck! I think your idea of using it for a regular purchase (cell-phone) and paying in full each month is better than stretching out payments on a single purchase. It shows all the things credit people like to see. Reliable payments. It also avoids interests and fees if you management your payments ontime.