Alvydas asked:
In 2005, I was shopping in Macy’s (in Los Angeles, CA, USA) for a pair of shoes, one day before flying back to my native country of Lithuania. When I was paying for the shoes, the cashier suggested that I fill out a form and get $20 off the price. I did that, and flew back to Lithuania for 1 year. Speaking very little English, little did I know that I was signing up for the Macy’s credit card, and the cashier did not explain it to me (if she did, I sure did not understand it). I came back 1 year later, and to my horror found a bunch of bills from Macy’s and then bills from a collection agency. When I was explained by friend who speaks better English, what it was, I immediately paid the $20 plus a fee of $165, and the collection agency said that they will take it off my credit record. It has been 3 years since, I still can’t get a single credit card issued from any bank, and they say that I have a bad record.
In 2005, I was shopping in Macy’s (in Los Angeles, CA, USA) for a pair of shoes, one day before flying back to my native country of Lithuania. When I was paying for the shoes, the cashier suggested that I fill out a form and get $20 off the price. I did that, and flew back to Lithuania for 1 year. Speaking very little English, little did I know that I was signing up for the Macy’s credit card, and the cashier did not explain it to me (if she did, I sure did not understand it). I came back 1 year later, and to my horror found a bunch of bills from Macy’s and then bills from a collection agency. When I was explained by friend who speaks better English, what it was, I immediately paid the $20 plus a fee of $165, and the collection agency said that they will take it off my credit record. It has been 3 years since, I still can’t get a single credit card issued from any bank, and they say that I have a bad record.
I looked at my free credit reports from Experian and Equifax and they say “Charge Off as of Jun 2006”, “You have no negative accounts on file”, and “You have no Collections on file” – why then no one wants to open a credit card for me? I never had a chance to even open a single credit card in the US. What should I do now to get good credit score?
Donna
Tina
The charge off will stay on your credit report for seven years. After that it will fall off and you can start over.
If you are really worried about the old charge off, you can send a dispute to the credit bureau saying that the entry is eroneous for some reason or other. The creditor of record will have 30 days to respond. If they don’t respond, the entry is removed. If they do respond, you can repeat the process as frequently as you like.
If you want a credit card, your best bet is a secured card which many banks will offer. That gives you the opportunity to build good credit, and if you close the account (for example after you have better offers from other banks) you get your deposit back plus interest.
If you don’t want to put down a security deposit you can probably still get a card, but it will have a credit limit of $200 to $500 probably. Capital One (www.capitalone.com) and HSBC (www.householdbank.com) are the likeliest of the big banks to give you a card.
Watch out for the fees, though. They will give you a credit limit of $200 or so and if you go over by a few pennies they will charge you a $35 fee. They will request payment by X date and if it is not in their office by the cut off time (perhaps 2 or 3 in the afternoon) they will charge you a $35 fee. Still, these banks are better than the small credit card issuers who work the non prime space.
Comment by Sir Bloodletter — July 14, 2009 @ 1:34 am
Crystal
You may be applying for credit cards that you may not qualify for because of income and lack of credit history. Normally the best credit cards are only available to people with a good credit score (750 or more) and a good income. The following is a link to credit cards that you may be able to qualify for. Click on “LIMITED HISTORY” to see the cards that you may qualify for.
If you are still rejected, then you may have to apply for a secured credit card (not a prepaid credit card) to build up your credit. After about a year of using a secured credit card and making on-time payments, again apply for one of the above credit cards and you will likely be approved. The following are some secured credit cards.
Comment by Michael T — July 17, 2009 @ 7:49 am
Curtis
Right now not a lot of people are getting credit unless they have spotless credit. A lot of companies are closing accounts if people pay one payment late. They are really cracking down. Hopefully the recent credit reform that was passed will help and as the economy rebounds companies will be more willing to extend more credit to the masses.
I’m attaching a link for government credit repair information.
Comment by Shaun M — July 19, 2009 @ 2:38 pm
Pamela
Probably you have some wrong items in your credit report. Use credit repair service to find and remove such bad stuff from your credit – credit-report-free.totalh.com
Comment by David — July 21, 2009 @ 5:13 am