Any painless ways to establish some credit?

[astroview]

A college student who can't get a credit card, I don't get it. They practically throw them at college students. Why can't your parents cosign for one b/c of business debt. I don't get it.

 

[Thegonagle]

Title loans are generally pretty shady deals, and won't get reported anyway, unless it's negative.

Try applying for a Target card. (Not a Target Visa--a Target store card.) They gave me my first credit card at age 18. The limit was $100. They raised it to $300 after a little while. Later, I got a real Visa and closed the Target card.

 

[TallBill]

Originally posted by: luv2chill
Why not apply for a student loan? Those are fantastic ways to build credit... just be sure to make the payments on time every time.

Barring that, suck it up and get a secured card. And yes I read your first post, but I don't buy it. Is it that difficult to save up $500? Eat top ramen for a couple of months. Sell some possesions on ebay. $500 is paltry even if you're earning 21K a year.

l2c

Hehe, not a student anymore. And no longer making 21k anymore. Currently just waiting on paperwork to go active duty Army. When that happens, I'll be able to afford the secured card.

 

[TallBill]

Originally posted by: astroview
A college student who can't get a credit card, I don't get it. They practically throw them at college students. Why can't your parents cosign for one b/c of business debt. I don't get it.

Its not a question of can't, more of a question of wont. Same reason I had to sign onto my mothers verizon phone plan even though she never even sees the bill. No credit = no cell phone unless you put a few hundred down. I hate Verizon and would have picked Nextel.

 

[luv2chill]

Active duty? Sell your car... you won't need it. Put the money down on a secured VISA and charge away!

l2c

 

[Eli]

You should try Capitol One.

I got the application in the mail as junk mail, really. Probably becuase I had been applying to so many other credit cards. So I'm not really sure how you could get another, just call them up I guess. It's a Capitol One Platinum VISA. It came like with a bunch of stickers, like with different designs, so you could pick which one you liked and put it on your app.

Every other place turned me down due to "insufficient credit history". I have no idea why they approved me. But I'm not complaining!