Some credit card companies issue secured credit cards: they basically request a payment of e.g. 1000$ called security deposit and keep it in escrow (I think. IA

Some credit card companies issue secured credit cards: they basically request a payment of e.g. 1000$ called security deposit and keep it in escrow (I think. IANAL) and in return they give you a credit card with a credit limit of 1000$. If you don't pay your credit card bills, they will cancel the credit card and use the security deposit to pay off the remaining balance. If you do pay all your bills on time, they release the security deposit after 6 months to 2 years based on the issuer. At this point you will have a credit report showing several months of prompt payment and a reasonable score. It is not perfect, but it is not that bad. It sucks having to have your money blocked in an account for a year though.