4 ms·

I defaulted on debt and was in the military for a few years after 2008. I challenged my debt and won. When I started fresh I had a 500 credit score (which sound

by kodah 4y ago

I defaulted on debt and was in the military for a few years after 2008. I challenged my debt and won. When I started fresh I had a 500 credit score (which sounds like what you have). What I learned is that credit offers come to one of two kinds of people: people with really good credit and people with moderately shitty credit. If you have no credit then there's no offer for you. The best way I found to improve my credit was to pay bills. Things like a cellphone, rent, utilities, etc all get reported to credit bureaus. My working theory is that this case exists because they have no data to calculate and classify risk on you with.

SilasX 4y ago
> When I started fresh I had a 500 credit score (which sounds like what you have). No, when your credit history is non-existent, the free credit score sites will happily tell you it’s much higher than that (mine was reported as 720-740 when I lacked history), but you’ll still get auto-rejected for everything. Interestingly, I emailed Arnold Kling, an economist writing about the subprime market at the time (2007) and he refused to believe that was happening, and insisted I must have some horrible default on my record. (I didn’t.) A 500 credit score from a default is much better than having no history. (I’m not the OP but was in a similar situation.)
- distantaidenn 4y ago
  Did you ever get the situation sorted? If so, any tips?
  - SilasX 4y ago
    I had a financial advisor connected to a bank. I applied for a credit card there and followed up on the rejection at the number they gave. (I might have had to ask the advisor to intervene, not sure.) I got through to the CC people, they asked me a few more questions (previous employment[1]) and then approved one with a low limit. From then on I built a history. Edit: ah, you’re the OP. Did you have that same issue, where sites would assure you you have a good credit score even as you keep getting rejected on any credit application? [1] If they lean further on credit reports as a job applicant filter, that could turn into an even worse catch-22!
  - sangnoir 4y ago
    If you have the cash flow, you can get a secured credit card or secured loan, which is giving a bank the money to lend[1] back to you at no risk to them. i.e. if you give them $500 as security, they'll give you a credit card with a $500-limit, which you still need to settle like any other credit card. Most people who didn't miss payments get their security back after a year.

by kodah 4y ago

SilasX 4y ago

> When I started fresh I had a 500 credit score (which sounds like what you have). No, when your credit history is non-existent, the free credit score sites will happily tell you it’s much higher than that (mine was reported as 720-740 when I lacked history), but you’ll still get auto-rejected for everything. Interestingly, I emailed Arnold Kling, an economist writing about the subprime market at the time (2007) and he refused to believe that was happening, and insisted I must have some horrible default on my record. (I didn’t.) A 500 credit score from a default is much better than having no history. (I’m not the OP but was in a similar situation.)

distantaidenn 4y ago
Did you ever get the situation sorted? If so, any tips?
- SilasX 4y ago
  I had a financial advisor connected to a bank. I applied for a credit card there and followed up on the rejection at the number they gave. (I might have had to ask the advisor to intervene, not sure.) I got through to the CC people, they asked me a few more questions (previous employment[1]) and then approved one with a low limit. From then on I built a history. Edit: ah, you’re the OP. Did you have that same issue, where sites would assure you you have a good credit score even as you keep getting rejected on any credit application? [1] If they lean further on credit reports as a job applicant filter, that could turn into an even worse catch-22!
- sangnoir 4y ago
  If you have the cash flow, you can get a secured credit card or secured loan, which is giving a bank the money to lend[1] back to you at no risk to them. i.e. if you give them $500 as security, they'll give you a credit card with a $500-limit, which you still need to settle like any other credit card. Most people who didn't miss payments get their security back after a year.