Why do I feel 2 inches tall

[Udella&Wiz 325]

I am ticked tonight, I must vent.

Got a note in the mail tonight saying I was turned down for a Target Card! Yes, really......a TARGET card. Due to insufficient credit history at 2 of the 3 agencies (Equifax, and the other 2 whose names escape me atm).

I expected to have very little history of course, but I am joint account holder at the bank, have bill accounts in my name so there should be SOMETHING after 1.5 yrs....but apparently not .

I have had a CC in Canada for 20 yrs for pete's sake. And now I guess I have to go the silly 'secured-card' route or pretend I'm in the 50's and have my husband co-sign) - which also makes me feel like a less then pathetic human with bad credit - which I am not.

Big HUGE GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

[trailmix 77]

Wow - what a bummer!

I would try JCPenney - they gave me a credit card with no credit history. Plus! The day you go in to apply they give you a temp card to use and you get 10% off your purchases!

Edited February 13, 2009 by trailmix

[Autumnchik 6]

I feel your pain! It was only recently that hubby has been able to get a credit card, because he too, showed as having no credit history on those reports, despite being a joint account holder at our bank and having bills in his name. He was turned down for a Lowe's card He was recently able to get a Capital One card. It wasn't secured, but had a low credit limit when he first got it ($500). As he is establishing credit, the limit has been raised.

[Udella&Wiz 325]

My fear of course is that I don't want to apply too often and be turned down because that is a no-no

Autumn - did your husband wait for a while and just try again ? Glad it's worked out for him.

[Marilyn. 340]

if I remember correctly I was turned down for a Walmart card..

but then I got a card through Chase Amazon....

[Flames9_RN 358]

When I first moved down here, my wife put me on all our accounts (electrcity, TV, etc) as well on her credit cards! When dealing with credit cards, one has to be listed a certain way to get "credit" for it, at 0414 in the morning, I can't what that is,lol. Watching Suzzie Orrman a few yrs back, she stated that was no longer going to work--obtaining credit, by piggybacking off another persons credit! Not sure if thats the case now or not. Citi Bank used to have a credit card that was meant for "new" people that had just came to the USA. Think one had to pay a $20 yearly fee, but after using it for a bit and paying it off, you were able to no fee credit cards, and could just cancel that one. google citi bank credit cards.

[DeadPoolX 9]

I think TD was able to look up my credit history. I was able to get a Visa Infinite First Class credit card (apparently their "best" CC), but then again, I did sign up for their Select Service account. As for the CC itself, there's only a $5,000 limit on it right now. Maybe that seems a like a lot -- and I'm sure it is compared to many secured credit cards -- but my American CC's much, much higher credit limits on them.

Something else to consider is that banks in the U.S. have been going through some very rough times lately. They may not be the most lenient when it comes to credit cards right now. I know the OP was talking about a Target CC, but there's a bank somewhere giving Target the permission to use it. I have both a credit card and a rewards card at The Bay and I was initially turned down for the CC. The reason was that the bank giving permission to The Bay thought I have insufficient credit.

Edited February 14, 2009 by DeadPoolX

[MsZ 6]

That just sucks. While I understand that Canadians don't want to be a part of the US, why we can't share things like credit history and driving records when we can share criminal histories and passport information I don't know. We only share what is beneficial to the state and not what is beneficial to our citizens. It sucks. We are more alike than different. And you'd think that with NAFTA things like this would be integrated. But we want to pretend that "foreigners" will always go home. Sigh... Some of us don't want our Canadians to go home -- EVER!!! A fine welcome you get though, huh?

For my nation, I apologize.

[Autumnchik 6]

My fear of course is that I don't want to apply too often and be turned down because that is a no-no

Autumn - did your husband wait for a while and just try again ? Glad it's worked out for him.

Yes, he did. The Lowe's card was the first he applied for and we used it to test the system, to see what it showed on a credit check. After a bit, he was able to get the Capital One card.

[J&K 0]

Udella&Wiz,

Sorry about your Target experience

This is what I think has happened: If you don't have any Credit Cards or Loans, you don't have anything on your credit report, and if you have an empty credit report, it's hard to get any credit (especially in today's economy and credit crunch).

Your joint bank account, and utlility bills do not report to the three credit reporting agencies (Equifax, TransUnion, and Experian).

flames9 is correct also in the fact that the three credit reporting agencies no longer count Authorized Users as affecting the FICO score.

The only suggestions I have are this:

1: GO TO http://www.annualcreditreport.com and get ALL THREE of your Credit Reports to see what's in there. Do you have anything reporting, how many inquiries and such. That will give you some idea of why you cannot get credit. (If you do this, or if anyone does, and you have any questions about them, please PM me and I will help )

This is FREE and you are entitled to them by LAW every year.

2: If your spouse has established credit, and it's pretty good (Score of 650 or more), you could apply for a Joint CC or Loan. That will Report.

3: You could apply for a Secured Credit Card. This is where you put $500 into an account and use that money as secured money, so that if you 'default' the bank is covered. Check and see if your bank offers this.

4: You could apply for a card from Orchard Bank. You will pay fees, but they seem to be the 'best' of the worst CC Companies. They are meant for people who have no or bad credit to start to build a positive Trade Line on their Credit Report.

5: You could apply for a card from Capital One. You would probably end up with a small limit card that may only get a maximum Credit Limit. Don't worry too much about Inquiries on your Reports right at the moment. If you aren't applying for anything like a Car or Home right now, it's not going to Hurt you too much. Plus, by the time you'll be applying for Bigger and Better Credit Cards and Loans, those Inquiries will either Not mean Anything to your FICO score (age) or they will have fallen off (Inquiries Fall off after TWO years, unlike Closed TradeLines which are SEVEN years).

I hope this has helped a little bit in understanding about your credit.

Also, I believe the reason that the US and Canada do not share credit reports are this: We do not have the same type of Socials (which is how they are mainly reported...although you would be surprised that they DO NOT need it to pull your report . And with Collections, there are different laws for the US and Canada regarding Collection Agencies, so how would they be able to regulate that? That's my 2cents on that.

I have been reading up and learning A LOT about Credit and how it reports, your rights and such for about 3 years now. My hubby had terrible Credit, and since I handle the finances, I took on the load of fixing and learning what could be done. Also, with myself in building a credit history for myself!

I am here to help if anyone wants

Edited February 15, 2009 by J&K

[DeadPoolX 9]

Also, I believe the reason that the US and Canada do not share credit reports are this: We do not have the same type of Socials (which is how they are mainly reported...although you would be surprised that they DO NOT need it to pull your report . And with Collections, there are different laws for the US and Canada regarding Collection Agencies, so how would they be able to regulate that? That's my 2cents on that.

I have been reading up and learning A LOT about Credit and how it reports, your rights and such for about 3 years now. My hubby had terrible Credit, and since I handle the finances, I took on the load of fixing and learning what could be done. Also, with myself in building a credit history for myself!

I am here to help if anyone wants

For the most part, I absolutely agree with you. However, from what I've been told, one of the main reasons neither side checks the other's credit history is because it'd be a hassle on their part. They could do it, but that would mean more work for them since the credit rating wouldn't be readily available.

I don't know if TD checked my credit rating (which is absolutely fantastic) when applying for their best credit card, but whatever happened, they gave it to me. The credit limit was lower ($5,000) than my American cards, but I was more than happy, considering the situation.

[J&K 0]

Oh I agree that most companies on either side think it's too much of a hassel to take the extra time to pull reports for the other side of the border (plus, it may cost more for them to do it).

But my thinking was on why we don't just share credit reports as MsZ was wondering.

[Jenni and Bo 0]

My uncle (Accountant) had said before I left that I could open an RBC Centura account here in Raleigh, and then talk to a manager about getting them to get my credit information from RBC in Canada - I've had my chequing and Visa through RBC for 8 years...I'm wondering how open these people will be about this idea?

[MsZ 6]

What happens when you change your address to a US address for Canadian cards?

Also, who knows what the deal is with TD in the US?

We're (foolishly) considering selling my house and buying a new one but if they're going to give my husband a hard time because he doesn't have US credit established, we'll get a crappy rate and I don't want to lock into a crappy rate. We have cash and I have excellent credit and at least for now we both have excellent jobs.

So I guess thing one to do is for him to apply for a card in the US as soon as he gets his social. But if someone like TD can pull info from Canada, that'd be stellar.

Also, since you can provide your own notations on credit reports, isn't it possible to provide a Candian credit report on one or all of the big 3? Then people can choose to use it or not, but at least it is provided.

[J&K 0]

The actual Credit Report is only one part of the decision process, the second (and I think the most important in the eyes of those who are making the decision) is the actual Score. So in most cases they will not take reports from you to use in the decision. And even though you can make notations on your report, the only one that they actually listen to is a Fraud Alert that you can place. You can say anything about a trade line, but the only thing that the Fico Score or a person actually looking at your report is going to see is what is actually being reported by your creditors.

For a Mortgage, the broker would be scrutinizing the report more, and may actually look at your report and want things to be done to it to make it better for them (in lending the money).

I JUST changed my address with me MBNA Canada mastercard to my US one and they didn't have an issue with it. They will probably just report my US address to my Canadian Credit Reports.

When shopping around for your mortgage, ask if they can pull your husbands Canadian reports. It doesn't hurt to ask, and it can be done, they just need to pull a few more strings to get it done. Be persistant