"Kaleb C. Striplin" wrote: > > Seriously, here is what you do. Go down to your back and give them > $400, tell them you want a secured visa and a secured mastercard.
You need to do this at a bank which reports secured cards as unsecured cards. A $300 or $400 secured credit card is just proof that nobody is willing to really loan you money. And loans under $1000 don't do much for your scores, bigger tradelines are better. I'd try to find a credit union that reports as unsecured, deposit $2000-5000, take out a share backed installment loan on it. (should only cost you 1% or so over what they pay you on the savings account) Now take your loan proceeds, open another savings account, and take out a secured Visa card. Charge a tank of gas on the visa every month, and pay it off each month. You now have a medium sized installment loan, plus a decent sized revolving credit account, with low utilization on the revolving account. (having a $4900 balance on a $5000 credit card is not good for your credit score, it makes you look overextended) Ideally you should have at least one installment loan and two or three revolving credit accounts, but the above should give you a score in the 700+ range after the accounts have gained some age. (oh, yeah, it really helps to have old revolving credit lines, over 20 years old is good. Maybe you can get a relative to add you as an authorized user on a credit card that's a few decades old and has no late payments in the last two years)
