Re:Credit Karma fined $3M by FTC for misleading consumers wi...
by distantaidenn on Monday September 05, 2022 @02:21AM
(#32721140)
Did you ever get the situation sorted? If so, any tips?
Re:Credit Karma fined $3M by FTC for misleading consumers wi...
by SilasX on Monday September 05, 2022 @02:51AM
(#32721301)
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!
Re:Credit Karma fined $3M by FTC for misleading consumers wi...
by sangnoir on Monday September 05, 2022 @03:46AM
(#32721593)
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.
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.)