Originally Posted by
johnnysd
great article by the way, thanks for the advice. i think my problem right now is that i have too little credit. i have looked at the amex website and they require you to have excellent and well established credit. in fact a lot of the cc mentioned (ie chase, citibank) require execellent credit history. so i'm totally lost as to what to do. if anyone has any ideas besides a secured cc then i'm all ears. but the ironic thing is that you would think that these cc companies would want a costumer like me who always pays his debt and is responsible with money. unfortunately i just cant prove it to them it they don't give me a cc to show them. there in lies the catch 22
When I was first applying for credit cards (2 years ago) my first year of college, I had zero credit. However, I was still approved for an AMEX charge chard the Premier Rewards Gold and through that card, I was able to slowly build up my credit. I think a charge card is good for you since you stated that you don't like to carry debt and charge cards have to be paid in full every month. IMO I believe that obtaining a charge chard from AMEX is easier than an actual credit card since you pay it off every month. A couple months later, I applied for and was approved for the Continental mastercard and the American Airlines visa and I am approaching my next set of applications soon.
Another factor that can help as well is if you have any home mortgages and/or auto loans. These loans can be beneficial for you in obtaining credit cards.