Roughly 2 years ago my girlfriend sold her home and used the money to pay off all of her debt and placed the remainder of her money in a money market account.  Since that time she has lived in an apartment with no bills other than rent and utilities. Recently she applied for a credit card and was told that her credit has been dormant for over one year and therefore she has no credit score.  While her prior credit history is visible to anyone viewing her credit, she was told she will basicly have to start again from scratch to build a credit score. Her credit history goes back over 20 years and was flawless before this problem. She confirmed this with her bank and the problem she faces now is any credit offered to her is done so at a very high interest rate.

My question, is there a way she can regain her credit score through a petition to ??? (don't know who)  What are her options? And how can this be prevented?  The discouraging thing for me is I see now that our credit reporting system is designed to keep us in debt!

Thank you for any help!

Someone asked why she wanted a CC so I Edit to add the following:  She is in the process of building a home on 4 acres she owns free and clear, so truely her debt free lifestyle is over. She aquired a construction loan and has been making the allotted draws which apply toward building materials and paying contractors. The interest rate is very steep and must be paid on the loan amount each month. She wanted to use the credit card to make small purchases for things she is doing on the home herself such as painting, floor tile etc. For what ever reason that Im not aware of, the construction loan has no impact on her credit history because it isn't being reported by the bank. Once she makes her last draw on the construction loan and obtains an occupancy permit, the balance will be switched over to a traditional home loan. In the meantime her credit history has gone dormant. It's a crazy complicated mess.

Why in the hell would she want to get a credit card?

The woman is FREE!!!! She doesn't owe anyone anything! If she is worried about being able to buy a house then tell her to find a mortgage company that underwrites it own loans. Other than that, she shouldn't borrow any money for anything.

I am working toward being in her position!

This is why you always keep a credit card, even if you never use it.

  They don't like people who pay everything off, they
want you to stay in debt so they earn interest and fees.

Quoted: This is why you always keep a credit card, even if you never use it.

It's even better to use it for a fixed cost service, like an ISP or online game.  Then schedule a payment automatically every month.

This way the card is active.

Why you should have a credit card:

1.  more or less required to rent a car, reserve a hotel room or book a flight
2.  car breaks down out of town and requires repairs beyond the cash in your wallet - lots of places won't accept an out of town check, and losing your checkbook is probably more risky than losing a CC.
3.  can be used to open some locked doors in a pinch
4.  online/phone/TV/mail-order shopping

I'm sure there are more...

Re-establishing credit should be too hard.  I would hope that once activity picks up again on her credit report, that the credit history will come into play--raising her credit score.

Quoted: Why in the hell would she want to get a credit card? The woman is FREE!!!! She doesn't owe anyone anything! If she is worried about being able to buy a house then tell her to find a mortgage company that underwrites it own loans. Other than that, she shouldn't borrow any money for anything. I am working toward being in her position!

The problem is not owning a credit card. It's BEING RESPONSIBLE with your credit card.  If you have no self control, cut yours up.  But if you can control yourself, having emergency credit for a real EMERGENCY situation is great.

Hell, they keep bad credit on your record until you DIE!  I don't see why good credit should be any different.

I have a hard time believing this.  A credit score just doesn't disappear.  I think you get a 400 if you have a pulse and a SS#.

Have her go to one of the online sites, like myfico.com and pull her own scores and reports.

Personally, I use the CitiCredit monitoring service creditmonitoring.citi.com/index.asp  - this lets you pull unlimited credit reports and scores from all 3 major bureaus for $15/mo, and they send you email updates whenever someone accesses your file or something changes.

Quoted: Hell, they keep bad credit on your record until you DIE!  I don't see why good credit should be any different.

Not true.  Negative credit info stays on for 7 years, or up to 10 years for certain items like bankruptcies.

Quoted: Why in the hell would she want to get a credit card? The woman is FREE!!!! She doesn't owe anyone anything! If she is worried about being able to buy a house then tell her to find a mortgage company that underwrites it own loans. Other than that, she shouldn't borrow any money for anything. I am working toward being in her position!

Actually she is in the process of building a home on 4 acres she owns free and clear, so her debt free lifestyle is over.  She aquired a construction loan and has been making the allotted draws which apply toward building materials and paying contractors.  The interest rate is very steep and must be paid on the loan amount each month.  She wanted to use the credit card to make small purchases for things she is doing on the home herself such as painting, floor tile etc.   For what ever reason that Im not aware of, the construction loan has no impact on her credit history because it isn't being reported by the bank.  Once she makes her last draw on the contruction loan, the balance will be switched over to a traditional home loan.  In the meantime her credit history has gone dormant.  It's a crazy complicated mess.  

Look into it yourself.  Her story does not sound credible.

I had a similar situation but involved a now ex wife who screwed her no boyfriend along with my credit.

I finally found a store that sell me couch on credit, no interest with 1 yr to pay. I did so by the book, used the only credit card I still had which was for Lowe's home supply store.

I built my credit back very quickly after that & now the schmucks won't leave me alone.

I haven't spent any money on interest for any of the cards I have & used occasionally to keep my good credit rating.

If I don't have the cash in the bank to pay off my card I don't use the card. period!

Quoted: Look into it yourself.  Her story does not sound credible.

Its true, I don't know about in a years time, but I haven't had any debt in many years, not even a credit card.


After getting out of a bad relationship in which the ex was constantly trying to get me to sign for a loan or borrow money or she constantly was.  I got out of that and paid everything off and stayed out of any debt since 2003.  And now that I'm looking for a new Wrangler I find out that I have a credit score of 0 because I have been debt free!?!  Oh well, I guess I have to start all over again.  This time I do have a credit card.

problem she faces now is any credit offered to her is done so at a very high interest rate

so what?
you should never carry a balance regardless of the rate
get one with a high rate, charge the groceries and gasoline to it every month, pay it off in full each month, and soon she'll be able to get a better card

It's important to keep you trapped.


Maxed Out

In the credit card industry, those people who pay their entire balances every month are known as "stiffs".

Its all right. Watch the news and laugh at the credit crunch because they loaned out money to people they shouldn't have.

Quoted: In the credit card industry, those people who pay their entire balances every month are known as "stiffs".

They must hate me.

This has me wondering...

I am looking for a house right now, and have been pre-approved for a mortgage.  Tomorrow, I am mailing off the check for my last car payment.  Will closing out that debt have a negative affect on me getting a mortgage?

I still have a student loan, and credit cards(no balance carried, but one is used a lot and paid off immediately).

Quoted: problem she faces now is any credit offered to her is done so at a very high interest rate so what? you should never carry a balance regardless of the rate get one with a high rate, charge the groceries and gasoline to it every month, pay it off in full each month, and soon she'll be able to get a better card

Beside the shitty fact that they dump her good credit rating because she paid off her bills and lived debt free for a period of time, the high interest isn't the only problem.  The limit they offer is something around $500.   She wanted the card for smaller material purchases for the home she is building.  Maybe she made a mistake by not maintaining a card and will be able to fix that over time, but for now $500 bucks is pretty much worthless because you might as well just write a check and be done with it.   Sort of kills the point of having a credit card for "emergencies" with only a $500 dollar limit.  

 The retailers you make purchases from with the CC have to pay a fee to the CC companies and the retailers in turn pass those charges on to you in the price of their goods.   The system is designed to keep you in a credit card, which is bullshit.  

Quoted: Quoted: In the credit card industry, those people who pay their entire balances every month are known as "stiffs". They must hate me.

me too, they actually pay me to use their cards

I don't care what they call me, I'm just happy mine is finally paid for...

Quoted: Quoted: This is why you always keep a credit card, even if you never use it. It's even better to use it for a fixed cost service, like an ISP or online game.  Then schedule a payment automatically every month. This way the card is active.

+1

If you're careful, don't mind dealing with the slimy fucks, and don't mind being tracked ... Get one of the cards with a cash back program. Use it for everything you can and get your tiny share of the fee they charge the sellers.

Call Dave Ramsey!