One big push with Chase (especially on facebook) is the Chase +1 MasterCard. They advertise their student cards "Get started with a Chase Student Card. It's a great way to establish your credit history, control your finances and get special student benefits too."

Funny thing is, my girlfriend just got denied by Chase for the +1 MC. She has never had a credit card before, so I recommended this card for its benefits and to help build her credit. My thought was that since she is a student with no credit history, she would get approved for a student credit card for those without histories.

Has anyone else had this situation, or know if there is anything she can do to get Chase to give her a card? We could go to another bank, but we wanted to go with Chase so she could get the Chase BP Visa card later. When she opened the letter I was shocked that Chase would deny a student a student card. Is the credit crunch really that bad?

Thanks to anyone that has any insight.

Just because she never had a credit card does not mean she does not have bad credit. For example if she has a cell phone that went to collection that would be reported on her credit, also if she was evicted an apartment, or had any judgements those would be on her credit report too.

I would recommend she get a copy of her credit report and check it out. You never know what you might find on her credit report.

I was turned down for a student Discover Card and when I called to ask the reason was "insufficient credit history". I gave them a long rant about how it was a student card meant to build history and they had applications all over campus that said you didn't need any history.

After about 10 minutes of ranting I think I wore poor CSR down and she said she would reprocess my application and I didn't need to do anything else. About a week later I got a full fledged (non-student) Discover card. Now that is by far my oldest card, one of my highest limits (despite what people say about Discover being stingy), and I occasionally use it like an ATM card at Von's to get Cash Back with no fees.

try getting a bank of america secured credit card to start with or some sort of semi secured card from a bank to build credit.

I would try student Citi Driver's Edge and student Citi mtvU cards. Those are awesome cards, student or not and Citi seems pretty aggressive in recruiting students.

I agree with all the companies that are pursuing students, there is no need for a secure card unless she actually has real negative marks on her credit report.

My frist credit card was a Chase Freedom MC when I just turned 18.

Might have helped that I had my checking account for over a year with them and had almost $1,000 in it

My first card was an AMEX Blue Student.

I applied and got approved instantly.

I had no prior credit history.

compfreak9999 said:win333 said:Good luck trying to get a major credit card as her 1st account. Get something like a jewelry store (kay's) or something like that 1st. If she truly has no credit history it will be hard to get a major credit card (not impossible but hard).

Get someone to put her on as an Authorized user on their account ie. mom, dad, you, brother, friend. She'll have a bunch of credit in no time.


I don't necessarily agree with your statement. I was able to obtain a BOA student card ($600 limit) and a Chase student Amazon card ($500 limit) when i was 18. No prior credit history.

I didn't say "you can't get one", but if you have SOMETHING on your credit report you will get more than 500 as your 1st major credit card.

It doesn't matter if your 1st account is a 100 gas card or 300 jewelry store account, anything on your report that tells them you are a person and made a payment will get you more than a TOKEN 500 credit line.

Maybe some people are happy with a 500 creditline, play the game right and there is no reason to EVER get a 500 major credit card.

compfreak9999 said:win333 said:compfreak9999 said:win333 said:Good luck trying to get a major credit card as her 1st account. Get something like a jewelry store (kay's) or something like that 1st. If she truly has no credit history it will be hard to get a major credit card (not impossible but hard).

Get someone to put her on as an Authorized user on their account ie. mom, dad, you, brother, friend. She'll have a bunch of credit in no time.


I don't necessarily agree with your statement. I was able to obtain a BOA student card ($600 limit) and a Chase student Amazon card ($500 limit) when i was 18. No prior credit history.

I didn't say "you can't get one", but if you have SOMETHING on your credit report you will get more than 500 as your 1st major credit card.

It doesn't matter if your 1st account is a 100 gas card or 300 jewelry store account, anything on your report that tells them you are a person and made a payment will get you more than a TOKEN 500 credit line.

Maybe some people are happy with a 500 creditline, play the game right and there is no reason to EVER get a 500 major credit card.


....$500 seems pretty typical for a starter card (No history).

Like I said "why bother", do it right by getting OTHER small accounts 1st. THEN go for the major credit cards.

ellory said:kg4ysy said:One big push with Chase (especially on facebook) is the Chase +1 MasterCard. They advertise their student cards "Get started with a Chase Student Card. It's a great way to establish your credit history, control your finances and get special student benefits too."

Funny thing is, my girlfriend just got denied by Chase for the +1 MC. She has never had a credit card before, so I recommended this card for its benefits and to help build her credit. My thought was that since she is a student with no credit history, she would get approved for a student credit card for those without histories.

Has anyone else had this situation, or know if there is anything she can do to get Chase to give her a card? We could go to another bank, but we wanted to go with Chase so she could get the Chase BP Visa card later. When she opened the letter I was shocked that Chase would deny a student a student card. Is the credit crunch really that bad?

Thanks to anyone that has any insight.Want to share the rest of the story? Something is missing here. Go get her credit report from the bureaus and see what it says

Nothing seems fishy here. At least in my case, years ago I had the same problem of applying for student credit cards and being denied based on insufficient credit history(Truth is I did have insufficient credit history). One time in particular I applied for a MBNA student card and got denied. Few weeks later a MBNA rep was on campus promoting the same card...I applied and got my card in the mail a couple weeks later. OP I suggest your girlfriend look out for credit card companies who come on campus...usually at the start of a semester.