Too bad those Certs mints weren't THREE mints in one! Or I could have added to yesterday's complaint tally. Except the complaint didn't come up until today.
I have been trying to get The Pony a credit card, because he will be going on a trip to California with a college organization next month. I don't think he will NEED a credit card, because he has his debit card, and the plane and lodging are covered by the university. But it never hurts to have a backup.
For the past year, The Pony has been getting credit card offers in the mail. I throw them away, because I figured he didn't need a credit card. Until now. So I took one of them, recommended by Genius, whose friends have this card, and used the code and put in all the information, following every instruction on the website.
THE PONY GOT REJECTED!
Can you believe it? No Hillbilly has ever been rejected for credit! That's preposterous! So I tried another company, online, and the same thing happened again! I got right on the phone and texted Genius. He was flabbergasted, considering some of the people he knows who have this card. Then I told him how I filled it out.
"There's your problem! NOBODY is going to issue a credit card to somebody with no income!"
"Well, he doesn't have income. Unless you consider his allowance."
"You have to consider his allowance as income!"
"And it said that if somebody else pays your rent, you should list it as ZERO. So I did!"
"NO! You have to put the rent. And then count that amount plus the allowance as his income."
"I don't know how to do this stuff! I have ONE credit card. We've had it for years. We pay it off every month. I'm on The Pony's bank account. Not the credit union he uses for his debit. Just his reserve account. The student account. Like you used to have before you took my name off of it! I'm going out there to the bank tomorrow, to see if I can get him a credit card through them."
"NOOOO! Once you go in there, they'll know what you're up to. There's no way they'll issue a credit card in HIS name to YOU. Even if you're on the account. What you need to do is get online and pretend to be him, and apply that way."
"Because I'm 0 for 2 doing it that way in the last 12 hours."
"Seriously. DON'T go in there. Call, maybe. You can ask. But it needs to look like he's doing it himself online."
"I guess if I HAD to, I could have him log on and talk him through it over the phone."
"YOU can do it. Just put in the right information. Otherwise he's never going to be able to get credit. My Friend got one from them, and he'd never had credit, and they gave him one with a $500 limit."
"And now he's got a job making more money than I did when I retired. Good for him. I hope they can raise his limit."
Here's the thing. The first week of move-in at the colleges, a kid can walk up to any table and apply for a credit card, and get a free gift, and probably get that credit card, too. And the companies send offer after offer to their home address...then when I try to get one for The Pony, using the specific code they reserved for him, so that his name popped up on the form...they REJECT the applicant!
I'm sure it was nothing I did wrong, despite what Genius the Master of the Financial World tells me...
Sooo...I'm going to try again. But too many tries, I hear, alerts the credit companies. I hope I don't get The Pony locked up for fraud!
5 comments:
Genius is right. No income, no card. You need to list his rent and allowance. Having even a little income, convinces the bank he will be able to make the necessary payments if he uses the card.
The other thing you can do is buy a prepaid credit card for him, where you buy a card and pay for a certain amount of money to load it with, however much you want him to have on it. Like a gift card from a store, but this one is from a bank.
But I would recommend his own credit card in his name. The Pony needs to learn to manage one of those.
Why don't you have Farmer H act like he's The Pony, and they can customer-service him...
River,
As much as it pains me to hear "Genius is right," I think you are correct. I was actually considering the prepaid version, but Genius said that is more for people who have HAS credit, but filed bankruptcy, and need to rebuild. That students usually don't get that kind of card.
I have now applied ONLINE for a card offered by our bank. We will be notified by mail (say it isn't so!) in 7-10 days of The Pony's acceptance or denial. I'm hoping that with my account at the same bank, and me on his student account, that he can get this card.
***
Sioux,
You will be ECSTATIC to learn that YOU and FARMER H are great minds who THINK ALIKE! Just last night, Farmer H was volunteering to get on the phone and talk to them! However...his voice definitely does not sound like a 19-year-old Pony. If they asked him studenty stuff to verify his qualifications, I fear our goose would be cooked.
Don't let Farmer H handle it!
Kathy,
You're preachin' to the choir, sistah!
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