Is it me here, or would an AMEX Charge Card be the answer to this young man's dilemna ?

Hello Everyone, here's another update. No soon I gave up trying to get a credit card, I received a call from Fingerhut telling me that I was approved their Credit Card. I decided to accept their card, since the payments for the credit will be made automatically from my checking account. Two credit cards is all I need.

Ironically, yesterday I received an alert from Experian.com (I'm subscribed to their credit alerts), in which it shows that a "collections agency" listed me as owing $91.00 to their client. The collections company refused to tell me who their client is, because I am not the person they want. So I asked them to remove that "collections warning" from my credit report and they refused because they say that they have to verify their information first. Seems like we're going to have to litigate this in the federal court.

WARNING TO THOSE REQUESTING CREDIT CARDS]
It looks like some collection agencies are using a tactic called "fishing" to track down debtors. When the collections agencies don't have the SNN of an individual - especially if the individual uses other SSN's - they run name based searches for their subjects. When they find name matches, they place their subject's negative credit information on all individuals having the same name.

Once they are certain that you aren't the person they are looking for, then they only apologize for the inconvenients caused, and remove the negative information from your credit report. But, HELLO !!!, Your credit may have been denied because of what the collections agency did, so the damage is already done!!!.

From my point of view, collections agencies seem to have found a way to get around 15 U.S.C. § 522a (Fair Credit Reporting Act) and 5 U.S.C. § 552a (Privacy Act of 1974). My basis for this assumption is that, they know they could be legally liable for damages because of their actions. No collections agency will take chances of getting into a civil suit unless they have found a way to bypass the law.

Personally, I do not believe that the action of the collections agency caused banks to deny me any credit card. For the past 2 years I have been getting credit alerts, as a way to detect identity theft, and it wasn't until yesterday morning that I first received a "negative credit alert".

If you believe you have been a victim of collections agencies gone "fishing debtors", don't hesitate to contact me HERE .

You would think that they would offer you a card for that simple reason. Gee Whiz!! So sorry to hear that, and keep us updated with the results from the bofa secured card. I beleive you will have some good results from them. Try the soft pulls first:

1. bofa https://preapproved.bankofamerica.com/cc/SelfInquiry.aspx
2. Amex:upset: https://www201.americanexpress.com/secure/my-special-offers

Good Luck!

Hello everyone. I want to thank all of you for the ideas contributed. Here is an update.

Two days ago I visited a bank to apply in person for a major credit card. To make the story short, today I called the bank to find out what was decided, and they told me that my application for a credit card was denied. The reason,"major risk because of job related frequent international travel".

I will apply for the BoA secured credit card. As long as I can be able to rent a car, establish my credit, and don't have to continue traveling with so much cash in my pockets, I'll be perfectly happy. So let's hope I get that one approved.

I would apply for a Capital One card because they don't charge you for foreign transactions.

Nice info dgon! Yeah Colo is right, I would move over to a Bofa secured with scores like that. Yeah I have heard of creditors turning people down due to no credit or limited credit. I believe that chase has a card for those with no credit, you would might want to check them out. You have darn good scores to have limited credit, you are blessed. Way to go and keep up the good work.

I would not recommend that you get a Discover card for travel. They are not as widely accepted as Amex here in the US. Second of all, they are only accepted in Canada, Centeral America, Mexico, the Carribean, and China. I got those from the Discover website.

If your credit score is 716 you have a lot of options besides a Total Visa. I would recommend going with BofA, Citi or Chase with a score like that, and, you can use them outside of the USA.

My job requires me to make frequent travels to foreign countries. My credit score is barely 716 because I have had only few creditors. After all, why should I get in many debts, when I have to be traveling with a very short notice? Because of not having much credit experience, I have been denied for every single unsecured credit card I ever applied for. What was left for me to do in order to have a credit card? Apply for a "secured" credit card.

I opted for the Total Visa Card from Plains Commerce Bank. After getting my card on the mail, I happily activated it. While reading the Cardholder Agreement (you know, that sheet of tri-fold paper printed in very tiny letters that if it were smaller you'll need a microscope to read) I discovered something interesting: the card cannot be used outside the continental United States.

When I contacted Plains Commerce Bank (very friendly people, by the way), they confirmed that the Total Visa Card cannot be used outside the United States, and if the customer attempts to use the card outside the United States, Plains Commerce Bank will close the customer's credit account, thus the card will no longer be good for anything.

Total Visa Card cardholders should be aware that the card will not work outside the USA and even if you are lucky to get a transaction done abroad, you will run the risk of getting your card account cancelled (terminated) by Plains Commerce Bank. Also, cardholders should be aware that some US online merchants do their banking in US Territories like Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands, and if you deal with an online merchant banking in US Banks located in US Territories, you may also get your Total Visa Card account cancelled for breach of terms and conditions.

If you are trying to build or re-establish your credit, the last thing you need is to have your secured credit card account terminated for non-compliance with the Terms and Conditions of the card.

This must not be understood as despective nor detrimental to Total Visa Card or Plains Commerce Bank.

ADVISE]READ THE FINE PRINT[/B] of the Cardholder's Agreement. It is long, it is written with very tiny letters, but it is important.