Credit cards, XL Edition: credit score & bad credit history

Credit cards, XL Edition: credit score & bad credit history

Credit cards are a part of our everyday life and are the easiest way of buying things when we haven’t got enough money. If you don’t have one yet, check this out. And if you don't have a good credit score, son't worry! Read our bonus track and find out how to get a credit card with a bad credit history.

When it comes to credit cards, the requirements are not as clear and standarized as those used by mortgage lenders, for example. A credit card lender may use only two credit scores. A FICO 8 score, referred to as a Bankcard score, is usually amogn them. The difference between a standard FICO score and this one, is that  the Bankcard Score doesn’t consider all credit to be equal. The FICO 8 Bankcard Score focuses on your behavior with credit cards specifically, and rewards or penalizes you according to this. 

Anthony Sprauve, a senior consumer credit specialist at FICO explained that: “This version of the base FICO Score was developed at the request of our credit card customers to give them a FICO Score that more closely addressed their needs”.

Other credit card lenders still, might use in-house credit scoring models as an additional way of verifying your credit score, but most of them don’t reveal which credit card bureaus they use.

However, there are more things that make it difficult to know how card lenders evaluate the risk you pose: the methods used change frequently and they use much more diverse standards. The minimum score required by a card lender may vary too. It can be of 700, while others have no problem approving a 650 credit score.

This is why  he Bankcard score is becoming popular among card lendres: it weighs many factors and provides a different score for a credit card lender than it would for a mortgage lender. The fact that the requirements, and the factors taken into account change from one lender to another, makes it very difficult to speculate whether you will be able to qualify or not for the card you choose initially.  So, keeping up with the good credit habits you have always been using to strengthen your base FICO score  is stll the best bet.

These habits include:

•    Paying your bills on time
•    Keeping your credit utilization ratio low
•    Establishing credit as soon as you can
•    Limiting new credit applications
•    Keep a healthy mix of credit accounts on your report

Note: the first two factors that appear to carry more weight than the others.


It's not impossible to get a credit card if you have a bad credit history. You just need to follow some tricks and you can even rebuild your credit score! Most of the people think that those who have a bad credit history cannot have access to a credit card. Nevertheless, there are a two methods that might help you not only to get a credit card but also to rebuild your credit score.

1. Getting a secured credit card

The first option you can try if you have a bad credit score is opening a secured credit card. It is quite easy, you just need to have your cash ready!

This kind of cards require a deposit to grant you a credit line. Some banks may even offer you a limit higher than the amount you initially deposit. You just need to make some research about the options you have. While searching for the best bank you should also look for the interest rates, fees and conditions they offer.

You can also check if the bank offers to report your payments to the credit reporting agencies. Choose one that grants this possibility. It will allow you to rebuild your credit score!

2. Sign on as an authorized user

If your score is bad, you can turn to a trusted friend or someone in your family who has a better score than you and can help you get a credit card. They can add you to their account as an authorized user! This would give you access to a credit account despite the bad credit score.

If you apply this method you will have to make sure you always pay your bills on time. Otherwise, it will impact in your friend or family member's good credit. You should also ask the bank beforehand if the payments as an authorized user will affect your credit report. If this does not help you to rebuild your score, then you may want to ask another lender.

Lastly, learn how you can remove yourself from the account once you can improve your score and access to your own credit card.

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