When will his credit be good enough to apply for a credit card?

My boyfriend is in the process of clearing up some derogatory items on his credit. Once he has paid his debts how many months will it take for him to be approved for a credit card? I understand that the items will be on his credit for 7 years. Will he have to wait until then to start reestablishing credit?|||Your boyfriend can start with a secured credit card. These aren't cheap, but are one of the few ways your boyfriend can start to re-establish a credit rating.





I think your boyfriend, if he hasn't already done so, get all three credit reports from annualcreditreport.com (a free service mandated by the U.S. Government) without scores. There, he can see what is exactly on his credit report. If some of these negative marks are incorrect, he should dispute them (this can be done online through each of the major credit reporting agencies on their websites). The creditors reporting these items have 30 days to prove that the negative items are legitimate. If they can't produce documents within the 30 days, the items have to be removed from his credit report. This is also a way to improve his credit profile.





A third way to improve his profile would be to "piggy back" on someone elses credit. It is still possible to be added to someone's existing credit card as an authorized user. Because of the way credit scoring is done, (there was a lot of abuse on authorized user credit cards) which artificially boosted peoples credit scores, some by up to 200 points, if your boyfriend can find someone who would be willing to let him to be added as an authorized user on their credit card, this could also boost his score.|||He will probably need to start with a secured credit card.|||Each credit card issuer has different standards so your question can't be answered without more detail.