weird proposal

[e909]

I'm currently a student with TD, and they won't give me a student line of credit because of no income (can't get it co-signed). I just checked my Fico and it is 753. I have a TD Emerald with a 10,000 limit with them and have had it for the past year with lots of use.

Do you think TD would be willing to reduce the limit on that card by 5,000 and replace it with a LOC of 5,000? Would that be impossible for them to do?

Any insight onto the matter would be appreciated.

[Nyte]

I'm in a very similar situation, except I'm with CIBC. Also have a 10K limit on my card, and I'm sure theres room for a lot more in there. Anyways, neither CIBC or TD will give me a student LOC without a cosigner; I've also tried a personal LOC, which should be easier to get, but no go on that as well. One key difference is that I actually do have income and meet all their income requirements, but being a student, it's not stable enough for them. So unless you can get it cosigned, you may as well give up on it.

Btw, did you pay to get your credit score?

[vickyvictoria]

If your a student, the easiest credit to get is a credit card, usually with a low limit and if you make your monthly pymts, c/c companies are very generous in increasing the limit for you. Credit approval is not only based on your credit score. The risk invovled by the FI to issue you a Line of Credit (LOC) is much higher. It's unlikely that the FI will reduce your credit card limit and transfer that amount of credit to a LOC, credit cards and bank accounts are separate even though they may belong to the same FI and you see your balances together online. Most students are approved for c/c through multi-card mass campus applications, even with no income, you may be approved for say a $500 initially, they see how you can pay that back, some ppl use their osap or their parents help them out.. so you begin to establish credit. If you default the limit is low and it's faster and easier for them to cancel your credit privilages and send to collections.
It's unlikely that you would be approved for a LOC without a co-signer, it doesn't matter that you've been paying your c/c (how do you make pymts w/o a job?), if your parents are helping you out, then the FI wants them to co-sign your LOC application.
Even with income, the standard for student LOC's is that a co-signer is required except in some cases of grad students, Law and Medical students, where there is an agreement btwn the school and the FI upon acceptance.
The FI will look at how long you have been working as well ,your repayment history, how long you have had credit etc... are you a full-time student/part-time student??

[grant]

You're probably out of luck. LOC interest rate is low, which means it's for low-risk borrowers.

CCs have high interest rate to compensate for high-risk borrowers like you.

[straysheepie]

I got an unsecured TD student LOC for a car between my second and third year with no problems. After reading the responses I'm surprised I got it - it sounds like FIs are reluctant to open LOCs for students. A few things that probably helped are:

- Long history with TD, had an account since I was a kid
- Credit card bills paid in full every month
- Pay stubs as proof of employment with fairly good PT income
- Good credit score - that's what the lender told me

However, I was told at the guy at TD that the two levels for student LOCs are $7,500 and $15,000, so perhaps the OP may qualify for $5k but it's still not high enough for $7.5k? Just speculating here.

I would suggest going to a credit union if the big 5 banks won't open a LOC, my friend opened an unsecured student LOC with Vancity recently :)

[Prospero]

Why don't you call TD Visa and ask them to lower the interest rate on your Emerald card instead? The rate on a LOC of $5000-$10000 for a student with no income will likely be at least prime+4. You can get yor Emerald's rate down to prime+2, and you already have a $10k limit, as you state. A LOC, for someone in your position, isn't really going to be a better deal than your Emerald card. If anything, call them to lower your interest rate and increase your limit. That card can be pretty competitive with LOCs.