Self Visa

I really like this idea.
1. So go to Self and choose a plan - I suggest the $150 plan for 12 months, although you can start for as little as $25/month.
2. Sign up for a non-refundable fee of $9.  Self will open a CD for $1663.
3. Each month, make the $150 payment.  Self will report this to the 3 credit bureaus - Experian, Equifax and Transunion.
4. Once you have a least $100 in principal saved and made 3 on-time payments, Self will also give you a secured visa card to use with the credit limit that you choose, up to the amount of your savings, rounded to the nearest $100.  There is no hard pull on your credit report for this.
5. After 12 months, you can keep the visa with a credit limit of up to $1600.  Or you can cancel the plan and visa and get a check for the full $1663.

So you get: 1) an installment loan reporting to the credit bureaus;  2) a visa card with up to a $1600 credit limit with no credit check; 3) a savings plan.

There is a cost to this.  The interest rate is about 15%.  You pay in $1800 and get back only $1663.  Also, if you don't make all 12 payments, they will cancel and use the CD as security and charge extra fees. But still, this is an excellent idea for some people.