If all of the defaults occurred >7 years ago and there’s been no credit activity since the individual would have no credit score because of no credit history. I know this because I’ve literally seen it happen. What you do then is apply for a secured credit card (basically you pony up some cash to secure an extremely low credit limit) then after you’ve established a payment history and a credit score you can move on from there. As far as I know financial institutions do not take into account one’s felon status when determining elgibility