Credit Cards - Experienced People Wanted!

I'm currently looking into applying for a credit card because I want to establish a line of credit. I'm going to use this and pay it off immediately, for the sole purpose of establishing credit, so extremely high APR doesn't really matter to me. What I'm wondering is, have you had any good experience with credit cards such as rewards or discounts that you thought was actually a good perk? I'm new in the credit card world, share some of your good/bad experiences, and recommend me one!

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Man... With that thread title, I came here fully expecting to ban somebody.

Anyway, just so I don't take up space I'll have some input here. I had pretty good credit back in the day but my last (and only) business venue left my ass exposed to rapists debt collectors when my partner skipped town and left me with a lot of unpaid utility and internet bills. Ever since then, my credit has been shit.

Recently, under the advise of a friend, I have acquired a credit card (PayPayl VISA) which I use all the time but always pay off IMMEDIATELY. I buy odd items on eBay and Best Buy with it and always keep them under $100-$150 in order to be easily able to pay it off immediately in order to maintain a steady appearance that I'm able to pay bills on time. I'm told this somehow helps to reestablish a formerly-failed line of credit over the course of many months. Hopefully within the next couple of years I'll actually be able to apply for a house loan or something although I doubt it. :/

There's nowhere I can't reach.

I'm looking into getting a credit card myself. I'm gonna go to my bank Thursday and talk to them about it. The plan is to get my first credit card through my bank, so if any problems arise or I have a question about it, I've already got some establishment with them, i.e. my checking account.

I'm 25, and haven't established any credit yet, save for the bills I pay. The "best" bill I have, which gives me the highest credit score, is my student loan repayments. I'm like, 4 months ahead of schedule. I haven't actually checked my credit score yet though, so I'm really in the dark. I do know that having no credit is worse than having bad credit.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

It's not a bad idea, really, IF you can pay it off like you say you are going to. I'm real stand offish about getting credit cards or even just a credit line to pay on a car because I've seen way to many people screw the whole process up, like my parents for example. I also have a friend that has an unhealthy obsession with his Best Buy card. Even if he does manage to pay it off, he'll turn right around and spend more money on it right afterward(we talking around $1000 at a time here).

One of the few times I did get a line of credit myself was when I bought my wife's engagement ring. I just wouldn't have had the money otherwise, and I didn't even have to start making payments until 6 months later. As luck would have it, I got side swiped by the this fucker when I was driving my old car, and when I took it to get an estimate of the damage it ended up being almost as much as my wife's ring. So I just took the money, paid off her ring and then got a new car later(that old car was a piece of shit anyway). Ended up paying her ring off before that 6 months were up and it made my credit bad ass. There was some other stuff along the way that helped too, though.

Pay it off FAST and the credit people love that shit, trust me.

How ya doing, buddy?

For many years I have very hesitant to get a credit card. However, with important things such as getting a house, car, etc, my parents convinced me that it was high time to get a credit card at the age of 21 (or was it 22?).

I have used a Visa credit card through my bank. That seemed to work well due to my already established relationship through the bank (which helped a great deal as previously my attempt to get a credit card at Circuit City failed due to me having a lack of a credit rating). I haven't had any major problems.

However, there weren't really too many bonuses. Still, had it for years, been able to use it in stores without a hitch.

My advice, as others have stated, is to make purchases with your card and pay it off immediately. Bring it with you to the store(s), get what you want/need, then at the end of the day, go to the bank (presuming you get it through your bank) and pay it off that day. Will keep your credit nice and good.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Originally Posted by MakoAoyama

Pay it off FAST and the credit people love that shit, trust me.

No they don't; they don't make any money that way. If you really want them to love you just make minimum payments on time.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Yeah, the credit card companies always urge you to pay the minimum because otherwise they don't make dick. Don't fall into that trap though. When you use your credit card, know what you have in the bank so that you don't get screwed. Lately, I've only been using my credit card for gas, and that's it. Years ago, I used to never carry cash on me and just use plastic, which works too.

Just don't get all retarded with the credit card. It's very simple to maintain a credit card if you're not a blatant retard. I don't know why there is so much nervousness in getting a credit card. As long as you have a job and you can pay it all off, it's a great thing to have. I've never missed a payment and never had any problems whatsoever.

FELIPE NO

I certainly won't have a problem paying it off immediately, I don't even plan to buy much with it. My original plan was to get a gas station credit card, but the gas stations I go to don't have one. I like the PayPal credit card idea, because I buy textbooks and other junk on ebay. I'm not sure I want to go with Visa as my first credit card... I'd like to keep it low key such as a gas card or a macy's credit card (if I went to Macy's...) because I don't plan on using it for anything but establishing a line of credit.

EDIT: They denied me for the PayPal Plus Credit Card... not sure why. Maybe it's because I'm too young? 21? Maybe it's because there has been no activity on my PayPal account for a few years? Well there goes that idea...

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Using a credit card and paying it off as quickly as possible is stupid, if you are trying to build credit. You won't build crap. You have to leave some debt so interest can be generated, and that is how your credit improves.

There's only two major rules I abide by:

1. Always pay on time, and pay generously.

2. Never exceed 30%-50% of your credit limit.

Don't even worry about interest. It usually comes out to pocket change, unless you are spending more than you should be.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Let me just add that if you keep a line of credit active and pulling in a monthly balance, you will boost your credit rating.
As long as you don't make late payments and stay within your credit limit that is.

It helps to establish your reliability with credit lines. You might have a great credit score, say somewhere around 750-850, but without a history of solid and constant credit it won't really matter much.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

I'm pretty happy with my Blue from American Express. Not a whole ton of perks on it, but they do give a free 1 year extension to all warranties, free insurance on rental cars, buyer protection, and a whole bunch of other things.

For times when a store won't accept AMEX, I use the Visa-debit that came with my checking account.

Just pay it off every month in full and you won't have any problems. I actually do all my purchases on one credit card so I know exactly how much I spend every month.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

DeLoreen: Interestingly enough, I had the same mentality. That's why I went with a Circuit CIty credit card at first (or tried to) only to get rejected (and being humilated as my best friend who worked there was standing there as another employee came over to tell me I was rejected. Oh well..). That's why I suggest doing it through your bank-you should have a far better chance.

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The Amazon.com Visa from Chase is also easy to get.

I was speaking idiomatically.

When I turned 18, I was belligerent as hell and got about 3 credit cards.

I ended up with a few thousand in debt and ruined my credit rating. It haunts me to this day.

Like everyone is saying, don't use it like a debit card. Rack up $30-50 a month on it (or whatever works in your budget), and pay it off per bill, if you can. That doesn't hurt your credit - it improves it. Yes, they don't make money off of you - that's because you're doing your job. They make money off of the assholes who, like I did, go absolutely nuts with the credit line.

Don't get a card if you can't afford it or don't have steady, reliable income.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

As Sass said, use it intelligently if you ever get one. It can quickly go out of hand if you if you don't pay attention to it.

Its really handy to have and its really a pain in the ass too.

FELIPE NO

My card's got a points program which is effectively a 2% cash back program. I use it to pay for everything. It's not that hard to manage the finances. All you're doing is consolidating all of your expenses in one place. The money still needs to be paid out, but you can sometimes bank on the float. That, and if you can cram all of your essential spending, ie, food, utilities, travel through your card, you're earning that 2% or whatever rewards.

This is the first that I've heard that accruing interest on your bills actually improves credit. Fuck that shit. I felt ashamed when I accrued interest. Now I see this god-awful YTD interest of 9.20 on my account. It's a blemish. =(

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Originally Posted by Avalokiteshvara

My card's got a points program which is effectively a 2% cash back program. I use it to pay for everything. It's not that hard to manage the finances. All you're doing is consolidating all of your expenses in one place. The money still needs to be paid out, but you can sometimes bank on the float. That, and if you can cram all of your essential spending, ie, food, utilities, travel through your card, you're earning that 2% or whatever rewards.

This is the first that I've heard that accruing interest on your bills actually improves credit. Fuck that shit. I felt ashamed when I accrued interest. Now I see this god-awful YTD interest of 9.20 on my account. It's a blemish. =(

I've always admired the fact that you throw pretty much everything at your credit card, and then pay off so many expenses with one payment. It's clever, but I really don't know if it'd work for everyone. (It just so happens that you're diligent, disciplined, and intelligent.)

Like Unforgiven said, they can be a blessing and they can be a curse. It's very very important to keep up with you credit card account(s). I don't say this out of ignorance.

Personally, I found it INTENSELY easy to just charge this and charge that to my credit, not really thinking about the income I had flowing into my bank accounts. (Yea, I was dumb. Yea, I learned my lesson) Treat your credit card like an added monthly expense, and you'll score well.

(I have NEVER heard that accruing interest on your card is "good for your credit score." Pay it off on time - avoid accruing interest if you can. I'd love to see the source on that advice.)

Additionally, I just spent the last hour looking at my credit report. The first time I had ever seen one. Looks like all my blemishes from when I was young are about to expire on themselves, leaving me with a reasonably clean slate. Which makes me smile.

There's another tip for you: don't apply for too many cards at once (as the issuer will see it on your report and could find you as a liability)

And one last tip: Try to avoid checking on your credit more than once a year. You're legally entitled to ONE free credit check per year, apparently. Use it wisely.

LASTLY, do they teach courses in high school on personal finance these days? Anything about credit? They really ought to.

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I got a credit card about 4-5 years ago to build up a credit history also. I applied for a card with the bank that I have a checking account with (for about three years at the time) - they turned me down saying that to get a credit card from them I needed to have a credit history and it didn't matter that I had an account there. Great circular logic they have... So I applied at Citi (MasterCard) and so far it's been pretty good, though not really any benefits. Like most people here have said, just be sure to pay it off, keep the spending sensible and you should build your rating up.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Just FYI, Chase and CapitalOne are both rather foul, squamous, and rugose. Chase is especially bad, as they're apparently rather given to giving credit cards with a fairly low APR to people, and then jacking up the interest rate to 25% or more once they've run up a significant amount of charges, using something to the effect of LOL YOU HAVE TOO MUCH CREDIT as their excuse for acting like loan sharks.

On the topic of credit-building, Megalith is right insofar as that using more than 50% of your available revolving credit is generally a bad thing, and having more than 70% of your credit lines in use absolutely kills your credit score. Paying off more than the minimum due on a card ON TIME will build your credit score up pretty well, too.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

I got my Visa credit card through a 'going-to-college' promotion through WellsFargo. I don't know what's going to happen after I graduate though (maybe different interest rates or something)

It's been about three years, and I enjoy using my credit card, if only to build credit and get points for their reward system. Otherwise, I usually just use my debit card (since it's money I actually HAVE)

I'd like to hear where people keep hearing that paying only the minimum improves your score more than if you pay all of it off; seems a bit counterintuitive to me, personally.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

They hear it in their head when they realize they can't pay off their bills and need some way to justify just making the minimum payment.

I was speaking idiomatically.

I got a Student debit card from Bank of America (visa) last year when I entered college, and applied for a visa credit card at the same time. I've been using the credit card for everything since, and needless to say, carry only a small amount of cash (~$20). Just remember to pay off what you spend (and obviously, to spend only what you can pay for). Use your online account to constantly check your balance, and to pay your balances by simple using your debit card to pay for your credit card. Not a single paper statement needed, and you can always have an up-to-date statement of your balance. I even set my account on auto-pay even though usually I check the transactions and amounts several times a week.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Id have you consider not having debt as a better option, but in this society, its a very radical statement.

If you want to look at all your options then at least research a little into living without debt. I would start here. After being a person who used credit, and racking up debt (about 5k), ive come to realize it may not be the best option.

However, if you insist on going in this direction, there are sites that can help you find a credit card:

Bankrate.com
Cardratings.com

Not being financially responsible in my early twenties is one of the greatest regrets i have.

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I've got four cards; one is my debit, the other is for my credit with Wells Fargo, another is a gas card, and the fourth is a card I used to do errands for my old man.

All the cards ('cept the Shell card) are VISA cards and the two credit cards have a rather low APR.

If you have a low APR, even if you empty out the credit you're given, you shouldn't be paying much. My line of credit (or whatever they want to call it) is around $8000. Between my laptop, original moving expenses, and major purchases, it dropped to around $500 available. I've rebuilt it to around $4000 by lobbing my free cash at it pretty easily across the past six months. This last month, I just paid the minimum payment, which was ~$60. Not bad at all.

You don't want to get too many credit cards, because folks will tag on to it as a dire grab for a credit score. Keeping the cards few in number and making all your payments is all that matters.

I keep the cards exercised by paying them off fast. Plus, if I have to buy something over $100, I put it on one of my cards. Doing this allows the credit companies to see that you aren't just sitting on the cards. It's nice to make a huge purchase and only pay a fraction every month =)

If done right, credit cards are pretty god damn handy. But if you abuse them, they're poison. Just stick to 4-5 cards, make sure they have low APRs, and possibly sprinkle around to different companies. I'm solely VISA, pract near, but I should look in to American Express or Mastercard at some point...

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Originally Posted by Gechmir

I keep the cards exercised by paying them off fast. Plus, if I have to buy something over $100, I put it on one of my cards. Doing this allows the credit companies to see that you aren't just sitting on the cards. It's nice to make a huge purchase and only pay a fraction every month =)

I love doing this. This is what I meant by banking on the float. You have to drop a ton of cash, so you slap it on a credit card, and don't accrue interest on it for a month. Meanwhile, depending on the timing and how your bank operates, you do accrue interest on the cash that's still sitting in your account.

Jam it back in, in the dark.