Credit Cards
 

So yea, I've been thinking of getting one with like $200 limit, just to start to gain some credit. (I'm 18, never had credit really.) It would also be convienent for other things as well, but yea.

But I've got a question.. when I don't use it..do i still have to make a monthly payment? Say..i didn't owe money or i was paid off or w/e and then the next month i didn't use it at all..would i still be charged?

as long as you dont have a balance and your car has no monthly or anual charges to use it, then you pay nothing. Its a wise idea to get one and start building credit it will help alot when you wanna buy a house,car, etc.... just dont be a idiot and only use it when you have the cash to pay it off.

I dont carry any cash ever...my credit card is also through my insurance company that i've had for 5 years. I've built up enough credit in those 5 years to buy cars and soon enough a house. It's a good start to gain credit.

Use nothing but Mastercard or Visa. They are the two cards that are almost accepted everywhere. Discover,AMEX, Chase, and others suck and theres a reason that they arent accepted at places anymore. Like Spike said make sure that you pay off your stuff and I always pay off my cards online 2 weeks ahead of schedule and dont raise your limit I did and I bought a new tranny with it...lol

This is a Visa, and the limit is only $200. I figure its low enough that I can manage monthly, once I change jobs and pull in more cash, I'll raise it up a little bit. But yea my main focus is to build my credit for a car and eventually a house.

Thanks for the advice guys :)

i started off the same way. wells fargo gave me a students credit card with a limit of 800 bucks. i had a 300 dollar a week job back then with IN-N-OUT. now im 23 and my wells fargo credit limit has only went up to 5500, but i never have more than a 1000 dollars on it. i didnt ask for limit increases they just sent me notices that my limit has been increased. i also just got approved for that car with flying colors. its funny i only make 23 grand a year and they said i qualify for a $40K loan. dont get caught up in the credit card game. some people are dumb with those things and only make minimum payments. these tards think that "OH i can buy this $2500 item and only pay 20 bucks a month" with a 8% APR it will take a long ass time to pay the balance.

most expensive thing i plan on buying will be like $200-300 bucks, lol. I had a checking through BofA and they screwed me hard. I sent my payment, they stuck it in my account, then collections called me ect.

I just recently opened up a checking/savings with Washington Mutual, and applied for a Capitalone card, idk if this is the same card or not.. its a complicated and long story. Lets just say, if I get a bill from them, they'll be talking to a lawyer representing me.

dont by anything you dont have the cash for... and i doesnt matter what the limit is you build the same amount of credit wit a car that has a 200 dollar limit as you do with a 1000 dollar limit

i have a visa and got it when i was 16. parents gave it to me with a co-sign so i could start building a credit. so i used it for gas and food. that was it. then for everything else, i payed with my debit card. i started with a $500 limit and i have only maxed it out once cause VISA didnt send us a bill for 2 months, so we told them and we didnt have to pay any fees.

i have no idea what my credit score is but i have made every payment and paid in the full amount of the bill. no less.

just be careful, it is easy to get yerself wrapped in debt.

when i joined the USAF i had an AAFES card with luike a 1500 limit. Being young and stupid i maxed that out pretty quick. Then i got a visa which was 2,500 and maxed that out.

Y2k Came and i diddnt get another bill.

A year later i was getting laid off at my first job in the real world, luckily enough they needed me to stay untill the company tanked so they hired me back on, i got a 10k severance package. Right around that time both of my old debts were purchased by a lawyer and he came after me, ended up paying about 6,000 with added interest, fees, etc.

been relativly clear of debt ever since that, now im sitting about 1/4 million in debt.


Remember, there are 2 types of credit, one is revolving credit which bases weather or not you can get that sears card. The other one is more of a stable thing where there is a large finance and they see how well you pay it off.

even with my revolving credit pretty shoddy, i was still able to qualify for a 225k house with 5.75% fixed for 30y, because i had never been late on a financed purchase.

You know back when my parents were in thier 20's opeople just bought everything cash?

nowadays everything is so expencive that you have to have decent credit in case of emergencys.

part of being an american means that you are paying interest.

Ill never finance anything ever again except a house.

once my car is paid, it is paid. If i ever buy another it will be cash..


It ised to be you would save enough money to buy a car. Now you go ahead and get the car and pay a shitload of interest.

Once my car and house are paid up, im done paying interest to other people.

My reccommendation is to work on credit, dont buy anything you cant afford, and save save save. Buy your cars with cash. it is harder to buy cash cause you have to wait, but instead of paying 50,000 over the course of 5 years yer paying 25,000 up front.

about 1,300 of my mortgage goes to interest cause i am only 3 years into my mortgage. only 250 a month goes to paying the principle.
about 250 of my car payment is interest.

1,500 of my paycheck ever month does not go to me. it goes to just pay off interest... :(

Yea I plan on using the credit card for stuff like gas and a small amount of tools, sometimes maybe for dinner as well.

I set up a online checking and savings account with WaMu ..same thing as a regular checking/savings.

I figure I can put a majority of my check into checking and then the rest into savings.

Use my checking accnt to pay off the creditcard, and use it for whatever other good stuff I want also, and have the savings just to build up cash in the future.

My credit got messed up when I was 16 because i opened a "student" checking account at BofA.. I overdrew by 100 bucks..so I go into the bank tell them "well i was susposed to get overdraft protection" They told me since I wasn't a college student I didn't get a student account..I was like "wtf i'm a highschool student..i should get like..twice as much protection" So I told them to send the money in and close my accounts..few months down the road collections calls me saying i never paid.. had an arguement with them..went to the bank, found out that my cash was in the account still and they never sent it. Yet I got in trouble and the bank reported me..so it kept me from getting another checking account..banks wouldn't accept me.

Went to kern schools, opened up a savings, but since its so busy, I decided to switch banks and go to WaMu and I got a checking account via the online thing..

I applied for a capital one card.. the sent me a "courtesy" call..i missed it they said call back, so i called back and they want my card number..I DONT GOT A CARD. so idk if some dude is running around charging crap to me or not..

Then Visa sent me something for their "Platinum" ..so basically all I know is I'm getting a Visa, i dunno if its coming from capital one or not. ;x

I have just had to go through a Finacial peace class from Dave Ramsey. And he did point something out. When you do pay with cash for big stuff, like a car or something from a dealer most of the time it will be cheaper. Or thats what he kept saying.

Another great way to build credit is to take out a small personal loan with your bank or even better, a credit union and have the payment automatically drafted from your account. I used to take out a loan for $1,000 @ 6-7% interest, 26 payments of $41 a pay period. On top of that, I would leave the loaned money in the account that was being drafted, letting it earn interest and just keep it as an emergency fund (the hard part was not touching it). A few years of doing this, you'll have a good credit rating with perfect payment history.

A credit card can help get you started, but there are alot of pitfalls that come with it. If you bank with a credit union, get one of their cards, they are much less likely to jack with your interest rates and will generally be below 10%. Alot of CC company's that send you applications in the mail have clauses that allow them to increase the interest to 31%+ if you miss a single payment. Some CC company's even watch your utility bill payment history and if you show late payments, they'll jack up your interest.

I have one credit card, it has a 2k limit @ 9% interest and its through my credit union and thats all I really want and need. Good luck man.

I think it's a great idea. when I was 16 my parents got me a credit card and all I could use it for was gas and if I wanted to use it for anything else I had to ask. What it did was ensure that I had some credit established, and let me tell you it made things a lot easier for me.

Just be careful with it because sometimes it's really easy to say "oh, I'll just put it on my credit card" It adds up fast.

lol yea i can see something like that happening to me ;x

If you are smart, having a limit of infinity wont hurt. In my opinion, if you have to impose a limit on your card so that you dont go hog wild, you dont need a credit card in the first place. Also, having a higher limit helps you in a way, if you control your spending, because it means you can spend money but not use up all of your limit, also known as utilization (I think this is the term). Basically, if you have 75% of your limit used up, it looks bad, but if you had a higher limit, you might only be using 25% of it, which looks better to the reporting agencies.

Credit cards are easy, IF you are responsible. Pay the bill in full each month, pay zero interest, make your payments on time, and be smart. I dont buy anything on my CC that I do not immediately have the cash in my pocket for. Get a card that offers a money back reward, be it 2% or 5% anything. If you are going to use their card, they may as well do some work for you.

Be smart, get the card if you know you can handle it.

Lots of good info here.

I work for a Credit Union. Im telling you now, If you dont know what a credit union is, educate yourself. We offer a share secured card which is great for credit building, and is perfect for those people who cant or think they cant control themselves when it comes to using a line of credit. You basically secure the card on lets say 500 in your savings, and it places a hold on the 500 bucks, then when you want to close it, you just take the balance out fo that 500 bucks, and your good. Takes about 9-12 months to build a positive payment history set up if you have no credit. great thing is, its only a 2.5% apr + the int rate on the share its held against, which in a savings is .7%. So 3.2% for a first credit card, cant beat that.

Plus, being with a credit union, your money goes toward making your community a better place, along with any interest and profit the company makes is turned and put towards making better interest rates for members.


So basically, Credit Unions > banks.

Credit Unions are WAY WAY WAY better than banks.

Example 1.
-My girlfriend thought she had 175 in the bank. She checks it, and she has 75. The bank tells her the 100 was pulled out in fees to the bank.
-I think i have 175, and i do. My Credit union doesent pull random fees out like hers does.

Example 2.
-With my credit union, i have had large sums of up to 4,000+ transferred to my account plenty of times. When i check the account, the amount transferred is there and available.
-When i transferred $2,300 to my ex girlfriends account (long time ago) her bank pulled out $150 of the amount transferred as a "Large transaction fee"


My checking is free... my savings is free... i have no minimum limit on my checking, i dont have to pay ATM fees, no withdrawl fees, i get unlimited free online and phone support. In fact, all i have to pay for are checkbooks, oh yeah, and i have NO OVERDRAFT penalty, if it is a resonable amount ( under 100) the Credit union simply covers the amount and lets me know i went negative.

Also, get this.
Say i send out 5 20$ checks, and 1 $110 check.
All 6 checks hit the bank at the same time, and i only have 105 in my account.

My credit union will cash the 5 $20 checks, and bounce the $110 check.

Banks will normally Cash the $110 check, and bounce all 5 $20 checks so they can fine you $20 for each bounced check. Putting you another 100 bucks in the hole.

lol...

BANKS FTL!!!!!!!!!!!!

No joke. I just wish people were more educated on financial institutions. If people knew the differences, they wouldnt touch a bank.

Simply for the fact that banks are all for profit, and CUs are there for the benefit of its member-owners.

Credit Unions FTW !!!!!

I wanted to go through a credit union... i have a savings over at Kern Schools.. but I can't get the checking or approved for anything...

Once my job changes and I get paid more and have my shit setup.. then i'll probably close out the checking with WaMu and go to another credit union and get my card or w/e from them.. but for now this is the way i gotta do it.. :(

They wont let you open a checking? Are you on Chexsystems? (meaning, have you had any account abuse in the past?)

That would be the only way we wouldnt let you open one. Hell, we will open our no fee checking with 0 deposit. All it takes to join our CU is 15$ too. So for 15$, you get free savings, checking, bill pay, Home banking, 24hr teller and a toll free number to call our call center, all with no monthly fee. Ever.

Our credit cards are fixed also, and if you dont qualify for our best rates, you can build credit then apply to do so right over the phone, and have it changed instantly.

The thing that really got me, was when I worked in the Call center, I talked to ALOT of people who worked at banks, and refused to do business with them, simply because they knew CUs have a million advantages over banks in general.

CREDIT CARDS ARE THE DEVIL!!! http://www.mcmmotorsports.com/smilies/villagers.gif

Without credit you dont exist in this country. Building credit is important and easy but takes time. Everybody wants to buy a car and home so its important that you start building credit and protect. Dont lend your credit to anyone. Only person I share my credit is my wife.

I started off really bad so I paid off all my debt and now I dont owe anything. I buy everything on credit and get points which I redeem for Gift cards at Best Buy. I pay statement in full every month or with bigger purchases in two payments. However which way you go just make sure you start working on building your credit.

Yea i'm on the chexsystems thing.. or was..i dunno now. BoA put that shit on me for 100 bucks..after i told them "Send this money in, close my accounts" instead..they put it in my accounts..so they royally f**ked me. WaMu let me open it though.. Capital one sent me a Visa..or is sending me.. i got approved..so i filled out the stuff the card should be coming eventually..

Just got my checking account card/checks in..

Dont worry about it youll eventually build your credit up but just take care of it and dont buy stuff you cant afford.