Credit Cards for an 18 yr old

[quasar34]

i have a capital one mastercard..within the first 6 months the uped my limit from 300 to 1000..

[7pointoh]

Why not get a small personal loan from a bank and pay it off within six months? Paying off a loan on time or earlier can help build your credit score.

[NastyEllEssWon]

credit cards are bad mmmmk

[WildBillyT]

Originally Posted by maroman88

ive got a visa card, my dad has a visa card... we get one bill with both our names on it... its all for car parts lol

That means you have a card on his account. It is not your card and won't effect your credit score. Like an expense account.

Aside from the money aspect of it, credit cards are nice in that they help you with things like short warrantied items, bad sellers, and establish a paper trail of your purchases which can help if things go south.

My wife paid a few thousand "cash" to get a discount from our wedding photographer/videographer, and when they went poof all our money was gone and we are left with only raw images. Barely anything we actually paid for. If we had paid with a CC it would have been a little more expensive but we would have gotten our money back.


To the OP:

Get a VISA card (I'd say AMEX but they aren't taken everywhere and that can be a PITA) and only buy stuff with it when you already have the money to pay the bill. Treat it like if you carry a balance they will cut off your nutsack. Keep that mentality and you will be fine.

[Blacdout96]

I never owned a cc, I took a loan out years ago, paid it off in half the time, credit skyrocketed, now they beat my door down with credit cards offers.

[maroman88]

Originally Posted by WildBillyT

That means you have a card on his account. It is not your card and won't effect your credit score. Like an expense account.

why wouldnt it be considered him having a card on my account? it was originally opened with both names on it, i wasnt added later

[BonzoHansen]

Originally Posted by maroman88

why wouldnt it be considered him having a card on my account? it was originally opened with both names on it, i wasnt added later

It depends who the primary car holder is and who the secondary authorized user is. The 'credit' goes to the primary card holder since they are the ones on the hook for payment, not the secondary authorized user. It is doubtful it is a true joint account

[miketa95]

I didn't read through this so idk if anyone said this yet, but i got a citibank visa card when I was 18. They practically give them away and you start with an extremely low limit, like $200, so it's always easy to pay it back in full. If u always pay it off they raise your limit quickly. I got the card when I was 18 and they've already raised my limit alot, and it has helped me build a little credit and eventually get my truck loan. I'd recommend it but the key is paying it all back asap every time you use it.

[Tsar]

Originally Posted by Pampered-Z

Just to add to this thread. Just found this out while working with the banks on my daughter's new home.

Once you get the card, make sure you use it. I'm not saying to go nuts, buy something so that you make payments over time say pay it off in a few months. Also you should use the card at least 3-4 times a year and this will help you raise your credit limit and rating.

Buy something you can easily afford and then make the payments each month. Showing you are good at making the payments helps your credit more then then buying something at them paying off the full balance of the card each month.

My oldest daughter has 3-4 cards but only use 2 of them. She did the buy it / pay if off for years, even for large purchases. What happened is that did very little to help her credit. On one of the cards that she never used, without her knowing? ( or maybe didn't understand if they did notify her ) was that the CC company dropped her credit line from 10K to 5K becuase it was inactive for over a year. Well when that showed up on her credit report that the CC dropped her limit it really hurt her credit score! I never realized all this was factored in because I've had established credit over years. Seeing what my daughter went through was a mess! you would think that someone that pays off their bills right away would have good credit, but that's not how the creditors view it. They want to see more long term ability to make payments. So you need to balance you buying with paying withut getting beat up on the interest.

On the other side, My younger daughter that makes less money then her sister uses her CCs and makes the monthly payments and as a result she actually has far better credit reports because she has demonstated that she makes all her payments and her limits have been raised over the past few years.

One can always request the credit line to be toped out at certain point. A college student does not need a credit line that's 25k and he will likely not use it. So it's only natural to chop that down to only a few thousand, especially in todays economy.

As far as "paying stuff off ever time" vs "paying off everything at once", well if you actually look at the credit report, it will not say whether or not you were paying stuff off at once/over time. It will simply indicate if your account is in a good standing/ and how long it has been in good standing, in addition to if you have been late, and if your account is in collections.

I know I have never paid anything over time, it's stupid and costs extra money. However, my FICO score is close to 800, which is pretty damn good. It's all about ones ability to maintain their account in a good standing, and their debt to available credit ratio. Pretty easy stuff.

Originally Posted by Blacdout96

I never owned a cc, I took a loan out years ago, paid it off in half the time, credit skyrocketed, now they beat my door down with credit cards offers.

Not to burst bubbles, but everyone receives pre-approved CC applications. You can have bad credit (<700) and still receive them. Unless you paid off a house and a major car loan, it didn't change your credit by much.

Originally Posted by 7pointoh

Why not get a small personal loan from a bank and pay it off within six months? Paying off a loan on time or earlier can help build your credit score.

You wanna run to the bank for a "small personal loan" every time when you wanna buy something to build your credit?

[Blacdout96]

Originally Posted by Tsar

Not to burst bubbles, but everyone receives pre-approved CC applications. You can have bad credit (<700) and still receive them. Unless you paid off a house and a major car loan, it didn't change your credit by much.

You wanna run to the bank for a "small personal loan" every time when you wanna buy something to build your credit?

Actually my credit went over 600 when I paid mine off, not awesome credit, ut not bad either, a good way to get started on building your credit. It was the first time I had a loan, or had any form of credit. I only took out $3,000 as a loan. now the Intrest did hurt, it was 23% (Ouch) but as I said I had no credit, and was my first loan. they had a deal, if I took $5,000 out I could of had 15% APR, but when I finished paying it off, it worth it in the end cause my APR for anything is really low that I really am paying off the loan and not the intrest. I'm not going to say what my score is now, but I can say I sit very comfortably now with my credit.

[Tru2Chevy]

Originally Posted by Tsar

As far as "paying stuff off ever time" vs "paying off everything at once", well if you actually look at the credit report, it will not say whether or not you were paying stuff off at once/over time. It will simply indicate if your account is in a good standing/ and how long it has been in good standing, in addition to if you have been late, and if your account is in collections.

I know I have never paid anything over time, it's stupid and costs extra money. However, my FICO score is close to 800, which is pretty damn good. It's all about ones ability to maintain their account in a good standing, and their debt to available credit ratio. Pretty easy stuff.

While I agree to a point, a good score isn't everything. You need to have a solid history behind you as well.

My brother bought a truck back in the spring of '07. He expected a nice low APR on his loan since his credit score was in the mid-upper 700s. The best rate he could find on the truck was ~18%, because he had no real credit history.

- Justin

[Tsar]

Originally Posted by Tru2Chevy

While I agree to a point, a good score isn't everything. You need to have a solid history behind you as well.

My brother bought a truck back in the spring of '07. He expected a nice low APR on his loan since his credit score was in the mid-upper 700s. The best rate he could find on the truck was ~18%, because he had no real credit history.

- Justin

Well I guess I'm all set there. This comment deserves a and a smiley at the same time.

[7pointoh]

Originally Posted by Tsar

You wanna run to the bank for a "small personal loan" every time when you wanna buy something to build your credit?

I never said that. But if you misinterpreted, allow me to elaborate.

The OP want's to start to build some credit. I merely presented an option without a use of a credit card in question form. And followed it up with a comment that suggest being a good dept-payer can help build your credit score.

I did not imply that a person should do that every time. Nor did I state anything about "buying something."

[Tsar]

Seems like an unnecessary hassle, and why would anyone take out a loan if they didn't want to "buy something"? Isn't that the point of CC/loans?

[7pointoh]

Maybe it is and unnecessary hassle. I never thought of it as. My thoughts on loans is getting money that you don't have. Credit Cards are the same thing but your spending that money. I've always used loans and CC as an emergency back up plan. I have, on occasion taken out a small loans to and put that money in my savings account just in case something happens. That way I build up credit and have something tucked away like what if my trans blows on my daily driver. I have also taken out small loans and invested that. All the loans I have taken out is used for future purposes. Only excetion is auto financing.

And the only reason I got a credit card was to purchase stuff online. But ever since my bank offered a sharecheck card, I got rid of my credit cards.

I guess I'm not a big believer on spending money that I don't have. Cause when it it comes down to it. I would rather have money than be good for it.

[WildBillyT]

Originally Posted by 7pointoh

Maybe it is and unnecessary hassle. I never thought of it as. My thoughts on loans is getting money that you don't have. Credit Cards are the same thing but your spending that money. I've always used loans and CC as an emergency back up plan. I have, on occasion taken out a small loans to and put that money in my savings account just in case something happens. That way I build up credit and have something tucked away like what if my trans blows on my daily driver. I have also taken out small loans and invested that. All the loans I have taken out is used for future purposes. Only excetion is auto financing.

And the only reason I got a credit card was to purchase stuff online. But ever since my bank offered a sharecheck card, I got rid of my credit cards.

I guess I'm not a big believer on spending money that I don't have. Cause when it it comes down to it. I would rather have money than be good for it.

That's exactly why I (and probably Tsar, from what it sounds like) have not had trouble with our CC's.

I don't run up a bill I can't pay off at the end of the month. It's not that hard to do, and in that sense it's not spending money I don't have.

[Anti_Rice_Guy]

Originally Posted by WildBillyT

That's exactly why I (and probably Tsar, from what it sounds like) have not had trouble with our CC's.

I don't run up a bill I can't pay off at the end of the month. It's not that hard to do, and in that sense it's not spending money I don't have.

Same here. I use it for small stuff, and usually pay it off before the bill even comes. I only have one to build up credit.

[Tsar]

Originally Posted by WildBillyT

That's exactly why I (and probably Tsar, from what it sounds like) have not had trouble with our CC's.

I don't run up a bill I can't pay off at the end of the month. It's not that hard to do, and in that sense it's not spending money I don't have.

+1 I can cover every single cent that I spent on my CC BEFORE making the purchase. Could I simply pay cash? Yes, but that would require a trip to the bank, and withdrawing money. It's an extra hassle that I do not want.

Besides being a hassle cash does not provide rewards/cashback bonuses that CC's do. Rewards/Cashback is my secondary reason for using my cc's everywhere; here's why. My CC's range anywhere from 1% on all purchases up to 20% on certain merchandise. Let's say two people go to the store and they want to buy an item that is 100 dollars. One pays cash, he pays 100 dollars and gets the item. The other person pays with his CC, he pays 100 dollars and he is on his way too. When the payment gets processed he either gets 1 dollar back or 20 dollars back at the end of the billing cycle. Which means that the price of the merchandise is anywhere between 80 and 99 bucks. The person who paid in cash got nothing in return. As long as you are responsible this is awesome! There's also the whole point system, but that's too long to type up. Personally I'm a fan of cash back

[WildBillyT]

Originally Posted by Tsar

+1 I can cover every single cent that I spent on my CC BEFORE making the purchase. Could I simply pay cash? Yes, but that would require a trip to the bank, and withdrawing money. It's an extra hassle that I do not want.

Besides being a hassle cash does not provide rewards/cashback bonuses that CC's do. Rewards/Cashback is my secondary reason for using my cc's everywhere; here's why. My CC's range anywhere from 1% on all purchases up to 20% on certain merchandise. Let's say two people go to the store and they want to buy an item that is 100 dollars. One pays cash, he pays 100 dollars and gets the item. The other person pays with his CC, he pays 100 dollars and he is on his way too. When the payment gets processed he either gets 1 dollar back or 20 dollars back at the end of the billing cycle. Which means that the price of the merchandise is anywhere between 80 and 99 bucks. The person who paid in cash got nothing in return. As long as you are responsible this is awesome! There's also the whole point system, but that's too long to type up. Personally I'm a fan of cash back

And I am splitting hairs since interest levels are really low at the bank, but the $ is sitting in your account compounding interest for extra time.