Looking for my first Credit Card. need help?

[Rawdeal28]

looking for advice. i want one now for a couple reasons.

1. to build up my credit. i know my credit is not good and i want to try and build it up little by little. i have bad credit due to my mom putting bills in my name when i was younger.

2. it would also nice to have something to use for emergency reasons when i dont have any cash of my own. for example i have had times where my car would need something fixed and i wouldnt have the money at the time. i need my car since i dont work close to home and i dont like catching the bus or asking people for rides.

so whats a good card to start off with? do i always have to pay to get a credit card? are certain cards better to get since you have to pay for them rather than getting a card they give you for free? what exactly is APR?

thanks in advance

[Gotmadskillzson]

Re: Looking for my first Credit Card. need help?

Hmmm, which ever one you get, just use it for small stuff. Telling you now.....stay strong and don't give into the lure of just charging stuff, especially during the christmas season.

Credit cards can be a huge trap. Come black Friday and during the whole christmas season period, the temptation will be VERY HIGH to just say hey why not, I'll just charge it, that is a hell of a deal.

Do NOT, I REPEAT, DO NOT FALL FOR THAT TRAP. If need be, leave the card at home to prevent you from over using it. If you not careful you can go buck wild very quick without even noticing it.

[Rawdeal28]

Re: Looking for my first Credit Card. need help?

oh trust me, im not gonna use it like that. just for small stuff and when i really need it.

im 31 and i never got one when i was younger because i knew i probably would have bought all kinds things. ill be smart with it

[Buckeyes_Doc]

Re: Looking for my first Credit Card. need help?

APR is Annual Percentage Rate or the amount of interest they will charge the balance on your CC. The lower APR the better. But if you use your CC and pay it completely off every month you will never pay interest. Since you said you have a history of bad credit and have never had a CC your APR may be high, so it's important not to have a high balance when possible, because the higher balance the more interest you pay.

Pay more then the monthly payment when you can. It seems nice to only have to pay $30 or whatever it is, but again you will get charged interest and end up paying more. Pay off your balance, not the minimum.

I love my CC. Credit Cards can be very good if you use it correctly. I buy more things with my CC then my debit card especially online, because it is safer and more convenient to me. If I need to dispute a transaction, it's much more easier to do it when it's from my Credit Card account and not my checking account. I have a rewards CC where I earn reward points for purchases so I purposely put charges on my CC ( bills ) to build up those points and get cash back. I always transfer money from my checking account to my CC account at the end of the month and clear my balance.

Just do your research and find the best CC for you. There are a ton of Credit Cards out there, each with different types of rewards and APR. Read all the small print for any annual fees or other fees some companies charge. It is a good thing to have to build credit, and that safety in case of a emergency.

[Rawdeal28]

Re: Looking for my first Credit Card. need help?

APR is Annual Percentage Rate or the amount of interest they will charge the balance on your CC. The lower APR the better. But if you use your CC and pay it completely off every month you will never pay interest. Since you said you have a history of bad credit and have never had a CC your APR may be high, so it's important not to have a high balance when possible, because the higher balance the more interest you pay.

Pay more then the monthly payment when you can. It seems nice to only have to pay $30 or whatever it is, but again you will get charged interest and end up paying more. Pay off your balance, not the minimum.

I love my CC. Credit Cards can be very good if you use it correctly. I buy more things with my CC then my debit card especially online, because it is safer and more convenient to me. If I need to dispute a transaction, it's much more easier to do it when it's from my Credit Card account and not my checking account. I have a rewards CC where I earn reward points for purchases so I purposely put charges on my CC ( bills ) to build up those points and get cash back. I always transfer money from my checking account to my CC account at the end of the month and clear my balance.

Just do your research and find the best CC for you. There are a ton of Credit Cards out there, each with different types of rewards and APR. Read all the small print for any annual fees or other fees some companies charge. It is a good thing to have to build credit, and that safety in case of a emergency.

thank u very much sir. some very good information.

i was thinking of signing up for Amazon's CC. is that a good idea? are you familiar with it to give me any advice about it?

thanks in advance

[p_rushing]

Re: Looking for my first Credit Card. need help?

Any card is going to be fine with what you need it for. Just get one that doesn't have any fees. Since you say you have bad credit, the rate is going to be high for all the cards. You most likely will also have a low limit, but that could be good for you. For now, get whatever card you can get without having to put up any money or fees.

In the future after your credit gets better, look for one that gets rewards you want. I only use my CC and pay all the bills I can with them (wish I could pay my mortgage too). I always pay off the balance every month though, so I'm not paying anything extra and I'm getting rewards back for doing nothing.

[Rawdeal28]

Re: Looking for my first Credit Card. need help?

Any card is going to be fine with what you need it for. Just get one that doesn't have any fees. Since you say you have bad credit, the rate is going to be high for all the cards. You most likely will also have a low limit, but that could be good for you. For now, get whatever card you can get without having to put up any money or fees.

In the future after your credit gets better, look for one that gets rewards you want. I only use my CC and pay all the bills I can with them (wish I could pay my mortgage too). I always pay off the balance every month though, so I'm not paying anything extra and I'm getting rewards back for doing nothing.

thank u as well. you guys have been a big help.

this is why i love OS!

[Buckeyes_Doc]

Re: Looking for my first Credit Card. need help?

thank u very much sir. some very good information.

i was thinking of signing up for Amazon's CC. is that a good idea? are you familiar with it to give me any advice about it?

thanks in advance

Which one of Amazon's CC were you looking at? I don't have one, but I just looked at a couple and they look good. If you shop on Amazon a lot it would be a good idea as the rewards card gives you extra for purchasing off of Amazon.

They don't charge any annual fees and their late payment fees and other penalty fees seem consistent with other CC's I've seen.

[Rawdeal28]

Re: Looking for my first Credit Card. need help?

I applied for the first rewards card they always have advertised. And since i didnt get instantly approved i can only assume i wont get it. and since i have never been approved for any credit card that doesnt have membership fee(target, circuit city, chase) i can only assime ill have to pay for one right?

[ScoobySnax]

Whatever you do, don't apply for a department store credit card (Amazon Store Card, Macy's, Target) unless it has a Visa, MC, Discover or AMEX logo on them. You don't want to be restricted in regards to where you can you use the credit.

Try Capital One Mastercard if you're looking for a rebuilder card. This is who I started with back in 2006. My score was in the upper 500s/ low 600s and they approved me for $500. It was enough to help me when I was in a tight spot, but not enough to get into huge debt over.

Edit: The Capital One card I spoke of has a $39 annual fee on your first statement, but that's it.

Sent from my SCH-I500 using Tapatalk

[Rawdeal28]

Re: Looking for my first Credit Card. need help?

39 bucks doesnt sound too bad.

[jt45]

Re: Looking for my first Credit Card. need help?

BUMP

Looking for some advice here. I've had a credit card for like three years, but I use it only for gas and the occasional large purchase. I pay it off every month. I use my debit card multiple times a day.

I've recently decided that I need to capitalize on this and start using a credit card rather than a debit card and use that to my advantage to either get cash back or bonus points or something like that.

What I am asking is for a suggestion on a good rewards card with no annual fee. Any suggestions?

[mgoblue]

Re: Looking for my first Credit Card. need help?

BUMP

Looking for some advice here. I've had a credit card for like three years, but I use it only for gas and the occasional large purchase. I pay it off every month. I use my debit card multiple times a day.

I've recently decided that I need to capitalize on this and start using a credit card rather than a debit card and use that to my advantage to either get cash back or bonus points or something like that.

What I am asking is for a suggestion on a good rewards card with no annual fee. Any suggestions?

I personally went with a Chase Southwest Rewards card....whenever I fly I usually do Southwest, so the points work out well for me. I go on enough trips throughout the year where I'll easily use the points. Just go with something that you'll actually use.

[RockinDaMike]

Re: Looking for my first Credit Card. need help?

Like others said, get a card where you rewards. So if you pay off your card every month you get miles/points. I have a Alaska Airlines card I use to pay everything I can for bills and stuff, then I pay it off at the end of the month and I get miles added on that I can use for trips to go back home.

I also have an amazon card I use for all Amazon purchases but I pay it off every month and I get money back for using it.

Right now I have 5k credit that hasn't been paid off from a furniture company and amazon but I have a year of 0 interest to pay it all off. So that's one thing you can check also is if anyone is offering 0 interest for a year so that you can buy something big and pay it off for a year without paying anything extra in interest.

[Gotmadskillzson]

Re: Looking for my first Credit Card. need help?

Keyword being pay it off every month. Cards with reward points and cash back CAN be a deadly trap in itself. Because the whole point of those cards is to get you to shop a lot.

I have known people that got caught up in those points and before they knew it they were shopping 6 times more often then they normally did just for they can rack up points. They went from buying things that actually need to buying any and everything just for the points.

Grant it they made enough money that they still were able to pay it off every month. But they also ended up having massive garage sales every summer too because most of the stuff they bought they never used. So in the end, it was just a waste of money just to rack up points.