Help on getting a credit card

[Stu_Rock]

This is good advice:
Originally Posted By: wkcars
It may be a little easier to get a credit card from the same bank that you have checking/savings with.


Originally Posted By: Papa Bear
I believe that folks that pay their full amount each month are called 'deadbeats" by the credit card companies.
I have a horrible card from HSBC that I don't use because out of the blue they raised the APR to 23%. Last February they sent me a mailer that said I would get a $40 gas card if I spent $200 per month for the following two months. So I did that, and paid off in full both months. I had to fight tooth and nail to get the gas card, but I got it (to spite me, I think, they sent me four $10 cards). To them, I must be deadbeat.

Then, two weeks ago, I got another mailer saying that I'll get a $20 credit if I spend $250 per month for the next two months. No problem--I'm up for round two of this game.

 

[KrisZ]

One thing, that I don't think was not mentioned, is that once you get a credit card, use it and pay it off for a while, the bank will be asking to increase your credit limit, also you will be solicited to open up a bunch of new cards. It's a good sign that your credit score is improving, but don't let all of this go over your head.

Keep the credit limit to a reasonable amount and don't open up too many cards. It can be a slippery slope and that is exactly what banks want.

Every once in a while I get pre approved credit cards in the mail, they are shredded immediately. I also get phone calls to increase my credit limit because it's Christmas time or whatever, the answer is always no, which is always a surprise to the person on the other end. I think it's a standard response, that the operators are trained to do, in order to make the card holder's response look like a strange one. People just don't like to feel like an outcast, so they are more likely to increase the limit when they get an impression that everybody does it.

 

[hattaresguy]

Go to a credit union, or get one of the student CC's. They have them with a low limit like $500.

CC's are a trap but in this society you just need to learn how to manage them, since you need credit to live. IE to get a mortgage in a few years, since buying a house would be a good idea.


Take a few years to build your credit than get an American Express. Its the best card you can have, but you won't get a real one unless you have an established history and good score. A real Amex you can't get into trouble with since you have to pay the balance in full each month.

I started building my credit when I was 19, now I'm 26 and its perfect. I get mailers all the time from all the companies asking me to take out $25k, or $40k lines of credit. Chase and Discover have been at me lately. I like the mailers they make pretty good fire starters.

 

[Pop_Rivit]

Start with either a student card or a secured credit card-both are obtainable with no credit history. Responsibly pay them every month in full, and in a year or so move to a real credit card. You also need to make sure you understand the ramifications of not paying the balance in full, or otherwise abusing your credit.

Originally Posted By: mopar_monkey
avoid credit cards, they do anything in their power to get fees from you and ruin your credit, capital one pulled some very shady stuff with me and it has taken me years to regain my credit.


You are the only one who can ruin your credit, not a credit card company. It sounds to me like you were irresponsible with your credit, and are now trying to put the blame elsewhere.

 

[Clevy]

Forget the credit card. Pay cash. Only money you should owe is on your house. If you can't afford it then you can't afford it. Simple.

 

[65cuda]

My son got the student credit card from the bank, but while it started building his credit score when he went to buy a new car it was a good thing that he worked at a bank and had a big downpayment. He got the note paid off in a couple of years and graduated from the university with no debt. He now has a Bank of America that he uses for the rewards program. However he makes sure that he never carries a balance on it though. One thing I do agree with is that having a CC makes it real easy to buy things that you don't really need. So always keep it in mind.

 

[PandaBear]

Try another company until someone will issue you one, regardless of whether you want to pay the balance of each month or not, you should have a credit card for its convenience.

There are tons of cash back / rebate card out there that make you money if you pay it off each month. As long as you have the discipline you should have no problem at all with them, and if you don't, you need to learn it anyways.

My preference of rebate cards:

Capital One Cash Reward (1% + 0.5% at year end)
Chase Business (3% on home improvement and restaurant)
Bank of America Business (5% gas)

 

[MNgopher]

Try whatever bank you do checking/savings at. Likely they will issue you a card to keep you "in the family".

I use my credit card for most everything, but pay the balance off every month. Costs me nothing, and I get the benefits of the card as well. If you can't pay it off in full, you are spending too much!

Having a credit card also helps build good credit history, even if no balances are carried.

 

[Stewart Fan]

Originally Posted By: Pop_Rivit


You are the only one who can ruin your credit, not a credit card company.


I always laugh at the people that claim credit cards are evil. Yea,they're evil if you're an idiot and can't act responsibly.

 

[Smokefan1977]

LOL that kinda like all these people that complain they have bank problems. The only problem is they don't have money in the account.

I learned with banks the more money you have ( or they are using ) the less you pay

 

[65cuda]

Sure they can be evil, but so can other things. The idea is to have some sort of self control. I've read of one person that kept his CC frozen in a block of ice so that he wouldn't grab it and go buy something on the spur of the moment. Kind of extreme but if it works why not.

 

[mopar_monkey]

Originally Posted By: cchase
Originally Posted By: mopar_monkey
avoid credit cards, they do anything in their power to get fees from you and ruin your credit, capital one pulled some very shady stuff with me and it has taken me years to regain my credit.


The idea here is not to build up a balance, it's to use the credit card as a "debit" card which helps your credit score.

I use my credit card for everything. Every month when the bill comes in, I pay it off. There's no "fees" or any other risk in doing this, unless you have no self control and spend more than you have. Otherwise, it's only a benefit. Plus, many offer cash back which is free money if you don't run a debt.

To the OP: I was in your position when I was in college and wanted to get a "start" on building credit. I used MBNA which gave me a credit card (and later got bought out by BoA) but this was before all the financial meltdown junk so not sure how easy it is to get one now. I know Chase is pretty good if you have student loans you are paying off. Might try giving them a call.

i understand how to use and manage a card, but i was hit with annual fees which came to 3/4 of my limit and would put me over also i paid off my cap 1 card 3 times and sent a letter telling them to cancel it,every time it would seem that it was closed, i would not receive a bill for several months then i'd get one claiming i owed them $500 or $600 dollars in late fees on the monthly service charge for (inactivity) they added to my card that had no balance on it, then charge late fees till it became an over the limit charge then it would be turned over to collection before i ever received notice of it, this went on for 3 yrs until i contacted the BBB, point being their are other ways to establish credit, credit card companys are ravenous and in some cases will even drop you if you maintain a zero balance on the card because they aren't making money off of you, i have perfect credit, always have except from my dealings with cap 1.

 

[PandaBear]

One way to make sure you pay it off every month is to setup auto payment directly from your savings or checking account. Some banks like Capital One and BofA make that difficult, but others like Chase make it easy to do without you going all over the place and printing out forms.

Also if you are worried about forgetting to pay it, DO NOT CHOOSE ELECTRONIC STATEMENT ONLY. It is very easy to forget to pay if you do not have auto payment setup and that's one way they make money off fees and interest. Also you can make the credit limit small by asking them to lower it to something manageable to your impulse.

All of the above helps you get used to credit card without running into troubles.

 

[exranger06]

Originally Posted By: Clevy
Forget the credit card. Pay cash. Only money you should owe is on your house. If you can't afford it then you can't afford it. Simple.

And how exactly am I supposed to get a house with no credit history? Why don't you go back and actually READ my original post and find out WHY I want a credit card before making such ridiculous statements?

 

[cchase]

Originally Posted By: mopar_monkey
i understand how to use and manage a card, but i was hit with annual fees which came to 3/4 of my limit and would put me over also i paid off my cap 1 card 3 times and sent a letter telling them to cancel it,every time it would seem that it was closed, i would not receive a bill for several months then i'd get one claiming i owed them $500 or $600 dollars in late fees on the monthly service charge for (inactivity) they added to my card that had no balance on it, then charge late fees till it became an over the limit charge then it would be turned over to collection before i ever received notice of it, this went on for 3 yrs until i contacted the BBB, point being their are other ways to establish credit, credit card companys are ravenous and in some cases will even drop you if you maintain a zero balance on the card because they aren't making money off of you, i have perfect credit, always have except from my dealings with cap 1.


Sorry but your own mistakes don't mean that it's a bad idea.

1) Pick a credit card without an annual fee. There are literally hundreds of options here.

2) Credit card companies do not drop people for not carrying a balance. As mentioned in this thread, they are considered "safe money" since they already leverage fees on retailers who use the card. Every time you swipe your card, the credit card company gets a cut of the purchase price from the retailer.

3) There is a correct way and an incorrect way to "cancel" a credit card, but doing so with a balance is your mistake, not that of the credit card company.

I'm not arguing your bad luck here, but your claims to just avoid credit cards at all cost is akin to buying a car, never changing the oil, having the engine explode, and then roaming the internet letting people know what a scam cars are since the engines explode.

 

[mopar_monkey]

Originally Posted By: cchase
Originally Posted By: mopar_monkey
i understand how to use and manage a card, but i was hit with annual fees which came to 3/4 of my limit and would put me over also i paid off my cap 1 card 3 times and sent a letter telling them to cancel it,every time it would seem that it was closed, i would not receive a bill for several months then i'd get one claiming i owed them $500 or $600 dollars in late fees on the monthly service charge for (inactivity) they added to my card that had no balance on it, then charge late fees till it became an over the limit charge then it would be turned over to collection before i ever received notice of it, this went on for 3 yrs until i contacted the BBB, point being their are other ways to establish credit, credit card companys are ravenous and in some cases will even drop you if you maintain a zero balance on the card because they aren't making money off of you, i have perfect credit, always have except from my dealings with cap 1.


Sorry but your own mistakes don't mean that it's a bad idea.

1) Pick a credit card without an annual fee. There are literally hundreds of options here.

2) Credit card companies do not drop people for not carrying a balance. As mentioned in this thread, they are considered "safe money" since they already leverage fees on retailers who use the card. Every time you swipe your card, the credit card company gets a cut of the purchase price from the retailer.

3) There is a correct way and an incorrect way to "cancel" a credit card, but doing so with a balance is your mistake, not that of the credit card company.

I'm not arguing your bad luck here, but your claims to just avoid credit cards at all cost is akin to buying a car, never changing the oil, having the engine explode, and then roaming the internet letting people know what a scam cars are since the engines explode.


did you not read what i posted, i had NO balance, since i was not using the card they tacked on a inactivity fee of $5 a mo., but also like i said they stopped sending me bills, why would they do that? also i followed their instructions on closing my account, i even call after the first time i received a notice that i owed them money, they reviewed my account and confirmed what i said and told me they would take care of it and would contact me in 3 or 4 days, they never called so i called them back and they had sold my debt. to a collection agency and no longer had any ability to review my account, sooo frustrating! and someone with no credit WILL be required to have an annual fee. they don't give great terms to some one with no credit history, maybe my story is unique but it was enough to keep me from ever considering a card again. i feel as if they stole money from me and i am not ok with that. also i personally no someone who well wasn't dropped for having no balance but was charged fees and had the interest rate increased. so get a card if you want but be weary.

 

[opus1]

Originally Posted By: Jeepster_nut
Get a JC Penny card or other store card. They usually will give you one. Buy some stuff there for awhile then try to get a real card. Thats what I did when I was 18. Now I got AMEX sending me gold card pre approved offers.

Maybe what you consider "well paying" the lenders you applied at do not. Fudge a little on the applications. I used to add an extra $50,000 a year to my income...

Funny how when you want credit you can't get it, then once you have it you don't want it.
I was going to suggest this but a lot of store cards are actually sourced to a company like Citibank or HSBC so the OP may still run into the same problems. Worth a shot though.

 

[cchase]

Originally Posted By: mopar_monkey
and someone with no credit WILL be required to have an annual fee. they don't give great terms to some one with no credit history,


They absolutely do issue cards with no annual fee to people with no/very limited credit. Chase Freedom is one example I know of.

Quote:

maybe my story is unique but it was enough to keep me from ever considering a card again. i feel as if they stole money from me and i am not ok with that.


I can understand your feelings, but you need to understand that much of your story could have been avoided in the first place if you had done research (as the OP has been willing to do).

Quote:
also i personally no someone who well wasn't dropped for having no balance but was charged fees and had the interest rate increased. so get a card if you want but be weary.


If you have no balance, the interest rate doesn't matter. I don't have a clue what the APR is on my credit cards, and it doesn't matter to me. I've had multiple credit cards for quite a few years now as have many people I know, never had a fee charged for not carrying a balance.

 

[MNgopher]

There are a boatload of cards out there with no annual fee that are issued to first time card holders. You need to do your homework before signing up for something.

In Mopar Monkey's case, sounds like you signed up for a terrible card. Annual fees, non-activity fees? Why on earth would you ever get such a card? Even if the terms changed after you got the card, you have the right to cancel the card before any of the new terms become effective. I have cards that I haven't carried a balance on ever and charge something to them at most once a year. No fees, no charges. Their long term track record helps when it comes to a credit score.

 

[mopar_monkey]

Originally Posted By: MNgopher
There are a boatload of cards out there with no annual fee that are issued to first time card holders. You need to do your homework before signing up for something.

In Mopar Monkey's case, sounds like you signed up for a terrible card. Annual fees, non-activity fees? Why on earth would you ever get such a card? Even if the terms changed after you got the card, you have the right to cancel the card before any of the new terms become effective. I have cards that I haven't carried a balance on ever and charge something to them at most once a year. No fees, no charges. Their long term track record helps when it comes to a credit score.

this is my point, i tried to cancel the card, the terms did change about the time the economy turned, i knew about the annual fee and was ok with because it had a very low apr, the issue i am trying to pass on to the op is that in my case the card holder acted with very poor business practice and was down right fraudulent! everyone can say it was my fault but doing all the research in the world wouldn't tell me that when i try to close the card (following their instruction) that they would in fact not close my card, tell me that it had been closed, not receive ANY correspondence from them for several months only to find out i have been charged a ton of fees, the inactivity fee was news to me and must have been added later on since i would never have accepted the term, then i had them agree that they had made a mistake only to have them play a cat and mouse game with my "debt", once the BBB got involved it was taken care of within a week and capital 1 actually issued me an "apology check" i believe to avoid being sued, because it was straight up fraud. capital one had actually gotten in trouble over several other cases similar to mine around the same time. these are the same people that created the housing crash and a large portion of our economy woes through fraud, what makes anyone think they are not above it when it come to their credit cards?