What credit card to apply?

[warrier04]

my pops always said you shouldn't buy something unless you have the money right then.

that doesn't apply to everything - very few people have a few hundred grand for a house in a bank account or an extra 25 grand for a car.

you just have to be responsible with how you use it. buy everything with your credit card if you want. provided you have the money to pay the balance when your statement comes in, i don't see anything wrong.

it's when you think you have this free chunk of money and go on a spending spree thinking you're being sly and only needing to pay the minimum. THAT's when s*** goes bad. like a couple people above mentioned, it's not hard to get in over your head.

 

[ZoomVT]

oh ok im sorry then.
if you are looking for recommendations on credit card companiues then i would go with Discover and AMEX. if you want to do mastercard or visa then i would stay awya from Capital One, and citi. they are cut throat.
the best experience i had was with Providian (they have a great web presence, they even give you up to date free credit report and other good stuff). after them i would say Chase/Bank One. they are not scummy when offering services (like other banks will sign you up first then ask, or offer great deals that are then charged to your card.). If you cant get either i would go with Bank of America/Fleet, they are not as great as the other 2 but they do well. That is my experience and you may take it for what is worth but i do have over 9 credit cards, i have a 720 credit rating and i bought a house when i was 23, so i want to think that i know what im talking about.

 

[Jliao]

which company to go with isn't my main conern (except for capital one, which i got fuked over by them once and never got my money back), but 0% intro apr and low apr after, somewhere around 11% or below.

 

[jred321]

http://creditcards.com lists all of them and all of the different offers. sometimes you'll get slightly better offers in the mail but that site has pretty much everything

 

[Notorious_V.I.C]

The citi bank Student CC looks good, 5% back from certain purchases...

sorry for thread jack

 

[capnsavem]

my pops always said you shouldn't buy something unless you have the money right then.

lol. my pops preaches the same.

 

[warrier04]

lol. my pops preaches the same.

ya, the man's pretty adamant (sp?) about it. he's been doin this alot longer than me, and has been through good times and bad.

what he says i usually take to heart.

and i would definitely recommend a CitiBank Card. my driver's edge card is nice.

 

[YellowMP5]

not only do you need a credit card for everyday, you should have one or better 2.

if you are not going to use the credit properly, then you will pay for it like scifidude and tell others bulls*** because he didn't use his brain back in the day.

you should have 2 credit cards, one is not enough. simple reason, credit score. when you balance 2 credit cards, it shows that you are more responsible thus your score will be higher. also to keep the score high, never use mor than 30% of your balance. if you have credit for $10000, never charge more than $3000 a month. now there exceptions of course, but this is a rule to go by.

credit companies offer good products and services. if you are a good customer, they will bend over backwards to please you. when you use your credit card for products and services you get benefits such as extension of the warranty for up to another year on any product, they will return your money if you are unhappy with product/service and the retailer has refused to satisfy you. you also need credit to rent a car and then they provide you insurance on the car.

there is always a dubm way and a smart way. you should never carry forward a balance unless you got the 0% offer. you should always pay everything off monthly. never get a card that charges you an annual fee.

here are the only 2 cards you need:
citibank driver's edge/divident platinum select
chase cash rewards

i had driver's edge card. they payed me $1100 when i bought my car($400), then my mom bought another car ($400) and i had service done ($300). that's FREE money. now i cancelled it and went with platinum select, citi bends over backwards when i call and have a problem. they pay you 1% on all purchases and 5% when its at gas station, drug stores, supermarkets. same with chase. and that's a lot of money.

so next time you have an insurance bill for $2k, pay it with the credit card (as long as you pay it off that month) and you will get $20 for free. can't beat that. you're parents bought a vacation for $3k? tell your dad to use your credit card and to give you the money. $30 in your pocket once again.

 

[Chiguy_2002]

There are also some good cards if you need to re-establish credit, (Like I am trying to). It's unbelievable how important good credit is, I'm getting older, and would like to buy a house some day, but I can't given my current financial situation. I was barely able to finance my car...so lesson here is, don't mess up your credit if you have good credit. It's hard to believe that 7 years ago I had excellent credit, and I could apply for credit for car financing or at a store and get approved no problem. Now most places just do this to me: (hah) It's a bit discouraging. My parents never had issues with this, they help a lot, but won't be around forever. I wish I had my head on straight a few years ago when this all happend. Best of luck to you, and the advice given here is very good.

 

[SciFiMan]

You might also try the library to look through recent past issues of Kiplinger magazine, or Money, etc. They may have lists of the best cards. Or try their websites, or www.fool.com.

 

[Replica]

I've never had a credit card and my score is a 653....i dont think thats bad at all...

 

[MiaTurbo]

As far as APRs, you always have to watch out for it. Capital One, keeps jacking it up on me, and i have to keep calling them to lower it again. last time they jacked it up to 28%?! WTF? I called and they lowered to 8%

 

[ZoomVT]

capital one are a bunch of scumbags. they will stab you in the back every day.

 

[Notorious_V.I.C]

i'm thinking of applying for the citi dividend platnum select card. The only card(s) I have are my visa bank check card and my old Compusa CC whihc can't work anywhere except there which isn't a real CC to me, i'll be canceling that one like asap. What other card do you think is good with building credit and for college fellows like me?

 

[ZoomVT]

well if you are trying to build credit the worst thing you can do is cancel your other cerdit card. that is a no no.
part of the score is calculated based on how long you had credit. always keep your oldets credit card around, keep it at home or even cut it in half so you dont use it but never close it.

 

[jred321]

amex blue cause it's the coolest looking card

 

[ZoomVT]

(werd)

 

[Jliao]

i have chase cash reward (credit line of 6000) and amex blue cash back (credit line of 13000), i love them both and all i ever need (amex and mastercard). I just applied citi simplicity card cuz 0% apr for 12 months and 10.92% variable after, hopefully i'll get approval soon.

 

[ZoomZoomH]

*all* my credit cards have some sort of dividend/rewards/cashback program... no point to get one without it nowadays

but yeah, be smart when using your credit card, it CAN make your life easier, IF you know how to use it properly...

 

[ChopstickHero]

when i lived in Canada, I had 3 credit cards. i got my first one when i was 16. it seems that back home, it's so easy to get a credit card. I later signed up for 2 more. i've always been good with my payments and never ran into trouble.

But since I moved to the US, it seems like getting a credit card is such a huge thing. i know having good credit is important, but reading all of your posts, some of you seem scared to sign up for credit cards or something. i guess the mentality of credit is different in the US.

personally, i haven't signed up for any credit cards yet b/c i haven't lived here long enough. although capital one, citibank and some other companies are sending me credit card applications already... hmmm....