Credit cards...

I was lookin into getting a frist credit card as i will be moving to Raleigh North Carolina soon!!!! Was wondering which one offers good apr and sign up bonus. I can also pull off a student card because i am in school.... i applied for a CITI dividend card. they gave me no bonus introductory rate. 16% on purchases which is bad.... i havent used it yet i was told to shred it because its rate sucks... opinions and comments...

Don't get one unless you're only going to use it only a few times a month and completely pay it off (or damn near) every month. You'd be surprised at how fast you can rack up money on a CC and then you get the bill and go :yikes:

Well, CC will kick your ass in a matter of months! My suggestion is getting a card and always having the cash to back up your purchase. In other words example: use your card to buy a $125 product, but have $130 to pay it off 2 weeks later. You can get so busted by cards, I am in about $7k into mine and I sure as hell don't have the cash for it.

Consider these questions when talking about credit cards?
1) How much do you make a month?
2) What big payments do you have?
3) Do you usually buy useless shit that you will never use?
4) Do you have a girlfriend? LOL, it will be worse if you do.

^ +1. Only buy stuff you can pay off in full to avoid getting into any trouble. A cc also wouldn't be bad for emergency situations.

what kinds of cards to you guys have or would suggest?

Visa Student Credit Card, Limit $1200. Paid and pending closure.
Visa Credit Card, Limit $6800. Owe about $6500 on it.

Oy yeah, they were both thru my bank. they are so much better with payments and handling issues, Bank of America. Don't know if all cards do this but my cards went the first year without any APR or payments for a whole year:grinyes:

if you go thrut the bank they up your credit cause they know they would have your money in case you decided to run out on them.

The interest rate on your first credit card is going to suck because chances are you don't have the credit score to get something actually good. Your first credit card should be used to build your credit score and then work your way into a better card later.

The important thing is to get one that doesn't have an annual rate. If the rewards sound too great, chances are there is an annual fee. Not worth it unless you do major spending on your card and the rewards are really something you can take advantage of.

Make sure you pay off your balance in full each month. As the prior posters suggested, make sure you have the cash to back up any spending. Credit cards can easily bury you. Even with "better interest rate cards" if you read the fine print, most of them say that if you miss a minimum payment or something, the rates skyrocket (like 30s range). If you can make the payments each month, interest rates don't matter.

All that said, I've been an die hard American Express user since college. I had my card stolen once and didn't realize it. They called me 2 days later and informed me that there were strange charges and thats when I realized my card wasn't in my wallet. I sat there on the phone with them, walked through each of the charges and told them which ones I didn't recognize, and they took care of it right away. No problems, no hassles and I had a replacement card 2 days later. Great service even if it isn't as widely accepted as a MC or VISA. I know it sounds like an AMEX commercial but it's 100% true. My ATM card functions as a VISA if I ever get stuck where somewhere doesn't take AMEX.

example: use your card to buy a $125 product, but have $130 to pay it off 2 weeks later

No offense, but that is a perfect way to set yourself up for failure. You should never spend money you dont have, atleast in my opinion.

I would just keep whatever card you have now and just pay for, say, gas with it. Make sure keep sufficient funds in your checking account and write a check for the full amount at the end of every month. Personally, I plan to go as long as I can without a credit card.

I stay away from credit cards, otherwise the DSM would be done right now lol. But I do have a Green Dot card, Which isnt really a credit card.

Credit cards = the devil...


I found out the hard way. It took me a long ass time to unbury myself from debt because of it. Now I have a good handle on how to properly use it.

AVOID the CC system like the plague sides if Ron Paul wins , hes going to dismember the IRS , Federal Reserve and thus eliminate the debt system.

RON PAUL 2008. =D

No offense, but that is a perfect way to set yourself up for failure. You should never spend money you dont have, atleast in my opinion.

I would just keep whatever card you have now and just pay for, say, gas with it. Make sure keep sufficient funds in your checking account and write a check for the full amount at the end of every month. Personally, I plan to go as long as I can without a credit card.

:meant: buy the piece with the credit card but the cash in your hand. Sit on for about 2 weeks so that buy transaction goes all the way thru. Once you see on your account, pay it off. I agree with thor about gas. it works but it takes way too long IMO.

I have 3, and have never been in debt a day in my life. Just don't go being stupid with it. One of my cards, I'm required to have by the govenment. My other card is used only for online purchases, which has a low limit in case somebody gets the number. My other one is one that I use maybe once a year for emergencies. Usually my debit/atm card is the one being scanned. At least you know if you run out of money in you're account, the card won't work. Unless you have overdraft protection that takes the money out of your savings, when the checking is empty, for a nice fee each time. I learned that the hard way with that one.

I volunteer as a counselor at a local place and deal with people who have financial issues. Many of the points said already have merit, however there are some points I'd like to add. First when looking for a card you should think ahead as this will affect your credit file/score, and that in turn can affect your future car loan rates, mortgages, job offers, and insurance rates. So you want to keep your score as high as you can. Having a credit card is almost a necessity nowadays as part of your score is dependent on that type of credit.The better you manage your card, the higher your score will be. Don't pay the balance off each month. That may sound crazy but when a potential creditor looks at your file and sees that you pay your balance off each month, they may not be so receptive to giving you a card as their goal is to make money and if you pay off your balance each month they make no money. Leave a few dollars balance at the end of the cycle and it will still appear that you pay on time. Your report also shows amount paid each month, so if there is a balance it will show. Like it was mentioned earlier, try a bank or better yet, a credit union to get a card as their criteria are sometimes better than other lending institutions. When you get a cars you can sometimes request a lower limit to keep you out of trouble, and limit the damage that can be done if it is stolen. As for the APR. You can contact them after a few months and tell them you'd been shopping around and found some better rates, and you'd like them to lower your rate. Most times they will in order to keep you as a customer. Also don't be in a hurry to cancel a card even if you don't want to use it. Closing an account or canceling a card can have a negative effect on your score. It effectively lowers your available limits and if you carry a balance on other cards/loans it raises the percentage of debt to limit.With enough knowledge, you can effectively manage credit cards and make them work for you. I've had most of my credit cards for over 20 years and use them occasionally. I have a high credit score and work to keep it that way.

I volunteer as a counselor at a local place and deal with people who have financial issues. Many of the points said already have merit, however there are some points I'd like to add. First when looking for a card you should think ahead as this will affect your credit file/score, and that in turn can affect your future car loan rates, mortgages, job offers, and insurance rates. So you want to keep your score as high as you can. Having a credit card is almost a necessity nowadays as part of your score is dependent on that type of credit.The better you manage your card, the higher your score will be. Don't pay the balance off each month. That may sound crazy but when a potential creditor looks at your file and sees that you pay your balance off each month, they may not be so receptive to giving you a card as their goal is to make money and if you pay off your balance each month they make no money. Leave a few dollars balance at the end of the cycle and it will still appear that you pay on time. Your report also shows amount paid each month, so if there is a balance it will show. Like it was mentioned earlier, try a bank or better yet, a credit union to get a card as their criteria are sometimes better than other lending institutions. When you get a cars you can sometimes request a lower limit to keep you out of trouble, and limit the damage that can be done if it is stolen. As for the APR. You can contact them after a few months and tell them you'd been shopping around and found some better rates, and you'd like them to lower your rate. Most times they will in order to keep you as a customer. Also don't be in a hurry to cancel a card even if you don't want to use it. Closing an account or canceling a card can have a negative effect on your score. It effectively lowers your available limits and if you carry a balance on other cards/loans it raises the percentage of debt to limit.With enough knowledge, you can effectively manage credit cards and make them work for you. I've had most of my credit cards for over 20 years and use them occasionally. I have a high credit score and work to keep it that way.

Point well taken. A cc is pretty much a must when talking about credit score. You can get anything now a days without getting your credit score pulled up, and trust me, EVERYTHING shows up on that bad boy.

I don't feel like writing a book on this topic (and trust me I could) so I'll keep this short. In the past 6 years of my Lending experience and consumer finacial advisment; underingstanding how the Fico, Beacon scores are caculated it the single most important tool you can have to beat the system.

There is quite a bit of info that can be found on the internet, if you havn't already noticed every website you visit will give you a difrent Fico score range, % of effectiveness in caculating score, exc. The finacial world has done a "great" job of hiding how Fico scores are caculated, they don't want consumer to know how and what they can do to get a better rate..

For those of you who want to pretend to be a lawer for an hour or 2 you can read up on the fair credit repoting act. Which is a list of the laws to govern the fairness of approving/decling credit, what is leagal, what is not, and how you can protect yourself. http://www.ftc.gov/os/statutes/031224fcra.pdf

I use to spend hours going over peoples credit reports with them explain why it's important, what it is, how it work, and how to fix it. I would never, ever, ever do that kind of work agian. Matter a fact I threw in the towel on Octover 13th of this year wile working as a credit manager for a very large midwest secendary auto finace lender. You guys have no idea how bad it is right now... With college students debt load, and low starting salrys its getting really, really bad for our new middle class!

Add to that the predatory lending practices (targeting college students, and others with little , no, or poor credit,) and the current practice by many credit issuers to up your APR if your score drops for any reason, even if you pay your bills on time always,the situation will get much worse.