A 19 Year Old and Credit

[KayMD]

I am 19 years old and I got my first card from First Premier Bank for $200.00 after having the card for a full year and never missed a payment. Last week something told me just apply for two cards a discover student card and a this capital one card I got denied for the discover card but about three days ago I got a e-mail stating that I had a card on the way first thing I did was pick up the phone and called capital one because I had been trying to get this card for a long time about every 4 months while with FPB now I have about $500 with credit card am only 19 and have never missed a payment just building great history till one day I will have a my dream card and that is a AmEX. BTW Cap One gave me $300.

--------------Foward 6 Months--------------

As of right now things are good my balances are high because of christmas. Cap One no intrest for a full year and FPB 9.9%.

How am I going so far? No missed payments also.

You currently have...

Credit Card Debt:	$365
Number of Cards:	2
Average APR:	14.61%

[Chaos122]

Keep up the good work man, your following almost the exact same path i took lol.. Im in my early 20's  and my first card was First premier, and a year later i got a $300 cap1 and a $300 orchard....

Keep it up, your scores are probably higher than mine, Great Job!

[Anonymous]

You got 9.9% with First Premier??  Haven't seen that before.  I think you're doing pretty good.  Keep building that history!

[KayMD]

As of right now I stand at a 680 fico.

[KayMD]

That was before the Card ACT after I tured 18 about 30 days later I got a letter in the mail and that's what got me into the card game but I had to pay them $25 to enter but looking back at it I would still pay it.

[KayMD]

How long it would take for me to get a AmEX at the rate that I am going?

[Anonymous]

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@KayMD wrote:

How long it would take for me to get a AmEX at the rate that I am going?

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Why do you want Amex so bad?  Depending on your income, you could probably get a Zync right now.  But whatever you get from Amex it will likely be a charge product with an annual fee and won't report a limit, so it won't help you in the short term...

[smc733]

Doing great so far.

Honestly, I'm a college student, 19 too, and there's a lot better out there for your use than Amex.  The prestige is one thing, but honestly, I was an AU on an Amex Gold, and no one really cares.

Anyway, I started my credit only 9 months ago, and look in my sig, it doesn't take long, keep up, and eventually you can dump FP.

Have you considered Citi Forward?

[KayMD]

Because of the perks that come with it and the free things amex members get. Cool will do but the things that I am focusing on is getting my balance down and in the next three months I will apply for that card.

[smc733]

You can get most of those things with other cards.  There's nothing wrong with the Blue/Clear if you don't mind high APRs, but I don't think the perks outweigh the annual fee on charge cards unless you spend a LOT.