Credit Cards

[krismac]

Hey, everyone! As the title suggest, my hubby is looking for a CC. Here's his credit history:

1. Current credit score is: 712
2. Only debt he has is his car loan that will be paid off in 1 year.
3. He's never had a CC before. His main reason? The APR is too high.

The only CC that he's interested in is the USAA CCs. We both have USAA accounts, both active duty military. So far, I know that he's in good standing with USAA, but he's looking at other CCs as well - only reason why he prefers the USAA CCs is because of the low APR.

Non-USAA CCs he's interested in: AMEX Green, AMEX BCE, Chase Freedom, Slate, and Discover It.

Any suggestions or advise?

[Burned2manybridgesB4]

Sounds like an app to USAA is a sure thing. I'd use that as a start point. It'll give you a rough idea of where the limits start, and once the first card hits a certain age, others will compete with limits/APR's

[SnackTrader]

My first advice is: don't pay interest. The APR won't be a problem if you never carry a balance. Something your husband may not realize is that interest is not charged immediately on all purchases, so APR won't matter if you pay in full.

But secondly, if you feel comfortable with USAA feel free to give them a try. But remember, not having any previous CC history is a problem for many lenders and he may need to start somewhere else. Before I had existing CCs only Capital One would approve me, but of course I never tried USAA. Of course, being active military could improve chances too.

Keep us updated!

[ceemee2203]

If he's interested in  AMEX Green then that means he's willing to pay the card off in full each month. So, why should the APR matter?

Anyway, go with USAA since you have an account. Then in at least 6 months, try for another account. I think AMEX is great, especially for down the road with backdating. 

[kimmiller112]

Since he is a member, he should get a credit card through USAA.  Since credit card companies like to see some history, he should hang onto it for 6 months before apping for anything else, then I say go for AMEX, Chase and Discover.  Once he has had those for 6 months, he should be in really good shape credit-wise. 

Like someone else mentioned, APR doesn't mean anything until you carry a balance and paying in full every month will take care of that. 

[krismac]

Thanks everyone! I will let him know as soon as I see him at home! Yeah, I did ask him about the APR...and I told him also in our previous convo that as long as he PIF, that there's no reason for him to worry about the APR. He's good with his money, and we split everything 50/50, we do not have a lot of debt - so, financially we are good to go. But, he has expressed interest in improving his credit score, so, I'm doing what I can to help. He is an AU for my Discover and AMEX Delta CC.