Credit Cards

[bornhuge]

A year ago I applied for my first credit card in many years.  I'd had two before that, but they were closed for lack of activity.  Anyway, I have some missed payments on my credit report, but nothing more serious than that.  Anyway, I got a Bank of America 1-2-3 rewards Visa, but BOA must not have been too excited about my credit, as all I was offered was a $500.00 line of credit with a $100.00 secured deposit.  I was told when I took out the card that I could request a refund of the deposit and a CLI after one year of the card being in good standing.

One year later and I did just that.  Got my hundred bucks back and the credit limit was extended to $800.00.  I know that's not a huge increase or anything, but it will help my utilization.  Anyway, credit repair/rebuilding is a slow process, but it does pay off, even if only a little bit at a time.

[Cadillac-XTS]

Congrats

[migliogiorni]

congrats.

[webhopper]

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bornhuge wrote:

A year ago I applied for my first credit card in many years.  I'd had two before that, but they were closed for lack of activity.  Anyway, I have some missed payments on my credit report, but nothing more serious than that.  Anyway, I got a Bank of America 1-2-3 rewards Visa, but BOA must not have been too excited about my credit, as all I was offered was a $500.00 line of credit with a $100.00 secured deposit.  I was told when I took out the card that I could request a refund of the deposit and a CLI after one year of the card being in good standing.

One year later and I did just that.  Got my hundred bucks back and the credit limit was extended to $800.00.  I know that's not a huge increase or anything, but it will help my utilization.  Anyway, credit repair/rebuilding is a slow process, but it does pay off, even if only a little bit at a time.

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Congrats!

Slowly but surely...   you will get there. 

By the way, you may look at picking up additional cards if they interest you.  There are several prime cards that you likely qualify for at this time based on the scores in your Siggy.   Chase Freedom and Amex Green comes to mind.

[bornhuge]

I'm not sure I want to apply for more credit right now.  My wife added me as an authorized user on a card she's had for years and years.  That credit limit is about $12,000.00.  The balance on that card was right at the max just under two years ago, but we got it paid off and then added me to it.  Unfortunately, that credit limit does not count toward my utilization for some reason, so I have to keep my purchases on the BOA card very minimal to avoid over-utilization and hurting my credit. 

Basically, we have all the credit we could ever want, I just wanted a card in my name to help establish a credit history for myself.  Thanks for the information, though.

[webhopper]

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bornhuge wrote:

I'm not sure I want to apply for more credit right now.  My wife added me as an authorized user on a card she's had for years and years.  That credit limit is about $12,000.00.  The balance on that card was right at the max just under two years ago, but we got it paid off and then added me to it.  Unfortunately, that credit limit does not count toward my utilization for some reason, so I have to keep my purchases on the BOA card very minimal to avoid over-utilization and hurting my credit. 

Basically, we have all the credit we could ever want, I just wanted a card in my name to help establish a credit history for myself.  Thanks for the information, though.

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  no problem!  keep in mind that if you ever want to apply for a mortgage, the magic number is 3 tradelines...  

I applaud you on being content with the available credit that you already have.  Congrats on your progress!

[bornhuge]

I was able to get a mortgage a couple of years ago to purchase my first house.  I had a couple of student loan accounts at the time and my car and my wife's car had been paid off, but still showed as recently closed, so I didn't have trouble getting the financing.

At some point there has to be a point that you have too much available credit, right?  I don't even want to be tempted to ever use even close to the credit we have.  I just wanted a card in my name primarily to rehab some past mistakes.

[webhopper]

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bornhuge wrote:

I was able to get a mortgage a couple of years ago to purchase my first house.  I had a couple of student loan accounts at the time and my car and my wife's car had been paid off, but still showed as recently closed, so I didn't have trouble getting the financing.

At some point there has to be a point that you have too much available credit, right?  I don't even want to be tempted to ever use even close to the credit we have.  I just wanted a card in my name primarily to rehab some past mistakes.

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I don't think there is any such thing... I think there is a point where you can have more credit available than your ability to be mature and responsible.

Maturity tells most people when enough is enough and that they have what they need. People who lack contentment and maturity seem to never have enough, whether their limits are 2k or 20k.