Is your credit history essentially empty, or are there any problems on your reports? (late payments, etc.)

Message Edited by HI-ALL on 01-05-2008 06:38 PM

I think it's a bit to early to apply for Discover, but there are good Capital One cards (as well as some terrible ones.) If you travel overseas, Cap 1 has good exchange rates. Wait, I don't think that's the correct term, but it's good for international travelers.

You can go to the Cap 1 site and see which cards you might qualify for, without getting a hard inquiry:

https://cardfinder.capitalone.com/CapOne/findMyOffer.do

Just because they match you with a card doesn't mean that you can get it, but it's a guide to what might be a good fit. Once you have two cards and some good history on them (6 months or so), your scores will rise and you will qualify for more cards. You already have a good start with that nice CL on the Bank of America Visa. Hope that helps!

I think it would really benefit you to get at least one of your fico scores (and I'm not saying this because we are on this site!! ). Your 7k BofA would be the highest I've ever seen with someone w/1 mo credit hx, even with a high income. I suspect you have fairly high scores from being an AU on DW's CCs and have a hx a lot longer than 1 month. If so, I would apply for a Chase Freedom card, possibly Discover + Citi, maybe a good CU. Your credit limit relates to your income, and I believe that higher CLs on your credit report lead to higher CLs on new cards.

Asides: Be careful of "hard inquiries" if you two are going to apply for a mortgage anytime soon; also, I would really stress the importance of learning about this whole system. It really is important to many areas of your financial life beyond credit: incl insurance, employment, etc, and will only become more utilized. Also, read up on how "FICO08" will alter the AU picture. Best of luck on your fico journey!!!

Message Edited by HI-ALL on 01-05-2008 11:53 PM

Hi HI-ALL, Before I/others answer the "specific CC for newbies" question, I'm really curious about your fico score from SW; please let us know when you get it. Also, if you don't know the following, you can check your credit reports (not scores for free) for free from annualcreditreport dot com. You can check all 3 once per year. Roughly what are your DW's fico scores and how long ago did she open those CCs to which you are AU? If they were awhile ago, you may find on your credit report that you have acct(s) with considerable age on them (I'm hoping this for your, that'd be great), look for "date opened". In this case, I'd go for the absolute best cards you can get, it will benefit you/your scores/reports.

Incidentally, looking ahead: note your SW score is a true Fico score, not a "fako" score. For important matters, you want to rely on true Fico scores [I'm *really* not paid by fico, altho' Barry, if you want to work something out.... ] Hi-all, please let us know your score and age of accts. I'm crossing my fingers for ya!