topic Re: First responsible use credit card in Credit Cards

First responsible use credit card

Anonymous — Sat, 03 Jun 2017 04:46:22 GMT

A couple weeks ago I started my first new card. I was approved for a $3000.00 journey student card from cap1. I currently have $800 of purchases on the card. I am wondering should I pay this as I go? I plan on putting at least another 1k on the card before the month is through. I don't have a statement due yet but when I called in it said my I first bill is due July 7th. Does it look bad to make too many payments? To pay off the card everytime it gets to a $500 balance? I have only been putting on the card purchases that I actually have in my bank account so I'm not worried about not being able to pay. I just want to win this credit card game..I've never really played to win before so this is all new to me.

Any advice out there to someone just starting with their first responsible card usage?

Re: First responsible use credit card

rmduhon — Sat, 03 Jun 2017 05:07:38 GMT

I'd pay it when it gets to around 500 so that the reported balance will be low. If the Journey card has the same setup as a Platinum or QST then the statement date will be 3 days after the due date.

Re: First responsible use credit card

Anonymous — Sun, 04 Jun 2017 16:56:30 GMT

Nope, it doesn't hurt to make multiple payments. I just started not that long ago and I make many payments to my Cap1 Quicksilver card with no issue. Just make sure to pay your balance by the due date and you'll be golden 😃

I also have a 3 day difference between my due date and statement post date.

Re: First responsible use credit card

AverageJoesCredit — Sun, 04 Jun 2017 17:07:49 GMT

Congrats on getting a nice limit on your csrd and glad you are taking your credit seriously. Making multiple payments is good as you are making payments and from what i gather about Cap One they love usage and multi payments Keep up the good habits

Re: First responsible use credit card

Anonymous — Sun, 04 Jun 2017 17:10:41 GMT

Nice to know about all of your experiences with cap1 . I eventually want to try to get the Quicksilver, maybe in 6mths or a year.

I just paid off everything and left a $16 balance on the journey card. I set a couple of household bills for about $150 together to auto pay onto the card so those should also show up on the statement balance.

I'm loving capital one and earning the cash back rewards! I earned $9.60 so far which isn't much but still makes me feel good. I'm so happy to have this second chance and I want to do everything perfect even though I'm still not 100% sure of all the rules to this!

Re: First responsible use credit card

Anonymous — Sun, 04 Jun 2017 17:25:03 GMT

Just a question do you guys have the Quicksilver or the Quicksilver one? I'm a bit wary about paying the annual fee of the Quicksilver one even tho I know if make it up in rewards
Just wondering which one everyone has and if the quicksilver one ever graduated to a regular quicksilver?
Thanks!

Re: First responsible use credit card

simplynoir — Sun, 04 Jun 2017 18:13:12 GMT

Yes, you can PC your QS1 to the QS. There use to be a post where you could ask for one but from the last time I checked it it seems the link doesn't work at the moment. I would just call CS and inquire as to if/when you can change over to the QS.

Re: First responsible use credit card

rmduhon — Sun, 04 Jun 2017 18:55:25 GMT

You can PC the QS1 into a QST, but it's easier to PC a Platinum into a QS.

Re: First responsible use credit card

Anonymous — Sun, 04 Jun 2017 20:03:00 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
A couple weeks ago I started my first new card. I was approved for a $3000.00 journey student card from cap1. I currently have $800 of purchases on the card. I am wondering should I pay this as I go? I plan on putting at least another 1k on the card before the month is through. I don't have a statement due yet but when I called in it said my I first bill is due July 7th. Does it look bad to make too many payments? To pay off the card everytime it gets to a $500 balance? I have only been putting on the card purchases that I actually have in my bank account so I'm not worried about not being able to pay. I just want to win this credit card game..I've never really played to win before so this is all new to me.

Any advice out there to someone just starting with their first responsible card usage?

I PCed my Journey to a QS 3 months in via online chat. Always PIF, always make multiple payments. After 2-3 months, you may be eligible for a CLI in addition to credit steps. Just curious, how did you get a $3k SL? Did you have prior history, like student/auto loans? Or was this the first credit product of any kind that you've had?

Re: First responsible use credit card

Anonymous — Sun, 04 Jun 2017 21:26:02 GMT

I have the regular Quicksilver w/o annual fee.

I started with a Platinum and PC'd to the Quicksilver. I had it for 4 months and used the link that use to be in a different thread to get the upgrade.

I think you can start checking for an upgrade offer after 3 statements cut. I also wouldn't go for a QuicksilverOne because of the annual fee.

Re: First responsible use credit card

rmduhon — Sun, 04 Jun 2017 21:49:35 GMT

You can ask for it as early as 1 month. And a CLI as early as 3 statement (this applies only to newly opened cards)

Re: First responsible use credit card

MrDisco99 — Sun, 04 Jun 2017 22:19:44 GMT

Your due date is the 7th so expect your statement to cut on the 9th or 10th. You'll want to pay your balance down as low as you can (but ABOVE $0) before that date. That will optimize your utilization. Do that every month. Feel free to make as many payments as you want throughout the month to knock down the balance. Make sure you cover the remaining balance before the due date so you don't carry a balance. If you keep using the card and keep knocking down the balance regularly, you probably won't even need to think about that. Keep that up and your scores will fly.

I usually pay down my cards every pay day and right before closing dates.

Just remember, if it's your only card, you do not want it to report a $0 (or credit) balance. Lenders want to see that you're using your card responsibly and not just leaving it in the sock drawer.

Re: First responsible use credit card

Anonymous — Sun, 04 Jun 2017 22:32:31 GMT

Sorry I have two questions, what does PC mean and what does it mean for a statement to cut?

Re: First responsible use credit card

rmduhon — Sun, 04 Jun 2017 22:53:22 GMT

PC is Product Change and statement cut is the day that your statement is made.

Re: First responsible use credit card

Cashbackjunky — Sun, 04 Jun 2017 23:03:47 GMT

Don't be afraid to ask questions, this is how we learn 👍

PC means product change, which is the act of changing your current card to another card (within the same credit card company, obviously).

A statement cut is when all of your charges for a "cycle" (month) on the card are added up and your total balance and amount due/due date are released to you.

Also, one thing to keep in mind... Capital one has a weird new policy that restricts people from getting 2 capital one cards within 6 months... This means you won't be able to get another new card from them for 5 1/2 months (unless you PC your current card to the QS).

Let me know if you have any other questions.

Congrats on taking the "credit game" serious. It is a LOT of fun, trust me... When you see your scores surpass 800 - it's exhilarating!!

Have fun, and over everything else, don't miss a payment! You may think "I paid already this month, so I don't have to pay again" - you may have already paid a balance, but that COULD have been before the statement cut, which means you paid before a payment was due. So you would still need to make a payment.

Have fun!
Cheers!

Re: First responsible use credit card

DeeCorey — Mon, 05 Jun 2017 01:39:23 GMT

I PC'd to a regular QS after a year with the Platinum. I probably could have done it earlier but I didn't. So far I'm LOVING my QS card. Feels great to be in rewards cards territory. 😀

Re: First responsible use credit card

Anonymous — Mon, 05 Jun 2017 06:15:25 GMT

@sapphireminer have no idea how I got $3000. I was surprised too. I don't really understand much about how credit cards work or are given. I have $150,000.00 in student loans and $10k left on my Toyota payments. I bought the Prius last November, I also had a loan from a Toyota I bought in 2012 but that's paid off. I have two charged off credit cards for about $7k between the two. I don't have any collections. I have 3 60 date payments reporting on each of my four private student loan accounts. The private loans total about $18k. And the rest are Federal loans with no late or derogatory payments except one 60 day late on a closed student loan that didn't make it into my federal consolidation, on the fault of the lender.

Re: First responsible use credit card

Anonymous — Mon, 05 Jun 2017 06:24:57 GMT

My TU score is 625, my EQ is 661, and my EX is 633 if that matters at all in credit approval line limits. That's with no revolving accounts, which I'm told is the main reason I have bad credit, besides the charge offs and late payments of coursd.

Re: First responsible use credit card

Anonymous — Mon, 05 Jun 2017 09:27:24 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
My TU score is 625, my EQ is 661, and my EX is 633 if that matters at all in credit approval line limits. That's with no revolving accounts, which I'm told is the main reason I have bad credit, besides the charge offs and late payments of coursd.

Welcome dharma. I haven't seen it mentioned, but I'd make sure to go ahead and sign up for automatic payments with that Journey card (and all others in the future). Capital One does it (as well as all major CC companies), and I'd recommend setting it up for "full statement balance" payments (as opposed to minimum).

This is an invaluable resource to protect you from forgetfullness. Like many here, I've made CC mistakes before making the decision to do it right, and often those mistakes came down to simple forgetfullness, and those autopayments are great for that.

Now, it doesn't sound like the autopayment would actually come into play for you, as you are making multiple payments throughout the month, which is good. I do the same thing, and then even make the final statement payment before the auto payment processes, but still, it's nice to have in place.