topic Re: Just turned 18, what do I do now? in Credit Cards

Just turned 18, what do I do now?

Anonymous — Wed, 09 May 2018 20:15:01 GMT

Hi guys,

I’ve been reading these boards for a really long time and finally just turned 18. I’m really excited to start building my credit.

My TU FICO score is 699 and I’ve been an AU on a Chase card (not sure what kind) with a $15k CL for almost two years. On my birthday I applied and got approved for a Discover IT for Students with a $1k CL.

My eventual goal is an Amex platinum, but short term I’d love to have an Amex gold or maybe a green or equivalent premium card.

For now, how many credit cards should I have? Should I stick with 1 or apply for for 1 or 2 more? If I should apply for more, reccomendations would be much appreciated.

Thanks!

Re: Just turned 18, what do I do now?

Anonymous — Wed, 09 May 2018 20:20:38 GMT

It really depends on what your spending patterns are and what you spend your money on usually. Until we know that it's difficult to make any recommendations.

Re: Just turned 18, what do I do now?

NichelleN — Wed, 09 May 2018 20:26:25 GMT

I don't have any advice for you at the moment. There are some great experts here who can help better than I can. I just wanted to say how AWESOME it is that you are inquiring about credit and hopefully how to manage it successfully. So many of us learned hard lessons at early ages (and sometimes later). So, listen to the advice, make smart decisions and protect your credit.

Welcome to adulthood!

Re: Just turned 18, what do I do now?

Anonymous — Wed, 09 May 2018 20:39:25 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
It really depends on what your spending patterns are and what you spend your money on usually. Until we know that it's difficult to make any recommendations.

Also, it sounds like you have the idea of the Amex Platinum as the ultimate card. It really isn't. Green, gold and platinum all have the same underwriting (i.e. equally easy or hard to get), the distinguishing feature is just how much annual fee you are willing to pay for which rewards. It's a good card for people doing a lot of travel (especially air from the rewards perspective), there are also other cards that some people prefer (Chase CSR, Citi Prestige for example) depending on their spending pattern.

So, as above, choose your cards on what will give you good rewards for your spend (what type of thing you buy, and to a more limited extent, how much you spend). Don't get hung up on particular issuers or "prestige" or equivalent meaningless marketing!

Re: Just turned 18, what do I do now?

Kforce — Wed, 09 May 2018 23:33:35 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
It really depends on what your spending patterns are and what you spend your money on usually. Until we know that it's difficult to make any recommendations.
choose your cards on what will give you good rewards for your spend (what type of thing you buy, and to a more limited extent, how much you spend). Don't get hung up on particular issuers or "prestige" or equivalent meaningless marketing!

+1, both "BrutalBodyShots" and "longtimelurker" are correct. Don't worry about a particular issuer, get the cards that " work for you ".

I have great fico scores, long credit history, good income and could get any credit card that I want. I do not have either AMEX or Citi credit cards. They are no better for my spend than other cards.

Re: Just turned 18, what do I do now?

Anonymous — Thu, 10 May 2018 00:11:48 GMT

Most of my spending right now is eating out and gas, but in college I won’t have a car and i’m not going to a big school so most of my spending will probably switch to amazon while i’m there. ill still have to pay for gas when i’m home obviously.

Re: Just turned 18, what do I do now?

Anonymous — Thu, 10 May 2018 00:18:56 GMT

@NichelleN thanks!

Re: Just turned 18, what do I do now?

Anonymous — Thu, 10 May 2018 00:22:21 GMT

@Kforce @longtimelurker thanks, I completely understand. Didn’t know that it was just as easy to get green and gold as platinum though. the reason that I wanted Amex platinum is because in a few years I already know that I am going to have a semester-long internship through a program at my college that will most likely be in a far away city and therefore will probably be flying a lot. also, I use uber a ton so the $200 uber credit would definately get completely used, along with the other benefits of the card. If you think a different card would be better though i’m completely open to looking into different cards.

Re: Just turned 18, what do I do now?

Meanmchine — Thu, 10 May 2018 03:28:03 GMT

Sorry if I sound snotty, but if I were you, Id concentrate on school or getting a job and a establishing a savings program first.

Good luck

Re: Just turned 18, what do I do now?

Anonymous — Thu, 10 May 2018 03:46:42 GMT

Hi,

No I completely understand. I have an IRA and a 401k currently.

Re: Just turned 18, what do I do now?

SouthJamaica — Thu, 10 May 2018 03:49:55 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Hi guys,

I’ve been reading these boards for a really long time and finally just turned 18. I’m really excited to start building my credit.

My TU FICO score is 699 and I’ve been an AU on a Chase card (not sure what kind) with a $15k CL for almost two years. On my birthday I applied and got approved for a Discover IT for Students with a $1k CL.

My eventual goal is an Amex platinum, but short term I’d love to have an Amex gold or maybe a green or equivalent premium card.

For now, how many credit cards should I have? Should I stick with 1 or apply for for 1 or 2 more? If I should apply for more, reccomendations would be much appreciated.

Thanks!

You should stay with one card for now.

Taking good care of that should put you in position for a nice additional card a year down the road.

Re: Just turned 18, what do I do now?

patoot10 — Fri, 11 May 2018 00:51:38 GMT

Am glad you asked. Building credit early is very good. Unlike you I couldn't build credit until I was 25 years old. Anyway here is my opinion which is probably controversial.

Your next move depends on what you want and what kind of vision do you have. If you have a short vision and want things right now then get specific cards that offer what you want. However, if you are looking at a long-term big-picture strategy then you should apply for every single card you think you will get approved for right now. Let me tell you why.

A friend of mine oldest account is 6 years but he never really cared about opening cards. However, after I showed him all my cool cards he started applying for cards and let me tell you that his credit score was SLASHED. He only had 2 or 3 accounts that are old and every time he opened a new account his average age would go down like crazy. Imagine having 3 old cards and suddenly you went on a spree and added 4 or 5 new cards. Your average age will go down to less than half of what it was. On the other hand if you already started your journey with as many cards as you can you will have a heavy average that won't really move easily by opening new accounts later on. Only issue with that method is that you will have a bunch of inquires and new accounts right now which will force you to stop applying for anything for almost 2 years to clean up your report but by then you will have an average age that's already the same as your oldest account.

By the way my oldest account is a little over a year and my score is the same as my friend.

When I started my credit journey I cared about my score and that's it.

Thanks,

Re: Just turned 18, what do I do now?

Anonymous — Fri, 11 May 2018 02:12:25 GMT

You make a good point. However, with someone just starting out. Getting a few early on gives them a change to age well. As opposed to us few who went through some trouble and had to rebuld, cutting that down by almost half for a few people. If you happen to ahev to restart at 45-50, it's tough to get those aged accnts before you retire! lol

Re: Just turned 18, what do I do now?

Anonymous — Fri, 11 May 2018 04:52:02 GMT

@patoot10 wrote:
Am glad you asked. Building credit early is very good. Unlike you I couldn't build credit until I was 25 years old. Anyway here is my opinion which is probably controversial.

Your next move depends on what you want and what kind of vision do you have. If you have a short vision and want things right now then get specific cards that offer what you want. However, if you are looking at a long-term big-picture strategy then you should apply for every single card you think you will get approved for right now. Let me tell you why.

A friend of mine oldest account is 6 years but he never really cared about opening cards. However, after I showed him all my cool cards he started applying for cards and let me tell you that his credit score was SLASHED. He only had 2 or 3 accounts that are old and every time he opened a new account his average age would go down like crazy. Imagine having 3 old cards and suddenly you went on a spree and added 4 or 5 new cards. Your average age will go down to less than half of what it was. On the other hand if you already started your journey with as many cards as you can you will have a heavy average that won't really move easily by opening new accounts later on. Only issue with that method is that you will have a bunch of inquires and new accounts right now which will force you to stop applying for anything for almost 2 years to clean up your report but by then you will have an average age that's already the same as your oldest account.

By the way my oldest account is a little over a year and my score is the same as my friend.

When I started my credit journey I cared about my score and that's it.

Thanks,

I've always found this type of argument slightly circular: apply for as many cards as you can so that later you can apply for more cards. You need to know why having lots of cards is a desirable thing. Also it overstates the value of AAoA which IME can be "OK" at fairly low values, and ignores concerns an issuer might have about "too much available credit" usually with an issuer but also globally. It also doesn't take into account the "cost" (in effort) of managing large numbers of cards.

I believe most people would do fine picking just a few cards that make sense for their situations, and swapping them out (with an inq and AAoA hit) every now and then as things change (goals, new cards come along, old ones get nerfed etc)

Re: Just turned 18, what do I do now?

patoot10 — Fri, 11 May 2018 12:10:08 GMT

Fair enough. Managing many cards might not be for everyone and also people go crazy with soft pulls CLI which make them have way more credit than they will ever need which is useless unless you really run high balances and need low utilization.

With that being said according to Experian my rating in the credit mix (in other words number of accounts) didn't move from very good to excellent until my credit report showed more than 10 accounts and according to creditkarma you need more than 20 accounts on your report.

Again it all comes down to what you want and whats you goal but for me getting my score high as fast as possible is the mail goal.