topic Re: New to credit, need some advice in Credit Cards

New to credit, need some advice

Anonymous — Mon, 06 Apr 2020 22:21:03 GMT

I recently turned 18, and today I got my first credit card, a Discover it secured card with a $200 limit. I've been reading through this forum & others like it to get a general understanding of how I should handle it.

What I have collected so far (the stuff that pertains to me at least):

1. I should treat the card as a debit card and pay my balances off in full (duh)

2. I should keep my credit utilization under 30%
3. I should wait a while before applying for another credit card (about a year or so)

I do not plan to abuse this card and start carrying a balance. I've read a bunch of stories of people who are in CC debt and I would really like to avoid that at all costs.

I just wanted to know if I should tweak any of these or if there's stuff that I was uninformed of. Please share anything you know, I would really appreciate it!

Re: New to credit, need some advice

Anonymous — Mon, 06 Apr 2020 22:30:49 GMT

In less than a yr your Discover card will be converted to an unsecured card.

Re: New to credit, need some advice

pinkandgrey — Mon, 06 Apr 2020 22:34:14 GMT

Looks good so far! However, I don't think it would hurt to consider adding one more card. Maybe try for a Capital One Platinum. You may be able to get even the unsecured one. Having another card will help keep your utilization down as well as adding another account to your credit.

These two cards (Disco and Platinum) are how I started out too!

Good luck!!

Re: New to credit, need some advice

mrfufoppss — Mon, 06 Apr 2020 23:02:13 GMT

You doing Fine like the other Person said Add another card like the (Platinum) From Cap1..But i would hate to See You stuck with a Low Limit card like that 2yrs from now with a low limit still.so from my Past experience i would suggest Keep Grinding that Discover Secured Until It Graduates(7months) Most Cases and at the 1 yr point Get Your Second Discover It Card (Unsecured) Nothing Wrong With 1 card for only one Yr...stay away from Cap1 that way you will not have a low limit card on your Credit Report. plus if you dont apply for No more cards this first year Discover will Reward you when you get the Second Discover At exactly the One Year mark..then once you get that discover immediately go apply for your first AMEX card the same Day.. if i could rewind time a yr or two thats how i would have done it instead of the way i did it..Just some Input..

Re: New to credit, need some advice

mrfufoppss — Mon, 06 Apr 2020 23:14:33 GMT

Just Do some Reading in this Fico forum and Everyday you will see People Upset Complaining about their Cap1 Limit and Increases (low) and Increase Denials (more Often then Death itself) Their Top Tier Cards Savor and Venture wouldnt Come your way until maybe 2yrs from now anyways them the only cards you should pursue at Cap1 and those take time to get when your credit profile new..so Discover and Amex would be nice for you the first 2yrs

Re: New to credit, need some advice

EAJuggalo — Tue, 07 Apr 2020 00:07:45 GMT

Who do you bank with? It might be worthwhile to get set up in a good credit union now. I know that there are credit unions where the length of relationship play a role. I was flat out told by a banker once that I was getting approved for an auto loan only because I'd been with that credit union for five years at that point. Some traditional banks take that into account also, US Bank being one.

Re: New to credit, need some advice

JamP — Tue, 07 Apr 2020 01:10:59 GMT

If you have the money, use it as a debit card, max it, pay it off and repeat.

Don't worry so much about utilization on one credit card at that low of a SL.

Capital one is a good idea also.

Try to find a card that gives you some kind of rewards.

Re: New to credit, need some advice

KJinNC — Tue, 07 Apr 2020 01:16:14 GMT

When you are able, I would suggest increasing the credit limit. You can do this after the first statement by calling them. You'd need to fund the additional credit limit. For example, if you increase it to $500, you will need to deposit another $300.

There is no need to wait a year, but, there's also no rush, at your age. Take care of this card and you'll have a good basis in a few years. It will be considered to go unsecured after the 7th statement, though it is not guaranteed to happen then.

Congratulations on a good start, and good luck!

Re: New to credit, need some advice

Anonymous — Tue, 07 Apr 2020 02:20:18 GMT

Wow, didn't expect this many responses! Thanks everybody for the information, I really appreciate it. So much stuff to respond to. I'll get on that later, but for now I have a question: Would it be wise for me to open a separate checking account with my bank and put the money in there that I need to use for my credit card? For example, right now I've spent around $30. Would it be wise to create a checking account to use only for credit card payments and add $30 to it, instead of just using my regular checking account? I don't accidentally want to spend all my money and then become unable to pay my card off in full at the end of the billing period.

Edit: My bank is USAA

Re: New to credit, need some advice

AllZero — Tue, 07 Apr 2020 02:23:22 GMT

Are you a member of Navy Federal Credit Union? Have you considered to become one?

Re: New to credit, need some advice

Anonymous — Tue, 07 Apr 2020 02:37:43 GMT

I looked into Navy Federal, and it looks like I'd have to jump through some hoops to apply. I'm only with USAA because my grandfather served in the military.

Re: New to credit, need some advice

mrfufoppss — Tue, 07 Apr 2020 02:40:18 GMT

you can join navy

Re: New to credit, need some advice

AllZero — Tue, 07 Apr 2020 02:43:10 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I looked into Navy Federal, and it looks like I'd have to jump through some hoops to apply. I'm only with USAA because my grandfather served in the military.

I'll give you a early congratulations on your membership!

You can join over the phone. The csr will walk you through the process. It should be a 15-20 minute conversation. Navy is open 24/7/365.

I would recommend you requesting the DD-214 for record keeping purposes.

Re: New to credit, need some advice

Anonymous — Tue, 07 Apr 2020 02:45:57 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I looked into Navy Federal, and it looks like I'd have to jump through some hoops to apply. I'm only with USAA because my grandfather served in the military.

It's easier to get into NFCU than USAA. Just call them and they'll ask for branch and rank and you're in. Then you just order his DD-214 to have for your records in case they ever ask for it.

Re: New to credit, need some advice

AllZero — Tue, 07 Apr 2020 02:50:49 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Wow, didn't expect this many responses! Thanks everybody for the information, I really appreciate it. So much stuff to respond to. I'll get on that later, but for now I have a question: Would it be wise for me to open a separate checking account with my bank and put the money in there that I need to use for my credit card? For example, right now I've spent around $30. Would it be wise to create a checking account to use only for credit card payments and add $30 to it, instead of just using my regular checking account? I don't accidentally want to spend all my money and then become unable to pay my card off in full at the end of the billing period.
Edit: My bank is USAA

If you all ready have a checking account, it is up to you if you need another one. I would recommend practicing budgeting so you don't have to open up another checking account.

As mentioned up thread, treat the CC as a debit card. Don't spend what you aren't able to pay back.

I would recommend reading the below from ABCD2199
The Truth about Credit Card Utilization

Re: New to credit, need some advice

elixerin — Wed, 08 Apr 2020 02:16:19 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I recently turned 18, and today I got my first credit card, a Discover it secured card with a $200 limit. I've been reading through this forum & others like it to get a general understanding of how I should handle it.
What I have collected so far (the stuff that pertains to me at least):
1. I should treat the card as a debit card and pay my balances off in full (duh)
2. I should keep my credit utilization under 30%
3. I should wait a while before applying for another credit card (about a year or so)
I do not plan to abuse this card and start carrying a balance. I've read a bunch of stories of people who are in CC debt and I would really like to avoid that at all costs.
I just wanted to know if I should tweak any of these or if there's stuff that I was uninformed of. Please share anything you know, I would really appreciate it!

did i just time travel back to November 2018... lol for real though.

I was in the exact same shoes at this time (and age) going with Discover secured at $200... i can vouch that Disco will unsecure you (with responsible use course, you got the right idea with that checklist) after your 6-7th statement at the very minimum, you can get your check back and they can (and probably will) increase your limit through shown responsible use.. i got from 200->2000, "stuck" since july 2019, also an amazing bank, Cashback match was really big.. make sure when you get unsecured or even if you dont check 6 months in to see if you can "PC" product-change the secured discover 2% back to a 5% back rotating card i think i read on here a while ago that it's possible if that's what you want and what will be most beneficial to you ofcourse(do the research). Do this and after a year or so with Discover request an Intro APR.. i was given 0% APR promo a couple months back, typed a message to their chat and came back to happy news was a 1 year promo to Jan 2021 but i guess with the COVID-19(i think)? problems my recent statement shows it expires in June 2021.. no complaints here. card opened Nov 2018 unsecured and increased 7 months after

here are more DP's with discover (exact same history as you as it was my first card as well), i let my little brother use the card but i made sure he wouldn't go above or if he did i would pay down to anywhere under 30% of $200 on one balance report with $5 being the next balance report (always PIF, this shouldn't "cost" you anything, ZERO Interest. Also you can use the recycle the $200 as much as you want as long as a couple days before report time it's like above). Live Example on what i mean since this is your first card, if your due date is the 2nd of every month your closing (with discover only btw, its different timings with different lenders) will be on the 6th of every month i have also called and confirmed that this never changes regardless of the amount of days in any month so you'll want practice the 30%/$5 thing for about 6-7 months, pretty much a guaranteed unsecured to increase.. as it worked for me WHILE i was applying and getting denied constantly for other cards, closing and running from CapOne, etc.. do this without henious credit activity for a little and your set

Also, screw CapOne n ill explain why later... follow my 2019's 20 inquiries (all denials, yup. 15-17 card denials) of advice and just hold the discover secured for just 1 year (time flies and you won't notice, plus it gets unsecured fast) WITHOUT applying for anything.. trust me, it'll most likely be a denial. Unless you want a Perma-$300-$500 CapOne Plat card, which yes they give to anyone who is breathing and 18. Believe me though when i tell you they are not worth dealing with in the beginning of your credit history.. Step up from Credit One only because they actually have a selection of cards for more established profiles (and aren't predatory AF). Honestly though i sense that CapOne's plat card members most likely (i did for sure) get treated like CreditOne members just a new logo/synonym.

CapOne becomes good when your 5 years in to credit and no missed payments (literally per the guidelines they publicly plaster)

Just pick up an AMEX a year or so in and grow it, they are most friendly to thin profiles and although can sometimes be annoying with your charges the folks here will use that magic word of Time quite often.. good thing is AMEX (from my experience) doesn't need long to grow exponentially

Chase is lame they requested POI from me to complete my Freedom application lol, also hard(er) to get approved for.. probably impossible under 1 year history unless a solid banking relationship is in place (and i mean Private client level cause i held around 18-25k in their acounts for a couple months and still got denied for their most basic cards, that bank costed me 6 or so HP's (all FU or Freedom) before finally approving me but ofcourse not without requiring docs first)

you can be a CU hobbyist but i would probably rock them LAST, with the exclusion being NFCU most CU cards are for relationship clients, people 20-30 years into their credit, or who may have already exhausted major bank avenues.. Known for High limits and low apr's its really a solid finisher to wrap around all the suitable reward cards you probably obtained on your journey which are most likely high APR's... not that you should carry any balances anyways but for people many years in this is a "strategy" alot go for

Best wishes, welcome to the forums hope to see you around more

Re: New to credit, need some advice

KLEXH25 — Wed, 08 Apr 2020 03:19:57 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Wow, didn't expect this many responses! Thanks everybody for the information, I really appreciate it. So much stuff to respond to. I'll get on that later, but for now I have a question: Would it be wise for me to open a separate checking account with my bank and put the money in there that I need to use for my credit card? For example, right now I've spent around $30. Would it be wise to create a checking account to use only for credit card payments and add $30 to it, instead of just using my regular checking account? I don't accidentally want to spend all my money and then become unable to pay my card off in full at the end of the billing period.
Edit: My bank is USAA

I personally think that's a great idea! I did something similar when I was younger to keep my money for bills separate from my spending money. Good credit and PIF requires discipline, so if you can do something to help create a good habit, I'm all for it.