topic Re: FIrst Credit Card? in Credit Cards

FIrst Credit Card?

Anonymous — Tue, 30 Oct 2012 03:56:52 GMT

Hello All,

I am trying to figure out what credit card I should get. I haven't had a normal credit card for about 10 years, Cancelled my department store credit card 3 years ago. FIgured having no credit card would help me not get into trouble. I am trying to rebuild my credit, I just checked my score here on Myfico and its at 646.

Should I wait until my score is over 650 since I am so close? Think 650 is a different bracket?

Can I even apply to a unsecured Credit card with my score?

Should I just get a secured Credit card? I have about $2k I can put down for one.

Is it best to get a secured credit card that will evolve into a normal credit card? Read online that Citi and Bank of america have these types of cards.

Any help would be great. Thanks in advance!

Re: FIrst Credit Card?

Shogun — Tue, 30 Oct 2012 03:59:19 GMT

App for a Cap1 and a GE backed Walmart card. I think your chances are good with those. Do you have any baddies on your reports? Get them cleaned up if you can, you could possiby hit 700 in a fews months with these two cards and a decent CR and get some good cards. The GE card can graduate to a discover in the future if you don't qualify for it now and GE is great with CLIs.

Re: FIrst Credit Card?

Anonymous — Tue, 30 Oct 2012 04:08:20 GMT

Hi There, Thanks for your post.

I do have some baddies, I have a public record-Garnishment from 3 years ago and multiple late payments on my mortage, however i have been on time for the past 10 Months and will stay current going forward.

Re: FIrst Credit Card?

jamie123 — Tue, 30 Oct 2012 04:15:21 GMT

@Shogun wrote:
App for a Cap1 and a GE backed Walmart card. I think your chances are good with those. Do you have any baddies on your reports? Get them cleaned up if you can, you could possibly hit 700 in a fews months with these two cards and a decent CR and get some good cards. The GE card can graduate to a discover in the future if you don't qualify for it now and GE is great with CLIs.

+1 Shogun is giving great advice here! ^^^^^^^^

Make sure you apply for the Capital One Platinum Standard card! Do not apply for a rewards card, they are harder to get. You have a really good chance of being approved for this card.

Apply for the Walmart card. They are really good with automatic credit line increases.

Your scores will start to climb after you get these 2 cards.

Stop back and let us know how it turns out.

Good luck!

Re: FIrst Credit Card?

chnceit — Tue, 30 Oct 2012 04:20:37 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Hello All,

I am trying to figure out what credit card I should get. I haven't had a normal credit card for about 10 years, Cancelled my department store credit card 3 years ago. FIgured having no credit card would help me not get into trouble. I am trying to rebuild my credit, I just checked my score here on Myfico and its at 646.

Should I wait until my score is over 650 since I am so close? Think 650 is a different bracket?
Can I even apply to a unsecured Credit card with my score?
Should I just get a secured Credit card? I have about $2k I can put down for one.
Is it best to get a secured credit card that will evolve into a normal credit card? Read online that Citi and Bank of america have these types of cards.

Any help would be great. Thanks in advance!

GE is a great route. Cap One is an easier bank, try their prequal site. Or your local CU maybe they can work with you if you already have a relationship with them.

Re: FIrst Credit Card?

Anonymous — Tue, 30 Oct 2012 04:49:50 GMT

I went on the Cap one site (I'm already a cap one bank member as well) and see a Cap one platinum card (24.9%apr) and a Cap one classic platinum card (has 0% apr til aug 2013 then 19.8%).

In regards to the Walmart card, is it just a card I can use at Walmart?

Also, Do I need to apply for two cards? I always thought the least amount of credit cards the better? I'm probably wrong though as im a complete newb when it comes to this stuff lol.

Re: FIrst Credit Card?

Shogun — Tue, 30 Oct 2012 04:48:24 GMT

Walmart has 2 cards. A store card and a Discover card. When you apply they decide which you get. If you don't qualify for the Discover, you get the store card. It has the potential to graduate to a Discover later. Plus GE backed gards grow with you. Decent CLIs.

Re: FIrst Credit Card?

jamie123 — Tue, 30 Oct 2012 05:05:00 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I went on the Cap one site (I'm already a cap one bank member as well) and see a Cap one platinum card (24.9%apr) and a Cap one classic platinum card (has 0% apr til aug 2013 then 19.8%).Either one of those cards. One has a high interest rate and the other has a high annual fee. Pick your poison.

In regards to the Walmart card, is it just a card I can use at Walmart? Yes, and at Walmart and Murphy gas stations. You can save money on gas.

Also, Do I need to apply for two cards? I always thought the least amount of credit cards the better? I'm probably wrong though as im a complete newb when it comes to this stuff lol. You actually need to have a minimum of 3 credit cards to maximize your scores but 2 cards will be fine for the next six months. These are great cards to start with. Once your scores rise you can get better cards.

Good luck!

Re: FIrst Credit Card?

maiden_girl — Tue, 30 Oct 2012 05:11:58 GMT

I would apply for a GE backed card. Check out GE consumer website and see what companies they back and if you see a store you frequently shop at..such as Walmart..or JCP....you can apply to it. Any GE card you get will grow and has the potential to upgrade to whatever network GE backs. Try to clean up your credit as much as you can. Good luck!

Re: FIrst Credit Card?

Anonymous — Tue, 30 Oct 2012 05:30:44 GMT

Besides crap1 who do you bank with? Sometimes you can get the best card from going into a local bank branch whom you have your paychecks going through.

Re: FIrst Credit Card?

j_casteel — Tue, 30 Oct 2012 05:47:18 GMT

like others i suggest a Cap1 Plat card (regular card) and a GE store card you frequent. Walmart is a good choice because they are everywhere, you can use them a Murphy USA gas stations, Sam's Club (&gas station), and if you sign up for e-statements then you get free monthly TU FICO score.

I would also suggest checking out some local CU's. You have a good enough score to qualify for a card at a CU b/c most of the time they are more lenient/personable.

Re: FIrst Credit Card?

bettercreditguy1 — Tue, 30 Oct 2012 11:19:30 GMT

Another easy cc to obtain is Sears. Limits start low but increase exponentially with use. They gave me my first card over 35 yrs ago.

Re: FIrst Credit Card?

nicholasyud — Tue, 30 Oct 2012 13:43:07 GMT

Why Capitalone ?????? Most of us here try to get rid of Capital One but why would you guys suggest Crapy One.......I mean his/her change get approved for capital one is high but the card would never grown with you no matter what you do ,......yeah no matter what you do.......stuck with €500 limit...........and in this time about next year you would consider why I get this Capital One in the first place ??? I mean yeah of course they help us rebuild credit but there must be a lot of great cards out there.......

not personally but I would suggest you get

1. Walmart Card

2. Your local bank credit card ( whoever you bank with) not a Secured CC . If they ever denied you then go for Secured therefore only one hard pull.

3. Credit Union

4. Secured Credit card put down 2k 5 k or whatever as much as you want but

STAY AWAY FROM CRAPPY ONE

Re: FIrst Credit Card?

Anonymous — Tue, 30 Oct 2012 14:11:09 GMT

If you have 2k then make deposited to bank of Americaand open secucard credit card with them. After 1 year you make on time payment. They'll return your money and change to unsecured credit card.(you have to call them and request after 1 year). 2 card Walmart is good. Dont listen and open cap1 you will get stuck with 500 or 750 credit limit forever . When you apply for another card. Or apply for a loan. Lender will look at your credit limit. They will not give you more credit or... Because theythink you can not handle big credit. Get out cap1 if you can

Re: FIrst Credit Card?

Anonymous — Tue, 30 Oct 2012 14:23:18 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Besides crap1 who do you bank with? Sometimes you can get the best card from going into a local bank branch whom you have your paychecks going through.

I do bank with a credit union, I will go talk to them about getting a card also, probably instead of the GE card, I just dont think I would use the GE card at all, I never go to walmart, I'll check the GE site and see if there are any other retailers they have that I may use.

Re: FIrst Credit Card?

distantarray — Tue, 30 Oct 2012 14:34:17 GMT

@nicholasyud wrote:

STAY AWAY FROM CRAPPY ONE

I agree stay away from Capital One til your in your prime territory. If you want a Venture card go for it but that's not til your scores are built up. They 3x credit pull one on each bureau. Although for rebuilding purposes it's not bad to have one, but this will definately not grow with you. You'll outgrow it eventually and will sacrifice AAOA when you cancel them. Only thing that's good to have Capital One for is to help other people, through adding them as an Authorized user. They report EVERYONE. So for that purpose if you like to help friends and family might be worthwhile.

Try finding a good credit union locally, or nationally. DCU is a great one to get in with (takes $10 donation to charity to get in) but they give you a free Fico 04 EQ score (same one purchased here) monthly , and their cards graduate and they're very good credit union that will grow with you.

Graduate means the secured cards will become unsecured and you'll get your deposit back.

Re: FIrst Credit Card?

Anonymous — Tue, 30 Oct 2012 14:38:46 GMT

oh my, two posts in a row saying to stay away from Cap one. I have been thinking about moving away from Cap one as my bank, only reason I have them is because they bought out my local bank last year.

I like the Bank of America idea, maybe I will just switch banks to them and then get a secured credit card with 2k limit and hopefully get it moved to a unsecured card after a year.

Looks like the choices I am leaning towards now are:

1) Check with my CU and see if I can get a card through them

2) Look at a GE card with a retailer I use

3) Move my banks to Bank of America and get their secured card with a 2k limit.

Re: FIrst Credit Card?

distantarray — Tue, 30 Oct 2012 14:48:40 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
oh my, two posts in a row saying to stay away from Cap one. I have been thinking about moving away from Cap one as my bank, only reason I have them is because they bought out my local bank last year.

I like the Bank of America idea, maybe I will just switch banks to them and then get a secured credit card with 2k limit and hopefully get it moved to a unsecured card after a year.

Looks like the choices I am leaning towards now are:
1) Check with my CU and see if I can get a card through them
2) Look at a GE card with a retailer I use
3) Move my banks to Bank of America and get their secured card with a 2k limit.

Honestly I'd stay away from Bank of America and go with Chase. Chase the number 1 bank in America now and dethroned Bank of America. Because of Bank of America's purchase of Country wide I feel they are not as finacially stable as they claim to be, they are on the frontiers of new charges to customers, Chase is on the frontier for innovations. Also Chase offers better packages and benefits.

Also don't forget if you sign up with Chase you can get coupons for $200 bonus for signing up with their checking you can still redeem, if you don't have one you can get one on Ebay for $9.50 (already used 3 yesterday for friends/family) so I can vouch they still work.

Personally I don't want to bank with anyone who called the SWAT team on their customers for wanting to close their accounts about this time last year.

http://business.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474980498990

I been with Bank of America for 13 years and they still wanted to charge me $12 for a Cashiers check.... and I have over $50,000 in my accounts. No thank you.

Just get a Chase account collect extra money, and extra bonuses if you ever decide to go down the Freedom / Sapphire road, and btw Chase has more ATM's than Bank of America. All Walgreens have Chase ATM's making it easy to access your account in a clean bright place even at 3am.

Chase for local bank, Digital credit union for your secured cards that'll grow with you + your free Fico scores monthly. PSECU if your a resident of PA

Oh I forgot to mention if your overdraft by 1penny you'll get charged $35 with bank of America, Chase will waive fees under $5 of overdraft, you also get the option to have the debit card DECLINED so you don't accidently pay $35 for a diet coke.

Re: FIrst Credit Card?

kevinjjc — Tue, 30 Oct 2012 15:02:33 GMT

Yeah, stay away from Cap One. Also, reconsider the Walmart card for the free TU08 FICO score and soft CLI's down your rebuilding road.

Re: FIrst Credit Card?

codimom — Tue, 30 Oct 2012 15:52:57 GMT

@bettercreditguy1 wrote:
Another easy cc to obtain is Sears. Limits start low but increase exponentially with use. They gave me my first card over 35 yrs ago.

wow how times HAVE changed. Back when I was first starting out, Sears was THE hardest store card to get. If you could get a sears card then, you could get ANY Card.