topic Re: No Longer In School in Credit Cards

No Longer In School

johnicek — Sat, 23 Nov 2013 05:57:28 GMT

So I'm 18, and managed to get a couple credit cards before heading off to college this past August. For many reasons, I decided I wanted to wait to pursue higher education (If ever). I dropped out of college at the begining of October, and I am now in the process of becoming employed.

I have two cards:

1ST Financial Bank USA

Capital One Journey

Both are "Student" cards. So I'm no longer a student.

Is this something I need to let my creditors know? I know last time I called 1FB they asked about my status in school (I was in school at the time). I don't really want to get dropped since my history is so short as it is now. I've been out of school for almost two months now and I just thought about this about a week ago. Shortly, I will have income (Seasonal employment till Jan.) then I'll hopefully have something more permanent after that, and I have never had payment issues.

Re: No Longer In School

Creditaddict — Sat, 23 Nov 2013 06:05:35 GMT

If your fico tu is 664 I'd go after 2-3 GE cards and you can close that 1st financial... Who knows what the fees are.
Go for paypal mc
Chevron, 76... What's the gas station around you
Walmart discover
Look around, the list is endless but get employment first so you can put at least $15k income on app!!

But no, otherwise you don't need to tell anyone your not in school anymore when it comes to your credit cards

Re: No Longer In School

johnicek — Sat, 23 Nov 2013 06:13:27 GMT

I usually get holiday gas since I wind up getting it for free with the gas rewards program through my local grocery store. (Can't go wrong with free gas!)

I've been thinking of getting a couple more cards once I get a job. I've apped for the WAL-MART cart and a MOBIL card a while back. As well as discover IT and Bill Me Later. I think I have something like 6 HP's right now. I hate the 1FB card only because the lack of cash back. I put everything on my cap1 card, but mainly I use my PayPal debit card. So is $15k the magic number for most places?

Re: No Longer In School

Creditaddict — Sat, 23 Nov 2013 06:35:36 GMT

We'll if your just 18 and you applied to all those other places before you had 6 months with your cap1 you probably didn't have a real credit score... You could do walmart again.
I'd skip Mobil and BML for now
But you could try shopping cart trick at express
I don't know 15 is magic number... Each card and bank is different... You can usually see something in terms and conditions about min but I'd say 10-12 min on apps

Re: No Longer In School

johnicek — Sat, 23 Nov 2013 06:55:39 GMT

Shopping cart trick. I just heard of it like an hour ago. So that's where you go to checkout at an online store and they soft pull you based on address and pre approve?

Is that possible since I've only lived in this apartment since August 15th?

Re: No Longer In School

djc1puno — Sat, 23 Nov 2013 07:02:01 GMT

@johnicek wrote:
Shopping cart trick. I just heard of it like an hour ago. So that's where you go to checkout at an online store and they soft pull you based on address and pre approve?

Is that possible since I've only lived in this apartment since August 15th?

keep also in mind that it may take some time for the trick to actually work during checkout...from my experience the bank issuing the card (commenity, etc.) has to do a sp first before the pre approval pop up...and your address and name has to match with what is on your report

Re: No Longer In School

Revelate — Sat, 23 Nov 2013 18:21:03 GMT

@Creditaddict wrote:
If your fico tu is 664 I'd go after 2-3 GE cards and you can close that 1st financial... Who knows what the fees are.
Go for paypal mc
Chevron, 76... What's the gas station around you
Walmart discover
Look around, the list is endless but get employment first so you can put at least $15k income on app!!

But no, otherwise you don't need to tell anyone your not in school anymore when it comes to your credit cards

At 660 he's qualified for better than store cards. GE cards have their place but when entry Amex/Chase/Discover are available, store cards are pretty superfluous unless the rewards on them make sense for your spending profile.

Edit: just saw the tradelines are 3 months old. Wait 3 months then figure out what you want to do, keep the tradelines, go on with life. Not certain on people's rush to establish a bunch of random tradelines which is proliferating the advice in this forum these days. 2 cards is enough for now from a pure FICO perspective, may as well take a good card in 3 months, and better cards six months after that, than establishing random things like Victoria's Secret cards if you don't shop there.

Re: No Longer In School

Jasir — Sat, 23 Nov 2013 11:08:32 GMT

+1 @ Revelate. OP, please do not start apping randomly. Take a moment to think carefully about your current spending habits and your projected spending habits (what you'd like to use your cards for in the near future). Make a list if you have to and post it here on myFico. Then ask the community to help you choose a card that best fits your pattern and goals so you'll have an idea of what to get. Then when your currents cards are at 6 months old-preferabbly a year--app for regular bank cards, not store cards. Store cards are usually limited to just that store and sometimes affliliate stores and often have no perks yet higher APRs than bank cards.