College student

[Anonymous]

Hi! Currently I am a 20 year old full time college student who also works full time and pay about 400 a month in rent at my aparment. I was wondering what credit cards i should be looking at in my near future? I'm intrested in maximizing rewards and do a good job at keeping a low balance acorss all my cards

Capital One platinum Secured-500 CL (Have had for 1.5 years)

Discover It student Card-1500 CL (have had For 1 year)

Citi Double cash back-1500 CL (about 2 months)

Transunion-690

Equifax-703

Also, would paying my rent with a credit card to gain rewards be a good idea?

[thornback]

HI & Welcome to the forums. 

It depends on your spend.   You should analyze your monthly spend so you can tailor your card choices to those that maximize specific spend types (ie. groceries, gas, utilities, resturaunts, etc.).   If you can tell us how you spend, forum members can recommend all sorts of cards.   You should also consider joining a credit union to begin building a relationship early (doesn't have to be a credit product - could be just a savings account) --  always good to have solid credit union in your portfolio. 

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@Anonymous wrote:

Transunion-690

Equifax-703

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From where are you getting your scores?  Looks like Credit Karma?  If so, you should pull your FICO scores so you know exactly where you stand scorewise.   Credit Karma scores are not FICO scores, they are of the Vantage 3 model which differs greatly from FICO in how it weighs various aspects of your credit profile.   FICO & Vantage scores can vary by as much as +/- 100 points.   The overwhealming majority of lenders use FICO to make credit decisions.  

Experian.com offers a $1 /7-day trial to get all 3 FICO 8 scores.  Just be sure to cancel before the trial ends so you are not charged the monthly fee (unless you decide you want the monthly service). 

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@Anonymous wrote:

Also, would paying my rent with a credit card to gain rewards be a good idea?

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Sure.  So long as you confirm before hand that the transaction will be coded as a purchase and not a cash advance (avoid cash advance fees & interest) - and you pay it off in full so not to carry a growing balance month-to-month.

[K-in-Boston]

What do you spend your money on in a given month, and about how much?  Do you travel, or would you like to?  Knowing whether you want cash back or flexible points or miles is important.

If there is no fee to pay rent or the fees are lower than your rewards, certainly go for it.

Are those credit karma scores?   Those may or may not match up to FICO scores.  You should have a TransUnion FICO 8 score in your Discover account and an Equifax FICO 8 Bankcard Enhanced score in your Citi account. You can get an Experian FICO 8 score free at creditscorecard.com

[kerplunk]

Choose your cards wisely because your choices today will be the foundation for your average account age all throughout your life.

I would look at Chase Freedom. Not sure if your credit profile supports it, but it's worth a shot.

[Anonymous]

Hi, and welcome to the forum.

First question, are you carrying any balances currently?

You have some great starter cards that will mature into great everyday cards,  except for the secured card. But keep that secured card going. It will help you build a history. 

What you don't want to do is get high utilization (high balances on the cards). Since you are targeting rewards, it's best to pay in full every month. Your cards are relatively new,  and it might be best to let them age a little. As long as you can always pay in full, getting cards later and managing them the same way will work out great for you. Running up debt and getting more cards will certainly get you in trouble. 

The Citi Double Cash card is a great card for basic spend. That's a good one to get, and you already have it, so you're half way there. The Discover student card is good to have too, 2% on restaurants and gas. That's pretty much where you need to be. You are probably not traveling a lot right now, so a travel card might not be great right now. Other cards are more geared for heavier spend like travel, gas, etc that won't really do much good for you now. Once you graduate, your options will open up as your spend will change. 

I would suggest holding off on new cards until you graduate. Pay in full every month, and your credit lines will grow. That's a good goal to shoot for right now. You already picked good cards to start with. 

As for paying rent, you can check with your landlord about paying with a credit card. And with no fee added to your rent. If that's allowed with no fee and you pay in full, go for it.

[Anonymous]

I did what you said with experian, it looks like my FICO Score 8 is 746

[thornback]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I did what you said with experian, it looks like my FICO Score 8 is 746

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Good score.    So think about the type of spend you'd like to maximize with cashback and narrow your choices from there. 

[Anonymous]

I usually just put my normal everyday spendings on the citi card (about 1000 a month) and whatever the 5% catergory is for discover i use for that card. I did the trial for experian and my fico score 8 is 746.

As for traviling I do go on vacations over spring break and summer break every year.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I usually just put my normal everyday spendings on the citi card (about 1000 a month) and whatever the 5% catergory is for discover i use for that card. I did the trial for experian and my fico score 8 is 746.

As for traviling I do go on vacations over spring break and summer break every year.

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Ok, you got a very nice score to work with. And you have decent monthly spend and it appears you're not giving back your rewards to the bank by paying a lot or any in interest. You can probably squeeze out another card. 

A nice card for traveling at your level (as well as the ability to switch to other categories, such as online purchases, dining, or gas) is the Bank of America cash rewards card. You can switch categories once a month for 3% rewards. Plus you can redeem after your statement cuts for any amount. You won't need to get to $25 for redemptions. 

That one is nice and flexible and can fit your needs and spend without getting into complex rewards systems.