Simple girl in this crazy credit world!

[Anonymous]

Hello forums. I'm here to gain knowledge about credit and personal finance in general. To give some background, I was born in Chicago, raised down south. I wasn't taught anything about credit growing up. I made the usual mistakes - credit cards, student loans, ect. I had a card my parents gave me, whenever I couldn't make a payment they would always take care of it so it wasn't all bad.

In 2016 my financial situation changed dramatically as I had become a business owner. (kudos to anyone who can guess my business tehe) I was able to pay off all my debt (including those nasty school loans) but still I knew nothing about credit and didn't plan to but being a business owner I found it impossible to get any type of trade lines/loans without someone wanting to run my credit so last month I finally took a look at my scores.

Currently my scores are: Equifax - 730, Transunion - 745, Experian - 720. Ive been told my scores are good, but my file is "thin" my average years of credit is 2 years. I made the huge mistake of canceling some of my cards because I wasn't using them. I also have a couple of cards that were charged off and closed. Other than that my report is clean. Right now I don't know what to do or what cards to apply for. should I be applying for business cards or personal? Will proof of income come into play? My last W2 came in 2016, I earned 40k. I haven't filed my business taxes yet, but I will net about 137k for 2016.

So when doing apps should I reference what's on my last W2? I'm soooo confused. I just want to make the best choices and not get bad cards. Sorry for the long post, i just wanted to provide enough details to hopefully get a response, so lucky to have found you guys. Happy New Years!

[nachoslibres]

I'll guess you own a cupcake business.

Your scores are good, especially for a thin file.  Business cards are typically harder to get than personal cards, but I don't think you will have any issues since you have a legitimate business, especially one that nets $137k.  Also, you can claim your gross take home pay / profits (i.e. before taxes, retirement contributions, self-employed health insurance contributions) as your income.

As far as what kind of cards you should app for you need to ask the question what are you wanting to achieve with this cards first.  A lot of us (including myself) use cards strictly for cash back and/or travel rewards and not for actual financing or carrying business/personal expenses and we pay these cards off every month (I'm assuming this is what you want to do).  You also need to know how you want to structure it - do you want to have a business card strictly for all your business purchases and then one or more personal cards for your personal purchases or do you want to use several cards (business and personal) where you put purchases on the card that will give you the best redemption for that category.

I personally use my personal and business cards interchangebly for all my transactions (business and personal), but I am very meticulous with keeping receipts and I reimburse myself from my business for only business transcations that are put on my cards.  Others keep a business card strictly for business credit card purchases and then pay the credit card directly from the business - which can make things easier.  It's ultimately up to what you want to do and how much work you want to do to get the rewards you want.

[Anonymous]

I'd start with a business and a personal card that way you can separate the two. Without knowing what you want out of the two I'd say for business I'd get the new chase ink preferred. 80k points signup bonus plus works good with normal business spend. For personal if you want cash back you can't go wrong with citi double cash 2% cash back. If you want points for travel I'd get the chase sapphire reserve in branch so you can get 100k bonus which is good for $1500 worth of travel. If you want both I'd get the chase freedom unlimited and the sapphire reserve and pair them up to get max rewards.

[Anonymous]

Nothing to add on the CC front, just that I'm incredibly jealous. Those must be some fantastic cupcakes.

Not sure if you're saying $137K is personal income or business profit, but that's awsome. I own a restaurant that does fairly well, and I was pretty excited about $10K in profit last year (after paying me my tiny salary).

For the CC's, the Double Cash is great. Also, if you get any of your ingredients or supplies from Sam's or BJ's, Discover would be a great option (Costco, if you want to buy gift cards online).

[AverageJoesCredit]

Welcome and my sincerest hopes your credit journey continues well and i know youll pick up some great advice here. Ill leave the what should i get cards to others with more experience, especially since you have a business. Closest id come to that is i would be your customer lol. BEST OF LUCK

OH, other question,
Are you one of the chicks from 2 BROKE GIRLS?

[SouthJamaica]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Hello forums. I'm here to gain knowledge about credit and personal finance in general. To give some background, I was born in Chicago, raised down south. I wasn't taught anything about credit growing up. I made the usual mistakes - credit cards, student loans, ect. I had a card my parents gave me, whenever I couldn't make a payment they would always take care of it so it wasn't all bad.

In 2016 my financial situation changed dramatically as I had become a business owner. (kudos to anyone who can guess my business tehe) I was able to pay off all my debt (including those nasty school loans) but still I knew nothing about credit and didn't plan to but being a business owner I found it impossible to get any type of trade lines/loans without someone wanting to run my credit so last month I finally took a look at my scores.

Currently my scores are: Equifax - 730, Transunion - 745, Experian - 720. Ive been told my scores are good, but my file is "thin" my average years of credit is 2 years. I made the huge mistake of canceling some of my cards because I wasn't using them. I also have a couple of cards that were charged off and closed. Other than that my report is clean. Right now I don't know what to do or what cards to apply for. should I be applying for business cards or personal? Will proof of income come into play? My last W2 came in 2016, I earned 40k. I haven't filed my business taxes yet, but I will net about 137k for 2016.

So when doing apps should I reference what's on my last W2? I'm soooo confused. I just want to make the best choices and not get bad cards. Sorry for the long post, i just wanted to provide enough details to hopefully get a response, so lucky to have found you guys. Happy New Years!

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1. Your business should be a separate company, with separate banking.

2. You should pay yourself a salary and get a W2.

3. You should get a business credit card for your business.The best place to start is with the Capital One Spark cards.

4. It sounds like you already have some personal credit cards for yourself so continue to use those for personal use only.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Hello forums. I'm here to gain knowledge about credit and personal finance in general. To give some background, I was born in Chicago, raised down south. I wasn't taught anything about credit growing up. I made the usual mistakes - credit cards, student loans, ect. I had a card my parents gave me, whenever I couldn't make a payment they would always take care of it so it wasn't all bad.

In 2016 my financial situation changed dramatically as I had become a business owner. (kudos to anyone who can guess my business tehe) I was able to pay off all my debt (including those nasty school loans) but still I knew nothing about credit and didn't plan to but being a business owner I found it impossible to get any type of trade lines/loans without someone wanting to run my credit so last month I finally took a look at my scores.

Currently my scores are: Equifax - 730, Transunion - 745, Experian - 720. Ive been told my scores are good, but my file is "thin" my average years of credit is 2 years. I made the huge mistake of canceling some of my cards because I wasn't using them. I also have a couple of cards that were charged off and closed. Other than that my report is clean. Right now I don't know what to do or what cards to apply for. should I be applying for business cards or personal? Will proof of income come into play? My last W2 came in 2016, I earned 40k. I haven't filed my business taxes yet, but I will net about 137k for 2016.

So when doing apps should I reference what's on my last W2? I'm soooo confused. I just want to make the best choices and not get bad cards. Sorry for the long post, i just wanted to provide enough details to hopefully get a response, so lucky to have found you guys. Happy New Years!

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Your file is thin, you have 2 charge-offs, and your scores are 720 and higher.  I didn't that was possible.  I'm guessing the charge-offs are close to the 7-year mark?

[Anonymous]

nachoslibres

You would be correct! And I also use both business and personal interchangeably as well as keep good records. Firgured that's all that matters in the end.

Thejoshuatree

I thought I read Chase was not generous with CLI? Do you know who they pull for these cards?

PapasChileHuevos

Awe! Don't be jelly PCH, that's gross profit. What kind of restaurant do you have? Its a grind but it will pay off if you stay consistent. I'm rooting for you! I actually just recently got the Amex Blue Cash and Visa Rewards with NFCU with some sweet limits. For some reason my EQ took a 50pt the very day I applied for Discover. Got denied but my EQ bounced back so I may try to a recon.

AverageJoesCredit

THANK YOU! For the words of encouragement! And sorry I'm not associated with 2brokechicks are they in my industry?

SouthJamaica

Check and double check.
I like Cap1. I have a card with them. Will that help me land a business card?
I'm working on getting more organized and fully separating business and personal. I think NFCU will be my personal.

soloman

One of them are. 2018 I think. The other is fairly new, got held responsible for fraudulent charges (long story)

wow thank,you all for the advice so far. Just wondering now if opening a business card puts an hp on my personal file? That's pretty pointless if you ask me but what do I know. Can anyone recommend lenders who will loan to a business with just one year ooperating? I think that may be a better solution for short term needs.

[Anonymous]

Chase double pulled equifax and experian for me. I can't speak to cli but they gave me a $23k SL.