Hi guys! This is probably a dumb question but here goes.....so I was recently approved for the Discover It card, as well as the Citi Forward Student card. From what I read, Discover has 0 apr for first 14 months while Citi is 0 apr for first 7 months. Should I take advantage of these aprs by carrying a balance and just paying the min or a small payment? It would obviously help my bank account in terms of cash flow. I'm not sure how this would affect my credit score though?
On a side note, I got approved for both cards this past Friday. How long does it normally take to receive the cards? I just got an email from Discover that they sent the card out this morning, but haven't heard anything from Citi. Is this normal? Thanks!
Starting Score: No Credit History (11/12)
@Anonymous wrote:I believe that as long as you're paying the minimums, and you're not maxing out the cards you should be fine. Originally I wasn't planning on using it, but I have a big ski purchase coming up (boots, ski rental and ski pass - ouch!) coming up, so I might spread out the payments until January to minimize the impact.
I can relate to your excitement for getting the cards.
Discover had some issues verifying my address, so they ended up shipping it to the address on my credit reports (which was really my address all along), and IIRC I think I got my card in the mail two days after I got that email.
Citi took about 7 days from when I got approved. First I got an envelope containing the terms and conditions of the Forward, and then I received the card about 3 days after that came. I didn't hear anything from Citi for a while so I was getting concerned, but don't worry an email will come soon!
What would happen if I max out the cards? Obviously my credit score would drop but if I needed to for anything I would just pay off all the balances and I think my scores would skyrocket again right? Doesn't make sense to pay it off tho if there is no interest, so I figure I might as well take advantage of it. Idk, that was just my thinking so I wanted to hear the opinions of the community here 
Maybe that's something everyone does and I just don't know better lol
Yes, I am very excited to receive the cards! Okay cool, hopefully I get them soon 
@b1gr3dmachin3 wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:I believe that as long as you're paying the minimums, and you're not maxing out the cards you should be fine. Originally I wasn't planning on using it, but I have a big ski purchase coming up (boots, ski rental and ski pass - ouch!) coming up, so I might spread out the payments until January to minimize the impact.
I can relate to your excitement for getting the cards.
Discover had some issues verifying my address, so they ended up shipping it to the address on my credit reports (which was really my address all along), and IIRC I think I got my card in the mail two days after I got that email.
Citi took about 7 days from when I got approved. First I got an envelope containing the terms and conditions of the Forward, and then I received the card about 3 days after that came. I didn't hear anything from Citi for a while so I was getting concerned, but don't worry an email will come soon!What would happen if I max out the cards? Obviously my credit score would drop but if I needed to for anything I would just pay off all the balances and I think my scores would skyrocket again right? Doesn't make sense to pay it off tho if there is no interest, so I figure I might as well take advantage of it. Idk, that was just my thinking so I wanted to hear the opinions of the community here
Yes, I am very excited to receive the cards! Okay cool, hopefully I get them soon
IMO I take advantage of the 0 % promo. As long as your not applying for more credit...Use it... From what I hear FICO has no memory for Uti each month. so your score could drop..then when you get Uti. down it goes up...
@jboy1972 wrote:
@b1gr3dmachin3 wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:I believe that as long as you're paying the minimums, and you're not maxing out the cards you should be fine. Originally I wasn't planning on using it, but I have a big ski purchase coming up (boots, ski rental and ski pass - ouch!) coming up, so I might spread out the payments until January to minimize the impact.
I can relate to your excitement for getting the cards.
Discover had some issues verifying my address, so they ended up shipping it to the address on my credit reports (which was really my address all along), and IIRC I think I got my card in the mail two days after I got that email.
Citi took about 7 days from when I got approved. First I got an envelope containing the terms and conditions of the Forward, and then I received the card about 3 days after that came. I didn't hear anything from Citi for a while so I was getting concerned, but don't worry an email will come soon!What would happen if I max out the cards? Obviously my credit score would drop but if I needed to for anything I would just pay off all the balances and I think my scores would skyrocket again right? Doesn't make sense to pay it off tho if there is no interest, so I figure I might as well take advantage of it. Idk, that was just my thinking so I wanted to hear the opinions of the community here
Yes, I am very excited to receive the cards! Okay cool, hopefully I get them soon
IMO I take advantage of the 0 % promo. As long as your not applying for more credit...Use it... From what I hear FICO has no memory for Uti each month. so your score could drop..then when you get Uti. down it goes up...
From what I have read here, that is what I understood as well which is why I would like to take full advantage of it.
@myjourney wrote:
@b1gr3dmachin3 wrote:Hi guys! This is probably a dumb question but here goes.....so I was recently approved for the Discover It card, as well as the Citi Forward Student card. From what I read, Discover has 0 apr for first 14 months while Citi is 0 apr for first 7 months. Should I take advantage of these aprs by carrying a balance and just paying the min or a small payment? It would obviously help my bank account in terms of cash flow. I'm not sure how this would affect my credit score though?
On a side note, I got approved for both cards this past Friday. How long does it normally take to receive the cards? I just got an email from Discover that they sent the card out this morning, but haven't heard anything from Citi. Is this normal? Thanks!
How much of a balance are we talking about?
I personally when using a BT pay over the minimum payment for 2 reasons the first being to reduce the debt and the second to show the lender that i'm financially sound and not a risk.
Well, I would just use it to pay my monthly expenses which honestly isn't that much. I usually only spend around 300-500$ a month on my cards and I have a 2.5k limit. I would like to just pay the min each month or maybe a little bit over the min because of cash flow reasons. Would if affect my credit score long term though? I would just be doing it until the end of the year pretty much, and then pay all the balances off to 0 so I can apply for my next 2 cards (Freedom & Amex)
@Dubious wrote:Carrying a large balance for a long time while only paying the min could raise flags.
ETA: You also have to be careful because if you don't pay off the balance before the promo ends you could have all that interest added on (be sure to read your T&C).
Also, it terms of score, you will get dinged for each card that is maxed out, or close to. If you're interested in raising your scores, just know they will be pretty stagnant for as long as you're carrying large util.
When you said could raise flags, what do you mean by that?
I am able to pay off all the balances at any time so I'm not worried about that.
In terms of my score, I'm not really worried about it since I won't be applying for anything for at least 6 months anyway. And at that time I would just pay off all the balances and I THINK my score would rise substantially as if I would have been pif every month. Am I correct on that?