starting my credit?

[s13gonwild]

so how did you guys start building it up? Im really new to actually knowing how important it is so just want to see what you guys did and if it worked out good... so if you guys could help me out a lil hehe

thanks

[ALTRNTV]

You could do it a number of ways.

-get a gasoline gas card and use it once or twice a month for like a 3 month span and pay the minimum each month

This is how I built my credit
-just apply for a credit card online and make small purchases (try to find one with a low APR rate), and pay just a little more than the minimum payment

[MakotoS13]

its easier than that. take out a small loan and pay it off the next day. then get a bigger loan. then a credit card.

we all have credit... keeping it perfect is a whole other story entirely.

[mjjstang]

me, I got a college card when I was 18, the first month I put a clutch and other shit on it, realized how easy it is to get in debt, good thing 1000 is my limit, but its down im putting about 200 a month on it, and payin 300, so yah dont get in debt, its stupid, use it for online purchases (small ones) gas, and those late night trips to white castle.

[SilviaNinja240]

A good way to build up your credit, if you never had any, is to first get a card, then 2ndly only buy things you can afford. (i.e. make payments in full), then after a while of buying stuff apply for a card with a lower interest rate.

[chrispy]

I started off with a student card from my bank.

Initially, if you do not have any credit history, expect to have a low credit limit and a high apr. Only buy what you can afford and remember to always pay on time! Once you've established a good history with the credit company, you can call for a credit limit increase and to renegotiate your apr.

[madwilly240]

BAD IDEA! for me it was at least, haha.

Got a card with a 1000 dollar limit, told my dad I'd pay it off every month. That was about 6 months ago.

Now its maxxed out, and I'm broke!!!! Hooray for debt. I gotta learn to save.

[sr240mike]

Or find a store that offers its own card like Macy's that has a secured credit limit. This means you put money on the card for your limit, then after a couple of months your credit limit will be upped and you'll be offered all sorts of new credit cards. Or if your parents have good credit, sign on as an authorized user and you will then have their credit score when you go to get another credit card.

[sykikchimp]

I got a college credit card from citi when I first got to college. Had a $500 limit. used it only for gas. payed about 50% over minimum payment each month. then I financed some furniture a couple years down the road, and payed it off. Now I have a 750 fico score, and that same card has a $5100 limit that I never asked to raise. They just raise it occasionaly.

I work in the credit reporting industry. a few tips from the inside for building credit with credit cards.. Never pay only minimums, or pay off the enitre account every month. Also pay early. like min 7 days before due. Credit companies report histories more often when they make money on you. Also keep only 1 or 2 cards active at any one time. If you get a new card, cut up the old one and cancel your old account. If you have a card you never use, it does not add to your credit history. once you get 1 credit card, DO NOT apply for more. EVERY TIME you apply for credit of any kind it affects your fico score in a negative way. If they ask for your Social Security #, they are going to check your credit. Keep your balances below 40% of your max, and above 10% of you min. and your credit will grow quickly.

RESPONSIBILITY. Being diligent with paying on time, NO MATTER WHAT is very very important. Credit takes a LOOONG time to repair, keep that in mind. Take care of your credit, and it will take care of you. It is a long term goal assistant. Fuck up your credit, and your long term goals WILL suffer.

Something you should know.. having a good fico score means jack when you want to buy a car. Car loans want people with car loan history. When you have no big purchase history (like buying cars or a house) you will be able to buy a car based soley on your FICO, but you'll get a rediculously high interest rate unless you put down a ton of money. A high fico is VERY useful when you go to buy a house however. A high fico, and a decent job, and you will get the lowest mortgage rates around regardless of what your fico comes from.

[Doriftomodachi]

Credit bureaus rate credit based on activity. If you maintain balances more than 50% of your limits on your cards the majority of the time your score will go down. Get 1 or 2 credit cards at most. Get credit cards with miles. Use them to pay your monthly expenses and pay off the card every month. This will establish a history of responsible credit activity and keep your score in the rise. Plus, you will avoid interest charges and at the end of each year or so you will have enough miles to take free trips!

I know this because I slang loans and I give this advice to people with bad credit. It works!

[mk20116]

....................
Something you should know.. having a good fico score means jack when you want to buy a car. Car loans want people with car loan history. When you have no big purchase history (like buying cars or a house) you will be able to buy a car based soley on your FICO, but you'll get a rediculously high interest rate unless you put down a ton of money.............

even if you put a ton of money down some dealers will still refuse do to you not having an existing car loans.

unless you go though a different company for your loan. my cousin had put down 70k on his car and was still refused a loan. he was told that no matter how much you put down they will not be able to give you a loan. (specific dealers though) so he went though his credit card company, Chase Manhattan.

[SilviaDriver]

Never pay only minimums, or pay off the enitre account every month.

im starting to build credit now. ive always been the "ima stay away from CC cuz i dont wanna fuck up anything" but now i realized "fuck i need credit!!!"

im a lil confused about the statement above and would seek clearification.

i was always told a good way to build credit is never pay minimums as stated as stated above, and a good way to build credit is to buy something have the money already on the side, and when the bill comes, pay it all off at once.

in my confusion it seems like your saying the above idea is a bad thing?

[aznpoopy]

silviadriver:

if you pay off less then the full amount, but above the minimum; you basically are letting the credit card company make a little money off of you. pay in full every month and they don't get their finance charge. you haven't missed a payment so it's not bad for your credit. if anything you make your cc company like you a little better b/c they made some money off of you.

pay in full : cc gets no money from finance charge (cc company not happy)
pay in minimum : most likely your debt is going up every month and you aren't showing you can handle it b/c you pay the bare minimum without thought of paying back the whole debt (irresponsible, cc company not happy)

[West]

Lesson 1 - Dont buy car parts with CC's.

End of story.

[ALTRNTV]

^^

Puahahaha, I learned that lesson.

[SoCalS14]

Sykik, maybe you can help me with a rumor I heard.

This guy told me, that if you get a credit card, run up a moderate balance. THEN, when you get an offer for a lower interest rate, apply for that card, and PAY OFF the balance of the other card, then close account. When you get another offer for a lower interest card, repeat the process.

You basically just move around the balance, but you show a history of paying off cards...Said this increases your credit rating, and subsequently your credit limits.

Is this true?

[nismo2491]

didn't feel like reading the whole thing, but from experience as a car salesman and talking with bank reps and the finance managers, 2 things that build credit ratings fastest is car loans and mortgages. Also credit rating is highly dependent on time of loan so paying the loan off the next day won't help too much. you actually build a higher rating faster if you make minumum payments and take 2 years to pay off something than if you pay it off in 3 months. the amount of the loan also factors in.
KEvin

[chrispy]

Sykik, maybe you can help me with a rumor I heard.

This guy told me, that if you get a credit card, run up a moderate balance. THEN, when you get an offer for a lower interest rate, apply for that card, and PAY OFF the balance of the other card, then close account. When you get another offer for a lower interest card, repeat the process.

You basically just move around the balance, but you show a history of paying off cards...Said this increases your credit rating, and subsequently your credit limits.

Is this true?

The average age of your accounts reported are considered in your credit report. Consistantly having accounts that aren't open long may hurt your credit score.

[sr240mike]

Pick up Suze Ormans, Money Book for the Young, Fabulous and Broke, it has all the info you need on building credit and how to use your credit cards wisely.

[Doriftomodachi]

Sykik, maybe you can help me with a rumor I heard.

This guy told me, that if you get a credit card, run up a moderate balance. THEN, when you get an offer for a lower interest rate, apply for that card, and PAY OFF the balance of the other card, then close account. When you get another offer for a lower interest card, repeat the process.

You basically just move around the balance, but you show a history of paying off cards...Said this increases your credit rating, and subsequently your credit limits.

Is this true?

While this does indeed pay off a credit card, it opens up a new credit card so there is no elimination of liability. Paying off credit cards consistently (such as every month like in my example) will max out your credit score because: 1.You are paying off debt consistently, and 2. you are using the cards in a responsible manner

Things that max out credit scores:

1. Paying off debt
2. Using credit in a responsible way
3. Having a history of responsible credit activity.

I have seen people with a 590 score jump to a 680 in 5-6 months by doing the above.

[SoCalS14]

Right on, thats what I do, but it was a rumor I heard about.

[s13gonwild]

thanks alot guys now i got an idea of how i can start.

[West]

Sykik, maybe you can help me with a rumor I heard.

This guy told me, that if you get a credit card, run up a moderate balance. THEN, when you get an offer for a lower interest rate, apply for that card, and PAY OFF the balance of the other card, then close account. When you get another offer for a lower interest card, repeat the process.

You basically just move around the balance, but you show a history of paying off cards...Said this increases your credit rating, and subsequently your credit limits.

Is this true?

Possibly do that to get a lower interest rate card, but no card will be low interest forever, they will find some way to increase it, at least if you at or near the limit.

The longer you have an well established credit history with a company the better it is represented in terms of what people look at when they look up your credit.

[sr240mike]

Possibly do that to get a lower interest rate card, but no card will be low interest forever, they will find some way to increase it, at least if you at or near the limit.


The way they get to increase it is if you miss a payment. Thats where they get a lot of people with the 0% finance for a year offers. Miss one payment and bam 17%. Never ever get a cash advance. If you do you'll have to pay off what you owe on the credit card before you can start paying the cash advance off which can be as high as 20+%.

[sykikchimp]

Sykik, maybe you can help me with a rumor I heard.

This guy told me, that if you get a credit card, run up a moderate balance. THEN, when you get an offer for a lower interest rate, apply for that card, and PAY OFF the balance of the other card, then close account. When you get another offer for a lower interest card, repeat the process.

You basically just move around the balance, but you show a history of paying off cards...Said this increases your credit rating, and subsequently your credit limits.

Is this true?

BAD idea.. opening and closing credit accounts frequently also lowers your FICO.

silviadriver - as i said earlier.. Credit card companies report your credit more frequently when they are making money off you. It's sort of like paying for better credit. As long as you keep your balance low, you finance charges will only be a couple bucks at most.

[matlock]

I made a dumb mistake I moved out of my rents house and got a job and thought hey i'll get a card for emergencies and I applied for like 3 not knowing that that is bad, and now I have all these stupd inquiries on my report I don't have bad credit I just have only inquiries so I don't know what to do to get a foot in the right direction any suggestions? I was not made aware of this until a couple weekends ago when I went to buy a car I had a decent down payment and the dealer told me that I have only inquiries and that hurts me, how can I get past this. I am kind of pissed haha.

[rcsmith01]

Whatever you do just pay those bills. You never want bad credit. Luckily mine is good now, I bought a house and it shot waaaaaaaaaaay up.

My first credit card was a student visa. i was too irresponsible back then and played the credit game. I'll tell you payback was a bitch!

[Yoshi]

dunno if anyone posted this (i'm feeling lazy), but there's some good info here:
http://www.zilvia.net/f/showthread.php?t=74222&highlight=credit

[SilviaDriver]

silviadriver - as i said earlier.. Credit card companies report your credit more frequently when they are making money off you. It's sort of like paying for better credit. As long as you keep your balance low, you finance charges will only be a couple bucks at most.

aaah gotcha thanks for the tip!

[G_Fish240]

I got a college CC from my bank to, it sucks because my limit is only 500 but it has a stupid low APR and no annual fee, plus the minimum is 15 dollars but I always pay more then that.

[NI_YON_Zenki]

I'm telling all of you. Don't try to go out, buy shit. and think you're going to hold on that job you have now, paying for it all. Cause you're stil young' youngin' so try to get all those parts you want off yah parents, and not your's, until' you REALLY need too use that plastic. Real Talk.

[Yoshi]

I'm telling all of you. Don't try to go out, buy shit. and think you're going to hold on that job you have now, paying for it all. Cause you're stil young' youngin' so try to get all those parts you want off yah parents, and not your's, until' you REALLY need too use that plastic. Real Talk.

http://www.userfriendly.org/illiad/wtf.jpg

...and how old are you exactly?
How can you expect people to take you seriously when your grammar looks like it came from someone who dropped out of jr. high? I'm not trying to knock you, but you really can't expect people to take whole "condescending-voice-of-experience" thing to heart when it's difficult to even translate your post to english.

[crioten]

how can you get your fico score? also, will it look like an inquiry?

whats considered enough of a fico score (usually) to get a car loan?

whats the normal fico score of a 19 yr old or a 21 yr old?

[Yoshi]

you can get your FICO from any number of places, just google "free credit report". It's (edit: I said "not", that was a type-o, sorry!) NOW the law that you can get 1 free credit report per year.

Score? now that's something else entirely. Age really has no bearing, as least not compared to other factors, it's not like insurance. Your income, revolving debt (credit cards, loans etc, but NOT student loans... that's considered "good" debt... kinda like "good" cholesterol hahaha), and equities (stocks/bonds/cars/property), and all the history connected therein are the largest factors.

60 days late on your electric bill? They know.
Paid $200 on your visa, even tho your min. payment was $50? They know.
FICO is a big cumulative score of your financial responsibility, and thus it's possible to have a score of 780 and be 18 if you're parents died and left you the house, their cars, and no real debt.

for most people tho, it's a slow process of building credit, and somethiing like 80% of people under 25 get themselves over their head in debt. Hell, my brother in law is 32 and he's declared bankruptcy twice just so he wouldn't have to pay his bills, sure his credit is fuct for the next 8 years, but he got away with not paying something like 40k in consumer debt alone *shrug*.

I was in that 80% when I was younger, but if I could go back I'd do this:
save save save! get a big wad of cash... now... ready for this? apply for a visa with a decent intro APR, they're polly screw you on your first card, so don't expect to get better than 17% after whatever intro offer they throw at u. Ready? Max that fucker out....well not completely, leave yourself some breathing room, say 15% when the first bill comes, triple your minimum payment... but NEVER let your debt exceed your cash on hand. Do this for several months and I'll bet even $ they even offer u a higher max, take it but don't use it for god sakes... you're just trying to build credit. As long as u have a balance and constant activity (buying AND paying off) it looks good to them, they're making $ off you right? what's not to like :) It's important NOT to pay off the whole balance (unless you have an american express, in which case, u don't have a choice)... what you're showing is budgetting responsiblity, or at least that's what they think. This concludes building your credit - beginner level 1a :P hahaha

[WanganRunner]

There's a lot of bad advice circulating around in this thread.....

Firstly, it does NOT help your credit to charge lots of stuff and then pay it all off at the end of the month. What helps your credit is CARRYING A BALANCE, because only by carrying a balance and making regular payments can you demonstrate to the credit companies that you're capable of steadily paying down debt and offering them a consistent income stream, which is what they want.

Secondly, do NOT go around closing out credit cards. Don't wantonly transfer balances either, I mean, if you HAVE to, then do it, but it's always better to try and ask your current credit company for a better rate. When you close a card out, all the credit history behind it disappears, which is TERRIBLE for your credit. You want to leave those cards open. I'll be totally paying off my Bank of America Visa this month, leaving only my Chase Mastercard, but I won't close the Visa, because it has 2 years of valuable credit history on it.

NOTE: Yoshi is also giving very good advice, listen to him.

[crioten]

student loans dont help your credit score? weird...

i dont have the best responsibility when it comes to using credit cards, but i ALWAYS make sure to pay the minimum on them... now ill start paying 3 times the bare minimum.

another question: will a loan with a co sign (say on a car) help your credit? will it hurt your parrents? or kinda do nothing? lol

[sr240mike]

Start off with www.Annualcreditreport.com and check your credit report with the big 3 companies. You are given one free credit report form each company annually. If everything looks good you can order your FICO score from any of the 3, or all 3 for around $20. I just got mine yesterday and have a 755. Pretty good. Then I called all my credit card companies and told them that since I have made all my payments I deserve to have my interest rates dropped and my limit raised. Every single company agreed by dropping my rates almost 4 points, and raised my limits. READ THE MONEY BOOK FOR THE YOUNG FABULOUS AND BROKE it will help you out greatly with credit and paying off debt.