I hate credit cards!

Yeah.  I don't like credit cards.  I hear so much bad stuff about credit cards that I don't own one nor do I ever want to, except for the Green Dot credit cards.  So, if I'm ordering parts off the Internet, I either have to send a check or pay someone else the cost and use their credit card.  Just a rant.  Lol.

dude, you must learn to harness thet credit card. 

spend some time and learn how to work the system.  learn about your fico score, and how unbeleivably important it is.  showing that you can use a credit card responsibly is a huge part of getting a good fico score.

The best rule to follow is to never charge more than you can pay off every month.  Now, there are exceptions (0% rates, stuff like that), but you should never, ever carry a balance, unless its part of a promotional rate that you are specifically taking advantage of.

We got a card with a low credit limit specifically for our kids.  It was sorta convenient, but mostly I think it tought them to be responsible.  We got in their face every month & they had to pay us every cent of that month's bill.
 
We know some people who have just UNBELIEVABLE amounts of credit-card debt.  Seems like they don't really understand the concept of actually having to pay for what they charged.
 

use paypal. they can direct transfer from your bank account (plus the majority of websites accept them). or get a visa debit card. they withdraw directly from your checking account and are accepted anywhere visa is (if someone steals it, there is a PIN # they have to know to use it )

Cool.  I didn't know PayPal could transfer directly from my bank account.  Does this mean I have to have a checking account for that to work?  Lol.  All I have is a savings account right now.

no it can be savings. Mine is.

its the visa debit card that has to be checking.

I guess you don't want to ever own a house and want to pay ridiculous amounts whenever you borrow money to buy a new car.  I love credit cards personally.  I usually only a have a few bucks on me just for emergencies and otherwise pay w/ my credit card and rack up the points for gift certificates on amazon. 

Just pay off your balance at the end of the month and you will be golden.  It's very simple.

Yup credit car is a must. You need to build up your credit score for future loans. I'm 19 and already got my score to 750 the last time I checked which was couple months ago. Credit cards are great as long as you pay off your balance every month. Debit cards are ok but they dont help your credit score nor do they offer protection from identity theft. Also be careful with those no interest for a year cards. You might spend too much since you don't have to pay off your balance every month.

IMO everyone should have at least one credit card in case of an emergency.  I have several.  I only use mine if I really need to.  Ex: medical bills, car repairs I can't DIY.

i charge the p*ss out of everything, but I pay it off every month.  points are great.

AMEX has covered my butt pretty well in several situations.   a friend of mine recently got into a wreck in a rental.  AMEX paid whatever his own insurance wouldnt cover (the decudtible in this case).  I have also used AMEX to extend warranties on products.  There are a lot of good reasons for using cc.  You jjust have to have the self control to use it properly.

quote:

ORIGINAL: smaglik

i charge the p*ss out of everything, but I pay it off every month.  points are great.

AMEX has covered my butt pretty well in several situations.   a friend of mine recently got into a wreck in a rental.  AMEX paid whatever his own insurance wouldnt cover (the decudtible in this case).  I have also used AMEX to extend warranties on products.  There are a lot of good reasons for using cc.  You jjust have to have the self control to use it properly.

I gota ask my dad for my AMEX card then. Got me one that is shared with his name but never gave be the card. Do you know about AMEX wishlist event that goes on twice a year? Had some great deals. Even had 3 2007 Porsche Cayman for 5k. Those were 3 very lucky people. BTW what CC do you think has the best reward points system?

You need a card in your name only if you want to build your credit score.  It won't help if the card has your name on it but is under your dad's account.  They should start you out with something with a low limit like $250 or $500.

I don't have any CC's.  I have 2 debit cards though.   For credit score, I have a forever loan (aka. student loan).  My SL is 3.65% APR, so it is lower than inflation.  This means that by not paying it off early, I save money! 

Soon I will also have a debit and CC for my LLC, but that's not for personal use.  I guess the CC could be used for an emergency, but I keep a buffer in the debit/checking accounts.

quote:

ORIGINAL: 00AccordLX5spd

You need a card in your name only if you want to build your credit score.  It won't help if the card has your name on it but is under your dad's account.  They should start you out with something with a low limit like $250 or $500.

Dad got me the AMEX with his name because of the higher credit limit. I do have 2 others in my name alone. They started me with $600 for my first card. Second card was $1100. For some reason my first card raised its limit to $1100 after I got my second card. Then shortly after that the second card went to $1600. I wanted one card with a low limit for me to use most of the time without worrying about losing it and not reporting it in time. Can I ask them to lower my credit limit?

I'd imagine that you could.  Why not get rid of one card?  It's not good to apply to too many cards .... including store and gas cards.  To the credit companies, it makes you look desparate for money, aka- a risk to them.  Also, every credit check to get these cards lowers your score a few points.  This does not apply to debit cards.

Well I never use the card under my dad's name it's just there in case I need to pay for something really expensive. I got my second CC because it offered one year no interest. So I basicly only use the 2 CC that I have under my name. I probably will never get any of those stores or gas cards because I can always get my parents to use theirs for the discount. I know it's not good to own too many CC but I think having 5 or fewer cards that use usually use won't hurt your credit score.

I don't check my credit score (I know I should) but I have 2 personal visa cards (1 with 1st financial bank USA - got when I was in college, and 1 Chase Visa Platinum I just got last month) and I have a Best Buy card (gotta love no interest/same as cash for big ticket items like washer/dryer and refrigerator) and I have the company Trustmark Visa card trough my work (I don't pay this bill, the company I work for does.)
So I guess technically I have 4.  I use my debit card or paypal for online purchases.  Gotta be careful though - I have already had my Debit card info stolen online once....big headache

quote:

ORIGINAL: 00AccordLX5spd

You need a card in your name only if you want to build your credit score.  It won't help if the card has your name on it but is under your dad's account.  They should start you out with something with a low limit like $250 or $500.

Sorry if I am double posting this over someone else but if the card is in his name and his dads name then it will report on his credit and help him.  Joint accounts mean that you both get credit for the account (good or bad), that's how a first time borrower can use a co-signer to get their credit rating up. 

As for having multiple cards the only way that really hurts your credit is if you have really high limits on all of them (even if it's a 0 balance).  It just shows up as to large of a liability and docs your score a bit.  The important thing is that the first credit card you ever get, always keep that account open, even if you NEVER use it, so it shows a good long history of revolving credit accounts.

Credit checks to get a card generally speaking won't hurt your credit more than a few points (if that).  CC companies use a different style of credit check that doesn't have to be reported all the time.  If you apply for like 8 credit cards in one month each a few days apart then it will hurt you a lot more than applying for 8 cards in the same day.

I stand corrected.  I guess I was told wrong then.  I can't remember who told me that the account itself had to be in your name and not someone else's with your name on the card.  If I knew who it was I would teabag them.  I know sir_nasty knows more about credit than I do as he is in the car business and likely has to check people's credit often.

The credit check for a CC is called a soft credit check and it cost about 2-3 points per instance.  A new CC per year isn't a problem as long as you don't keep outstanding balances.  As for keeping the 1st card, real good idea, but I just don't like CC's!  Like I mentioned, credit cards are not the only way to boost credit.  My student loan on automatic fund withdraw currently shows a 5 year history without any late payments ...... my score as a result is over 750.  In addition, the car loan that I just paid off doesn't hurt either.

You're right on the soft checks to a degree.  If you run multiple checks in a short time frame the credit companies see that as shoping for a card/rate and don't "ding" your credit as much as if you have multiple inquires over a period of time.  As for loans something to keep in mind is that sometimes a loan less than 6 months won't show up.  Keep all your loans for at least 6 months and it helps, an easy way to boost your credit is before paying cash for something get a loan on it, direct deduct the payments for 7-8 months then pay off the balance.  You'll pay a bit in interest but it helps boost your score. and a lot of banks like to see at least 3 years of credit history from loans so 5 years is great. 

6 months is enough to keep the loan?  I thought it was a year.

i wouldnt ask to lower your credit limit unless it is exhorbitantly high.  Another item that goes into the FICO score is your debt:limit ratio.  If you charge about $300 each month, you dont want your credit limit to be $300, cause it shows you maxing out your limit every month, regardless of the small dollar value.

Never thought of that!  Good thing I never come close to my credit limit.  Never thought to even take that into consideration.  That sucks for people with low credit limits then.

msn has a whole bunch of stuff on it...i was readin it over the weekend....taking that, and adding to the fact that I post whore'd here over the weekend, it was rather uneventful.