24 Looking to build Credit... What are some good tips on your first Credit Card

@NazDrowie  if no other changes have occurred such as hard pulls, increased utilization, adding of CCs, etc then the drop is due to paying off the loan.
Don't worry about it. Paying off loans do cause scores to drop. 
 
Naw yall seeing things wrong... carrying a balance is fine if your APR is 0%

Working off the last cpl grand of my ering... no finance charges paid papi..

If i have more than a few hundred left to pay in decemember when my 0% expires ill roll whatevers left into a 0% balance transfer deal and get 12 more months. Shrug.

Not to mention cash offers. Cash back and travel perks.... play to win the game
 
Great thread! 
smokin.gif


A couple of questions out of curiosity:
  1. For your first credit card, what was your limit? 
  2. If I use 10% of my credit line, and that gets put on my statement for due payment, if I pay it off before the due date, will I be at 10% utilization, or 0% utilization? Also, paying it off on time means I'm not carrying a balance, correct? It's just a bit confusing. I REFUSE to pay interest for a better credit score. Why would I voluntarily give them more money 
    indifferent.gif
    ?? 
Thanks! 
happy.gif
 
Great thread! :smokin

A couple of questions out of curiosity:

  1. For your first credit card, what was your limit? 
  2. If I use 10% of my credit line, and that gets put on my statement for due payment, if I pay it off before the due date, will I be at 10% utilization, or 0% utilization? Also, paying it off on time means I'm not carrying a balance, correct? It's just a bit confusing. I REFUSE to pay interest for a better credit score. Why would I voluntarily give them more money :stoneface: ?? 

Thanks! :D


My first card was Discover in '06, and I believe my limit was initially 2g's.

Having a balance = credit being utilized

Having no balance = credit not being utilized.

Thus, if you pay off your balance, your utilization will indeed be at 0%; but that's just for that one card. If you have a balance on other cards, your total credit utilization > 0%

I'm a big proponent of paying off a balance, in its entirety, by the payment due date. I don't believe in the "carrying a balance will improve your credit score" b.s...:lol:...it's foolish to give your CCcompany free money.







...
 
Last edited:
I signed up for Credit Karma today and saw I had a 650 credit score... But I never moved with anything but my debit card with the occasional swipe as credit. I also saw my students loans are on display but they haven't started yet. What gives, how's this possible? My fam told me everyone starts fairly high and it's your job not to mess it up. Is this the position I'm in?
 
Brah's here's my situation:

Opened a BoA Credit Card about a year ago. 0% interest deal.....until next month....

I have a $950 balance WHICH I will be paying off before next month....

Is it bad that i've been paying the minimum payment every month ($25) and gonna be paying off the whole sum on 1 go?

Where should I go from here now that the interest payments are gonna start kicking in? I'm guessing stay within 1/3 of total credit line and pay it off every month so no interest accrues.

School me if i'm wrong and school me in how I leverage this to more credit or boosting my credit.

:pimp:
 
 
Great thread! 
smokin.gif


A couple of questions out of curiosity:
  1. For your first credit card, what was your limit? 
  2. If I use 10% of my credit line, and that gets put on my statement for due payment, if I pay it off before the due date, will I be at 10% utilization, or 0% utilization? Also, paying it off on time means I'm not carrying a balance, correct? It's just a bit confusing. I REFUSE to pay interest for a better credit score. Why would I voluntarily give them more money 
    indifferent.gif
    ?? 
Thanks! 
happy.gif
1. Discover, $500 limit for a student IT card, but had a credit limit increase to $750 limit now.

2. Yes, if you use 10% of your CL, then that's 10% UTIL.

ALWAYS PAY OFF YOUR BALANCE. Your credit score will drop for not paying off your balance. Had a friend who tried to keep a balance because he heard that was a strategy to keep his credit score increasing since creditors wanted to see ability to pay off debt. He was incredibly wrong and his credit score started going to poop.

Paying off your balance is literally one of the factors that is reported on your credit report that affects your credit score.

Best forum for anything credit, loans, etc. = http://ficoforums.myfico.com/
 
Last edited:
Brah's here's my situation:

Opened a BoA Credit Card about a year ago. 0% interest deal.....until next month....

I have a $950 balance WHICH I will be paying off before next month....

Is it bad that i've been paying the minimum payment every month ($25) and gonna be paying off the whole sum on 1 go?

Where should I go from here now that the interest payments are gonna start kicking in? I'm guessing stay within 1/3 of total credit line and pay it off every month so no interest accrues.

School me if i'm wrong and school me in how I leverage this to more credit or boosting my credit.

pimp.gif
I believe it's bad to keep a balance. It negatively effects your credit score. It's not bad that you're paying it off, the faster you can pay it off, the better, so paying it off in one sum is good imo. So even though you didn't accrue any interest on your balance, by keep a balance at all, your credit score may have taken a huge hit from not paying off your balance for so long.

Yes, the rule of thumb is to only have up to 30% UTIL on each card and always have at most a 30% debt to income ratio. 

I would recommend you to check your credit report on annualcreditreport.com. You get one free annual credit report per three big major bureaus and they give you a run down on what's hurting your credit and the status of it, but it DOES NOT give you your FICO score. You can try sites like Credit Karma, Credit Sesame, etc. that provides a FAKO score which gives you a rough estimate of one of your FICO's. They're not necessarily accurate.

It's not too hard to build back up your credit as long as it hasn't went to poop yet, especially if you have existing credit and credit cards. Just continue to use your credit wisely and continue to pay it off in a timely manner (every month). Depending on how desperate you are and how fast you need to build it back up, there are things like credit builder loans,etc. that a lot of people use to help boost their credit score.
 
Last edited:
Brah's here's my situation:

Opened a BoA Credit Card about a year ago. 0% interest deal.....until next month....

I have a $950 balance WHICH I will be paying off before next month....

Is it bad that i've been paying the minimum payment every month ($25) and gonna be paying off the whole sum on 1 go?

Where should I go from here now that the interest payments are gonna start kicking in? I'm guessing stay within 1/3 of total credit line and pay it off every month so no interest accrues.

School me if i'm wrong and school me in how I leverage this to more credit or boosting my credit.

:pimp:
It's annoying to have to send $25 every month will end up taking months to pay off that way. Fully clear it off and be done with it.
 
I signed up for Credit Karma today and saw I had a 650 credit score... But I never moved with anything but my debit card with the occasional swipe as credit. I also saw my students loans are on display but they haven't started yet. What gives, how's this possible? My fam told me everyone starts fairly high and it's your job not to mess it up. Is this the position I'm in?
Credit Karma provides a FAKO score which is a rough estimate of your FICO score. It's not necessarily accurate. Your starting credit can vary depending on your first 6 months of reporting with your first account, so not everyone starts high. What you have is possible. But it is Impossible for anyone to know why your score is like that unless you give us a better understanding of your credit report. We need to know things like have you had any baddies (anything negative reporting on your account, ex. late payment, not being able to pay off your balance) and how many hard inquiries/ hard pulls you have? There's many factors that affect your credit score.

After the first 6 months of my first account reporting, my TU FICO score started at 706. Two months later, it's now at 734. I have a Discover IT card and it's convienent because they allow you to check your FICO for free, and Discover uses the TU 08 model.

Best place for anything involving credit: http://ficoforums.myfico.com/

Would recommend you to check it out and find out more on there to have a better understanding to improve your situation.
 
Last edited:
Great thread! :smokin

A couple of questions out of curiosity:

  1. For your first credit card, what was your limit? 
  2. If I use 10% of my credit line, and that gets put on my statement for due payment, if I pay it off before the due date, will I be at 10% utilization, or 0% utilization? Also, paying it off on time means I'm not carrying a balance, correct? It's just a bit confusing. I REFUSE to pay interest for a better credit score. Why would I voluntarily give them more money :stoneface: ?? 

Thanks! :D

First unsecured card limit was 15K my downfall of 2014 lol.
Pay your card off a few days before it is due it will report a $0 balance.
 
Is the Discover IT card worth it for the FICO score they provide every statement? That sounds appealing, as well as the rewards.
First unsecured card limit was 15K my downfall of 2014 lol.
Pay your card off a few days before it is due it will report a $0 balance.
What card was that? Does it have an annual fee?
 
Is the Discover IT card worth it for the FICO score they provide every statement? That sounds appealing, as well as the rewards.



What card was that? Does it have an annual fee?
Discover IT is worth it for the 0% Balance Transfers the alone imo the FICO score is a great bonus, and it's a real TU FICO not a FAKO.

The card was Navy Federal's Cash Reward card 1.5% cash back no annual fee. Looking to open up a 15K checking line of credit and maybe another card with them after I close on my home.
 
Last edited:
 
Is the Discover IT card worth it for the FICO score they provide every statement? That sounds appealing, as well as the rewards.



What card was that? Does it have an annual fee?
Discover IT is worth it for the 0% Balance Transfers the alone imo the FICO score is a great bonus, and it's a real TU FICO not a FAKO.

The card was Navy Federal's Cash Reward card 1.5% cash back no annual fee. Looking to open up a 15K checking line of credit and maybe another card with them after I close on my home.
Nice, it's actually a real TU FICO score. 0% balance transfers sounds good, but I guess I don't know when I would use the balance transfers if I know and plan on paying every month in full. I think they are still doing double cash back for the first year too.

I'm tempted to get Discover IT, but I finally applied for my first credit card about a month ago and got instantly approved (yay!
smile.gif
) for a very good credit card at a higher than expected CL. The card is very similar to the Discover IT. How long should I wait until I apply for the Discover IT card, or can I do it now?

Do I have to be in the Navy/military to get a Navy Federal Cash Reward card?
 
Last edited:
How come capital one sent me a card and said after 5 payments of minimum or more they would raise my CL? But still hasn't happened
 
@KMante Yes to join NFCU you must be active or retired military, dependent,federal government employee, or live with a NFCU member. You only have 1 inquiry you can apply now if you like .

@Hoosier Bad Boy 11 credit will most likely drop.
 
Last edited:
Quick question..

If I make a CC payment the day before/the day its due but payment doesn't post until they day after it was due is that considered late?
 
Last edited:
Back
Top Bottom