Current Events > what is a good credit card for a beginner?

(+) Yeah! (+)

mainly I need to improve my credit (I'm 28 with no credit). preferably no fees. wouldn't mind travel benefits but I'm not expecting that as I don't really want to pay annual fees. credit history is the number one priority here.

seems like discover IT secured is the best way to go, although I hate having to pay a $200 deposit.

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high APR and an annual fee

thats what you want

Why did you wait until now to start building credit?

Any CC as long as you pay it in full every month. Start small with basic purchases like groceries and gas.

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A secured card is good bet if you have no credit. If you're a member of a local credit union they might be willing to give you a normal credit card too. That's how I got my first one.

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Get one with a free and easy reward system. Something like Chase Freedom with a 1.5% reward works well for your first card.

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If you can't get a credit normally secured may be your only option for now

And Discover It is good

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Fossil posted...

Why did you wait until now to start building credit?

I didn't see a reason to build credit. Still don't, to be honest. But might be useful for the future.

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Amazon prime Visa id you have prime.
Or your local credit union. Ask about a credit building plan. Mine had all kinds of info on it as well as offers.

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Poop2 posted...

high APR and an annual fee

thats what you want

Why homie

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pojr posted...

Why homie

because this is america and citizens are debt-slaves

welcome

foxhound101 posted...

Get one with a free and easy reward system. Something like Chase Freedom with a 1.5% reward works well for your first card.

Well I do have Chase for my debit card, so that might be a good option

Damn_Underscore posted...

If you can't get a credit normally secured may be your only option for now

And Discover It is good

Discover IT was one of the first ones I considered. I guess I shouldn't be too mad about $200 because I do get it back when I cancel

Middle hope posted...

Amazon prime Visa id you have prime.
Or your local credit union. Ask about a credit building plan. Mine had all kinds of info on it as well as offers.

As a matter of fact I do have prime.

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Discover IT for sure. It's what I started with many years ago with literally no credit.

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Start with Chase Freedom Unlimited. 3x points for dinning, 1.5x points for everything else.

Once your credit gets better, get a Chase Sapphire Preferred to transfer your points into UR points and use it for travel.

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Alright so I will probably sound like a moron

I looked up Chase freedom unlimited. It says "3% on dining at restaurants, including takeout and eligible delivery service"

So that means if I dine at a restaurant, and the bill is $100, and I pay it with my Chase freedom unlimited card, I will get $3 back?

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300 of their points I think

That Chase card is not cash back

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pojr posted...

All right so I miss sound like a moron

I looked up Chase freedom unlimited. It says "3% on dining at restaurants, including takeout and eligible delivery servicessame page link to offer details reference"

So that means if I dine at a restaurant, and the bill is $100, and I pay it with my Chase freedom unlimited card, I will get $3 back?

Yes. Make sure it's not a limited time thing though, and see what you get on other purchases. If you get nothing from other purchases, it might not be worth it (depending on of course how much you spend at restaurants vs others)

Edit. Maybe not, seeing the post above

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Damn_Underscore posted...

300 of their points I think

That Chase card is not cash back

oh so it's strictly points then. whatever you can do with their points, probably not much


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pojr posted...

oh so it's strictly points then. whatever you can do with their points, probably not much

Actually now that I think about it you can redeem the points for $0.01 per point value IIRC. It's just that they are more worth it to redeem for travel rewards (although traveling isn't really a thing now obviously)

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Damn_Underscore posted...

Actually now that I think about it you can redeem the points for $0.01 per point value IIRC. It's just that they are more worth it to redeem for travel rewards (although traveling isn't really a thing now obviously)

right, well said

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So I went on the chase website. I figured it's something you can just apply for, so that's what I did. I didn't realize that as soon as you are approved, you automatically sign up by default. I figured you just applied and then could choose whether you accept the invitation or not. I'm a dumbass >_> so guess what, I've been approved for a Chase freedom unlimited card. Since I have chase already, I do enjoy having it "all in 1"
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oh nice that's a really good card.

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just curious, could I pay my phone bill would this as a starter? or is that kinda pointless? doesn't look like there's any points back for phone bill payment.

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Honestly, if you dont care about points, get a low interest card from your bank and pay it in full. I have a credit score in the 800s and I dont worry about points.

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SamsungGearS2 posted...

Honestly, if you dont care about points, get a low interest card from your bank and pay it in full. I have a credit score in the 800s and I dont worry about points.

Good point. I care very little about points. I'm mainly care about the credit score being good.

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SamsungGearS2 posted...

Honestly, if you dont care about points, get a low interest card from your bank and pay it in full. I have a credit score in the 800s and I dont worry about points.

If you are paying in full consistently then interest rate doesnt matter.

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Son Of Spam posted...

If you are paying in full consistently then interest rate doesnt matter.

I was looking it up and apparently if you want your credit score to go up, you should not simply pay your bills when you get them, instead you should do payment plans and incur some interest rates of some kind.

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pojr posted...

Good point. I care very little about points. I'm mainly care about the credit score being good.

If you're going to use them though it may as well be one that offers decent points/cash back. I pretty much use my cards for all of my spend nowadays.

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Prismsblade posted...

If you're going to use them though it may as well be one that offers decent points/cash back. I pretty much use my cards for all of my spend nowadays.

Sounds like you have multiple credit cards. I hear that's a thing, especially in the Reddit community. People will sign up for multiple credit cards and use them each during specific times. Although I think it's brilliant to do, for me I'm a beginner and I know I would probably fuck myself over at some point. I'm just too uneducated to do something like that.

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pojr posted...

I was looking it up and apparently if you want your credit score to go up, you should not simply pay your bills when you get them, instead you should do payment plans and incur some interest rates of some kind.

Since you already have Chase just setup your account to automatically pay off the balance once a month. Don't do anything silly like purposely keeping a balance and paying fees on it. Paying off the balance contributes way more than any utilization scoring.


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Pay off your balance in full each month. You want to avoid incurring interest at any cost. Your credit score will be fine.

pojr posted...

Sounds like you have multiple credit cards. I hear that's a thing, especially in the Reddit community. People will sign up for multiple credit cards and use them each during specific times. Although I think it's brilliant to do, for me I'm a beginner and I know I would probably fuck myself over at some point. I'm just too uneducated to do something like that.

Yeah, I juggle 10+ cards to maximize points, take advantage of 0% transfer offers, etc. But Im also an accountant so tracking that kind of shit is my job.

Best thing when starting off is to always pay in full, never charge more than you can afford, and never get a card with an annual fee.


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pojr posted...

I was looking it up and apparently if you want your credit score to go up, you should not simply pay your bills when you get them, instead you should do payment plans and incur some interest rates of some kind.

I'm not sure you want to paid extra money for a few extra credit points. Just use your card for everything, and paid it off at the end of the week. I did this for my first year of using credit card, and my score jump from lows 700s to the high 700s. After 2 years, I'm in the mid 800s, and it's been there ever since.

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I'm 31 in a few months and I'm still just using a debit card, so this topic is good for me to look through.

Never really had problems with large loans in the past but better credit is always a good thing.

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pojr posted...

Sounds like you have multiple credit cards. I hear that's a thing, especially in the Reddit community. People will sign up for multiple credit cards and use them each during specific times. Although I think it's brilliant to do, for me I'm a beginner and I know I would probably fuck myself over at some point. I'm just too uneducated to do something like that.

That's call churring, and I feel that subreddit goes super extreme in their method. I have 3 main cards that pretty much gets me all the points I need.

Chase Freedom Unlimited: My everyday card. Using it gives me 1.5% for everything. They actually bumped dinning to 3% recently, and that made me use it even more. No annual fee makes this my favorite card.
Chase Freedom: This is for special purchases depending on the quarter categories. For this Oct-Dec, purchases using Paypal or Walmart gets me 5%. Note that categories change every quarter, and sometimes that quarter sucks. But it has no annual fee, so no point in canceling it.
Chase Freedom Sapphire: For traveling internationally and car rental insurances. It covered me when my rental window got smashed from a break in, and I didn't pay a cent. It lets me pool all my earn points from the 3 cards together for travel purchases. You can also transfer those points to certain airlines, and use them as miles. Dining is also 2%, but it got beaten by the Chase Freedom Unlimited recently so I don't use it as much now. This one has a $95 annual fee though.

I also have a Target Redcard for 5% off since I shop at Target alot, but that is just a debit card so it has no affect on my credit. I also have an AMEX and Discover card, but I don't use it anymore and it has no annual fee.

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andrewl923 posted...

I'm not sure you want to paid extra money for a few extra credit points. Just use your card for everything, and paid it off at the end of the week. I did this for my first year of using credit card, and my score jump from lows 700s to the high 700s. After 2 years, I'm in the mid 800s, and it's been there ever since.

Good point, besides I would rather have great credit than perfect credit if it meant paying extra for no good reason


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Freedom Unlimited is my favorite card

It's the only cash back card that lets me redeem cashback no matter how much it is. The rest I need to build up like $25 to use

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mrgoatthief posted...

p

look, goatthief didn't post a Pokemon at the end of his message, take a picture everyone

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Malcrasternus posted...

I'm 31 in a few months and I'm still just using a debit card, so this topic is good for me to look through.

Never really had problems with large loans in the past but better credit is always a good thing.

I can see where you're coming from. Me personally, I've never owned anything before. I rent an apartment, never owned a car (I've always taken public transportation), never owned a house or anything. but might as well take a tiny step in order to improve my credit, it doesn't seem that hard to do

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Ex-Kefiroth posted...

Did your Chase Freedom Unlimited come with the $200 bonus offer?

I think they're still doing that.

Could be wrong, but I don't think so. I noticed that promo where, if you spend $500 in the first 6 months, I think you get like a hundred bucks or something

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pojr posted...

Could be wrong, but I don't think so. I noticed that promo where, if you spend $500 in the first 6 months, I think you get like a hundred bucks or something

I'm pretty sure the currant promo is $200 after spending $500 within 3 months. This can be easily done if you use your card for every purchases.

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Capital One Quicksilver or any cashback either a yearly fee. You can do one with a security deposit but usually those need more put down.
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andrewl923 posted...

I'm pretty sure the currant promo is $200 after spending $500 within 3 months. This can be easily done if you use your card for every purchases.

cool, I'm paying my rent with my credit card then. easy way to get it up there

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Been using BoA's cash rewards. It's not amazing rewards but it I generally get some for online purchases. Main incentive is just because I was already with BoA.

Make purchase, watch for balance end of week, pay off.

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Check out Petal

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