Credit from nothing

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fred sanford

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Carrying a balance is a con to your credit score, and a pro to the company providing the card. They want that interest. If you want a good score, pay it off. If you want larger limits, which can help score as well down the road, you should carry a small balance to start.
 

Khane

Got something right about marriage
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If you want larger limits on a single card get a better paying job and have less available credit overall. Carrying a balance doesn't get you larger limits... where do you guys hear this shit?
 

Koushirou

Log Wizard
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Took me about 8 years to get my score out of the 500 shitter and to 750 but I got my first CC a few years ago from Best Buy when we got a new TV for Christmas and did the 18mo financing off it. After that, just used it for paying off gas for the car every month. PayPal credit was helpful too as it has 6mo financing on anything over $100. took a while but just paying those fuckers every month in full or before the financing wore off got me a steady increase.

Fuck ever carrying a balance though. I only did it once on a big purchase I had to put on the CC and couldn’t pay off immediately. Paid half of it and the rest the next month, lost 50 score immediately and took 2 years to get those points back.
 

Harshaw

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Took me about 8 years to get my score out of the 500 shitter and to 750 but I got my first CC a few years ago from Best Buy when we got a new TV for Christmas and did the 18mo financing off it. After that, just used it for paying off gas for the car every month. PayPal credit was helpful too as it has 6mo financing on anything over $100. took a while but just paying those fuckers every month in full or before the financing wore off got me a steady increase.

Fuck ever carrying a balance though. I only did it once on a big purchase I had to put on the CC and couldn’t pay off immediately. Paid half of it and the rest the next month, lost 50 score immediately and took 2 years to get those points back.


I consistently use those monthly finance things on all my cards. I went from a just under 500 score and getting a $200 dollar credit card from my personal bank. Then got a Best Buy Card and then a Home Depot card. Then a couple other credit cards that I rotate to keep in service. After like 7 years I am almost at 800. My credit had been shit for soo many years cuz I was young and dumb with credit cards in college. :D
 

Koushirou

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Mine was shit because my student loans defaulted when my servicer switched, I wasn’t contacted and the new servicer was given the wrong address for me. Had no idea who, how, or when to pay the shit until I got a call at my dads business telling him they were gonna garnish my wages.
 

Sanrith Descartes

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So in this very capitalist system, there is no way to use money in order for quick gains?

As in paying a loan back faster then scheduled or so?
I'm not sure I understand the question. Paying a loan back faster eliminates interest on the time you cut it short.
 

Sanrith Descartes

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If you want larger limits on a single card get a better paying job and have less available credit overall. Carrying a balance doesn't get you larger limits... where do you guys hear this shit?
In addition, check the cards themselves. Some cards are notorious for giving small spending limits. Others are much more free with caps. And as to getting a better job... truth.
 

Sanrith Descartes

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Once you break 740, getting zero interest cards for 12-18 months teaser are pretty easy. I paid for my daughter's bat mitzvah on my Amex, got the 1.5% cash back and paid it off over 12 months with no interest. 30k over 12 months let me invest that 30k and make some return while Amex loaned me the money interest free.
 

AladainAF

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So yall are correct on the carrying balance part. However, it did not used to be that way. These days its an old wives tale, but having 0 credit utilization on a card was worse than having 1-3% utilization. I think it had to do with the way things were reported in the past, and if you paid it off every month it would basically always report a 0 credit utilization. With tech what it is today, you guys are correct, 0 is the way to go.

If you want larger limits on a single card get a better paying job and have less available credit overall. Carrying a balance doesn't get you larger limits... where do you guys hear this shit?

Carrying a balance doesnt get you larger limits, but using a lot of it during a billing cycle does. Most places wont give you a larger credit limit if you are consistently using <5% of the limit each billing cycle.

I got my first CC a few years ago from Best Buy when we got a new TV for Christmas and did the 18mo financing off it.

lmao, I took best buy for a ride. They had a thing for new card holders where they gave you an option, 18 month 0 interest financing or 5 points per dollar on your first purchase with the card (basically 10% back in points). Most people of course would do the 18 month 0 interest stuff.

Fucking walked into magnolia, and dropped $26,000 on my home theater on it and got black friday covered for the next decade.

Yeah boi.
 
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Omi43221

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So yall are correct on the carrying balance part. However, it did not used to be that way. These days its an old wives tale, but having 0 credit utilization on a card was worse than having 1-3% utilization. I think it had to do with the way things were reported in the past, and if you paid it off every month it would basically always report a 0 credit utilization. With tech what it is today, you guys are correct, 0 is the way to go.



Carrying a balance doesnt get you larger limits, but using a lot of it during a billing cycle does. Most places wont give you a larger credit limit if you are consistently using <5% of the limit each billing cycle.



lmao, I took best buy for a ride. They had a thing for new card holders where they gave you an option, 18 month 0 interest financing or 5 points per dollar on your first purchase with the card (basically 10% back in points). Most people of course would do the 18 month 0 interest stuff.

Fucking walked into magnolia, and dropped $26,000 on my home theater on it and got black friday covered for the next decade.

Yeah boi.

Wait.wait..wait. Uh you spent 26,000 on home theater equipment at Best Buy and they gave you 2600 best buy points and you feel like you took Best Buy for a ride?
 
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BrutulTM

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Everyone else has already said it but all you need to do is get a credit card, charge your bills to it, and have your bank auto pay it every month. I'm 43, haven't borrowed a penny or paid a cent of credit card interest since I was like 23. I have 2 cards that are auto-payed every month and my credit score is over 800. You shouldn't use a debit card online ever unless you really feel that you can't handle the temptation of having a credit card. You have lots of fraud protection with a credit card that you don't have with debit and if some scammer rips you off, they steal your money, not the credit card company's.
 
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Fifey

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I'm backing the paypal credit that was mentioned, I had to rebuild my credit due to the 2008 fiasco and paypal was the first one to give me a line of credit with like a 400something credit score. Got that rolling and then after like a year, was able to get other CCS and now I'm back up in the 700+ range.
 

slippery

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Wait.wait..wait. Uh you spent 26,000 on home theater equipment at Best Buy and they gave you 2600 best buy points and you feel like you took Best Buy for a ride?
He said 5 points per dollar, which would be 130k points. What that actually translates too? Who knows
 
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Oldbased

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He said 5 points per dollar, which would be 130k points. What that actually translates too? Who knows
130000 points would be $2600 certificate for Best Buy. Basically he spent 26 grand. Now can buy a few Best Buy HDMI cables.
 
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ZyyzYzzy

RIP USA
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I never worriesd about credit. Got a CC with a tiny limit in college to buy groceries and then after that a car loan when I got my first job. Think I'm sitting around 750 or 800. I did miss a goddamn payment on a 0% interest CC for our new HVAC system because they randomly changed the due date when Wells Fargo got all fucked up a year or so ago. Still salty about that
 

brekk

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I see you guys talking about Points and Miles, if I cared and focused I'm sure I'd get a better return with those. Personally I am all about cashback cards. In the past 10 years I've probably accrued 5k in cashback across numerous cards, all with 0% APR. Every 15-18 months I sign up for a new card offering 15-18months 0% APR with generally 1.5% cashback, and quarterly 5% promotions. I just hit 1 year on my discover, which matches the entirety of cashback earned in the first 12 months, netted $290. I intentionally put EVERYTHING I can on one active card, it super inflates what they think my spending power is. My previous card I worked on was an Amex Blue Cash, they were super aggressive with the limit increases. I make sub 100k, and by the time I was done working on that card I had a 20k limit. Technically at the moment my available line of credit across all my cards exceeds my income.

Once you accrue a few cards, every 6 months or so, ask for limit increases. Generally without issue, and without credit check you can snag $500-$1500 limit increases per card.

Other tricks, if he's buying anything that he can afford to buy outright with cash, DON'T. I just yelled at my Brother and his fiancee about this. They're both late 20's no credit cards, no student loans, basically no history. They got assistance from her dad to buy a car, so they bought it outright. They should have gotten a loan and paid it off aggressively. When your young the biggest thing that hurts a credit score is lack of data points. If you get one credit card great! You'll build up a score but it won't be stable, it will fluctuate until you have multiple accounts and/or a solid history to validate it all. I told my brother to get a cashback card, the very next month his score went up by 30pts.
 

Sanrith Descartes

Veteran of a thousand threadban wars
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I see you guys talking about Points and Miles, if I cared and focused I'm sure I'd get a better return with those. Personally I am all about cashback cards. In the past 10 years I've probably accrued 5k in cashback across numerous cards, all with 0% APR. Every 15-18 months I sign up for a new card offering 15-18months 0% APR with generally 1.5% cashback, and quarterly 5% promotions. I just hit 1 year on my discover, which matches the entirety of cashback earned in the first 12 months, netted $290. I intentionally put EVERYTHING I can on one active card, it super inflates what they think my spending power is. My previous card I worked on was an Amex Blue Cash, they were super aggressive with the limit increases. I make sub 100k, and by the time I was done working on that card I had a 20k limit. Technically at the moment my available line of credit across all my cards exceeds my income.

Once you accrue a few cards, every 6 months or so, ask for limit increases. Generally without issue, and without credit check you can snag $500-$1500 limit increases per card.

Other tricks, if he's buying anything that he can afford to buy outright with cash, DON'T. I just yelled at my Brother and his fiancee about this. They're both late 20's no credit cards, no student loans, basically no history. They got assistance from her dad to buy a car, so they bought it outright. They should have gotten a loan and paid it off aggressively. When your young the biggest thing that hurts a credit score is lack of data points. If you get one credit card great! You'll build up a score but it won't be stable, it will fluctuate until you have multiple accounts and/or a solid history to validate it all. I told my brother to get a cashback card, the very next month his score went up by 30pts.
This.
Pretty much everything said is spot on. Generally ignore points back and go for straight cash back. The value of points can be relative but the value of cash back is quantifiable. I use a cash back card for my business and personal. Last year between the two I pulled over $2500 cash back and paid zero interest on it. There are enough cash back zero fee cards out there that you just use one for the intro period and then apply for another and just move on to the next when the interest rate kicks in. Or just never leave a balance. Noobs pay interest and fees while raiders just take the free stuff. Don't be a noob.
 

fred sanford

<Gold Donor>
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I'd agree with that. The only thing I'd question would be opening too many cards. If you don't have any then, yes by all means open them in the same manner brekk suggested. I keep 4 cards. Three that I use for rewards depending on where I'm shopping and one where I locked the limit low for use on unknown/untrusted sites.

I decided to check my Credit Wise report from one of my cards website. Here are the points they made regarding score if it helps:

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TXjohnny

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In addition to the advice already given (especially the Discover pre-paid card - that's a good starter option) you can also help your son build credit by adding him as an authorized user on one or more of your credit cards. You do not need to let him keep the card issued in his name by the creditor. As long as you are making your monthly payments timely, his credit will benefit from it. As Fred Sanford's post shows, a huge factor in a consumer's credit score is not having any late payments. Setting up auto-pay is strongly recommended. He will also want to limit the number of hard inquiries on his credit file. It sounds like he is unlikely to want to apply for a bunch of different credit cards but having 4 hard pulls over a 2 year period will have a low/negligible impact on his credit. The free credit monitoring from services like Credit Karma are pretty good. Credit Karma pulls from Trans Union and Equifax and provides a ballpark indicator of a consumer's credit score.

Source: I represent one of the national credit reporting agencies in consumer litigation cases.
 
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brekk

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I'd agree with that. The only thing I'd question would be opening too many cards. If you don't have any then, yes by all means open them in the same manner brekk suggested. I keep 4 cards. Three that I use for rewards depending on where I'm shopping and one where I locked the limit low for use on unknown/untrusted sites.

Yeah, I'm not advocating for you to open 20 credit cards. I have 5 big bank cashback credit cards, 3 store cards, and a card from my credit union.