1st Credit Card?

I am about to get my 1st credit card. Any suggestions having good credit?

If used responsibly, it's a great way to start building a lengthy and solid history. The trick is to not get in over your head. A credit card should be used for emergency purposes, or if you're able to pay off small purchases. If you're not able to pay it on time, or at all, then it's not a good idea. The benefits like being able to rent a car, make hotel reservations, establish credit in general may not compare to the disadvantages of harassing calls of collectors when you don't pay on time, not to mention hurting your chances of being able to get bigger things like, buying a car, a house, or even a job. Normally when you use a credit card, you have x amount of days before they start charging more money, or interest to what you already charged. That's called a grace period. After a certain date, you'll receive an itemized statement in the mail detailing what you charged, how much you owe, and how much additional money (finance charges) were added on. The key to using a credit card is to not to max it out, or charge it to the limit. That's where they'll get you. It's bad enough to borrow money that you can't pay all at once, but it's even worse when more money is added on every month for borrowing it in the first place!. Like I mentioned earlier, use the card for emergencies, charge only what you know that you can pay off every month. I'll even go as far to say that if you have the money to pay for something in cash and you use the card, put that cash that you would've used to buy it in a jar, cigar box, it doesn't matter, put it and use that money to pay the bill when the statement comes in. Another thing. Don't charge a lot to fast food. It's a common trap that me myself fall victim to from time to time. That Big Mac or Whopper or whatever your favorite burger is wouldn't taste so good when you're paying daily interest on it when you charge it. Keep that in mind. I would probably get one more and that's it. 1 in 7 Americans carry up to 10 credit cards, and the average American has 4. Me, myself I have 3 which I keep low balances and I pay off on-time, if not early every month.

Another thing is that you can report your monthly payments on practically everything that you pay every month. There's a website (click this link) http://www.prbc.com/consumers that you can enroll in a program, that verifies, reports historical payments, and also has a bill-pay service that reports the current and future payments. The beauty of this is that this shows what the traditional credit reports do not: an accurate payment history. You can have things like rent, utilities, day care, storage, insurance, phone, cell phone, anything that you pay a month that you receive a statement for. The information reported is compiled in what's call a Bill Payment Score, or BPS. Under the FCRA (Fair Credit Reporting Act) you can have this taken into consideration when lenders are reviewing your credit to give an accurate picture of what your credit is really like.

Pay all your bills on time.

Don't charge anything you can't pay for when the bill comes. In other words, pay the whole thing off when the bill comes.

If you find that you can't pay the entire bill, pay as much of it as you can. Always pay more than the minimum they ask for if possible.

If you have a $1000 limit, try not to ever go over half the limit in charges, eg, don't charge more than $500.

The most important things are on time payments and keeping the outstanding balance low.

Dont do what i did with my first one( maxed it out in a week ) interest on my first card was 20%. Dont use it unless you have to. I have three cards now and the only one i use is Discover for gas and i pay it off every month. Two others are for emergencies only

Pay the bills ontime. And if you can't pay the whole balance in a given month - STOP USING it until you get the balance down to zero.

It's so very easy to slide down the slippery slope of debt, and end up with the weight of thousands of dollars that you're not sure where it came from...

get a card with a low dollar amoutn and low interest rate---always pay your bills on time and in full if you can and this will keep your credit in good standing

If you don't already have a credit card, please don't screw up now by getting one! It is possible to live w/o one & still earn airline miles, get a mortgage & do all of the other things one might like to do in life. DH travels internationally using only cash, travelers checks & debit.

The Bible says the borrower is slave to the lender. Didn't they teach you in HS that slavery WRONG?!

Please go to the website below & tune in to the podcasts/archives. You will find out how much trouble credit can be & learn how to live FREE of debt & financial struggles.

Keep on making ur payments in full on or before due date.
Don't carry forward balance to next month.

Try to gain some knowledge about their use before getting one. Just make sure you understand what you are paying for, and what things you shouldnt have to pay for. If you are starting college or something, Citicards.com has both information for new credit card users, as well as several options of cards to choose from. My biggest regret, i didnt get a card that has rewards. For nothing extra, i could be earning miles and stuff for my purchases. Be sure to look at the fees, etc. Also, pay your bill online. It is a lot easier than having to send in checks, and you get verification via email, so you know you paid your bill ontime. Online, you can usually pay the bill the same day its due, as opposed to hoping your check got there on time. Hope that helps!

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