Whats The Best Credit Card To Get For People With Not Great Credit

[RossMAN]

Originally posted by: NDENT

Originally posted by: RossMAN

Is she going to reply to the offer?

Not sure yet. I'm going do some reading up on Capital One first. We need something thats gonna raise her credit score. The card is more needed to build her credit really.

If she has little or no credit then she's not really in a position to call those shots. I would take it. Just remember to use common sense and:

1) Only spend what you can afford.
2) Always payoff your balance in full every month. If you cannot then pay as much as possible, definitely more than the minimum monthly payment. On a $500 balance if you made the $20/mo minimum monthly payment, it would take YEARS to chip away at that $500 balance. Of that $20 payment, about $17 is allocated to interest and the rest goes to principal.
3) Always always make yoru payments ON TIME this means BEFORE your due date. Not ON YOUR DUE DATE but BEFORE your due date.
4) This goes back to #1, keep an eye on your balance and available credit. Don't charge up $480 and guess or assume that you have $20 left to spend. Most credit card issuers will charge an over the limit fee.
5) Regarding #3 or #4, all it takes is one of those and you lose any promotional APR you received when you first signed up. All of the sudden your interest goes from 0% up to 19.99% or whatever they deem regular.
6) Closely monitor your credit card activity and look out for anything suspicious.
7) Do not carry a balance, pay it off in full every month.

Hope that helps

 

[cavemanmoron]

debit card linked to checking account

 

[Dulanic]

Originally posted by: cavemanmoron
debit card linked to checking account

Useless. #1 It does not show on your credit report so you build 0 credit with it. #2 If your card is stolen you will be cleaned out. Yes most companies protect you against this but you will be out of the money for a while, until they put the money back.

For what hes looking for debit card is useless.

 

[dionx]

Originally posted by: Dulanic

Originally posted by: cavemanmoron
debit card linked to checking account

Useless. #1 It does not show on your credit report so you build 0 credit with it. #2 If your card is stolen you will be cleaned out. Yes most companies protect you against this but you will be out of the money for a while, until they put the money back.

For what hes looking for debit card is useless.

agreed. plus for those who are good with credit and pay in full every month, credit is a good way to earn rewards. sometimes, fees of using a debit card are passed on to the customer. there are never any transaction fees for using a credit card.

 

[CrackRabbit]

Question from a credit dumbass...
I know that Unsecured > Secured in the wat that credit cards go.
I screwed over my credit and need to start over, but how much better does an unsecured card look vs a secured one on a credit report.

 

[dionx]

i don't think credit reports show whether the card is secured or not. those terms are upto the issuing bank/institution. so if you are trying to rebuild and all you can get is the secured card, get that, and with time and healing on your credit report, you can get an unsecured card

 

[surreal1221]

Do you not bank with anyone? You're bank should be able to get your started with a high interest rate, low line of credit card.

 

[Dulanic]

Originally posted by: dionx
i don't think credit reports show whether the card is secured or not. those terms are upto the issuing bank/institution. so if you are trying to rebuild and all you can get is the secured card, get that, and with time and healing on your credit report, you can get an unsecured card

Correct, they show the same on a credit report.

 

[NDENT]

Originally posted by: surreal1221
Do you not bank with anyone? You're bank should be able to get your started with a high interest rate, low line of credit card.

Yeah i was thinking about trying my credit union but heard they suck @ giving people loans etc. In other words its hard to get something from them.

 

[surreal1221]

Well they are non-profit. Which is the main difference between Credit Unions and Banking institutions, is that one is non-profit, while the other is certainly out to make a profit. So in your situation, I can see that it may perhaps be more difficult. I would look into opening a small fund checking account with a Bank of America, Wachovia, etc, sort of institution and then try to go that route. Check out the major banks websites and see if you can find any information about it there.