Wanting to start building my credit with a credit card.

[Ikith]

I have stable income but its mostly under the table but I still want to start building my credit. My credit union doesn't handle credit cards so I really don't know where to start with this whole thing. Can anyone give me suggestions?

[sephir]

Your bank should have something. Just go into your local branch and talk with one of the people and they should be able to suggest something for you. However since most of your income is under the table it could be difficult for you to get one with a higher limit and lower rates.

I personally would start there myself.

[Melena]

Get a secured credit card from a local bank. You'll have to pay up front like $200 but you'll get it back so long as you keep paying your bills on time every month. Just remember like Sephir said, with your income being under the table, you will have a low limit and probably a shit rate, but it's a start.

[Yuri-G]

he just said his credit union doesn't handle credit cards. unless he has more than one bank account, one of which is at another financial institution (which is possible), that won't help.

your best bet if you don't have enough credit to get a normal card is to go into a major lender like Wells Fargo or JP Morgan and get a secured credit card. you give them cash equal to your limit, so if you ever default, they're safe. then after a year (terms may vary, that's what mine was) you get your deposit back and you not only have a stronger credit record, you normally get to keep the credit card as a regular card. extremely useful for someone with no credit, as even if you're not in debt, having a blank credit record makes you look bad. which I think is horrendously unfair, but that's another story entirely.

and for the love of god, pay all but 5-10% of your balance every month. paying it all off means you're never carrying a balance, which doesn't help, because to build credit you have to show that you can handle debt. but keeping any more than 10% or so on your balance means you'll pay a lot of interest, plus your score could possibly go down if you keep too much on there. I have a $500 limit on mine and keep a $25 balance or so, normally.

[_chuchu]

he just said his credit union doesn't handle credit cards. unless he has more than one bank account, one of which is at another financial institution (which is possible), that won't help.

your best bet if you don't have enough credit to get a normal card is to go into a major lender like Wells Fargo or JP Morgan and get a secured credit card. you give them cash equal to your limit, so if you ever default, they're safe. then after a year (terms may vary, that's what mine was) you get your deposit back and you not only have a stronger credit record, you normally get to keep the credit card as a regular card. extremely useful for someone with no credit, as even if you're not in debt, having a blank credit record makes you look bad. which I think is horrendously unfair, but that's another story entirely.

Basically, this. If you're still going to school, you could take out a very small loan and do it this way, too. Credit cards have a small impact on your credit score even if you have 10 of them with a 1k limit, but late payments can hurt you in the long run if it's all you got. Applying for so many lines of credits cause inquiries (with each application) on your report and therefore, also lowers your score. It basically makes you look desperate/suspicious to credit bureaus/employers/lenders.

Small student loans are great for starting up your credit, just remember you've got to pay it back, too. These are often subsidized by the government and/or alumni, so please keep these rates low so that students in the future can also borrow for the same rates you do. These have medium impact on your credit score.

Car loans (assuming you can get one with good credit history from the bank willing to allow you to open a credit card,) often have low rates, too and also have a medium-large impact on your score. A home obviously has the largest impact on your credit score.

Edit: Yes, try to pay them off sooner. Depending on how you look at it, it can be a good thing to also keep and use the lines of credit. Pretend that lenders have ADD, so they mostly care about the most recent history. They don't really care that much about a line you closed 10 years ago, but they will still look at it sometimes

[Seraph]

and for the love of god, pay all but 5-10% of your balance every month. paying it all off means you're never carrying a balance, which doesn't help, because to build credit you have to show that you can handle debt. but keeping any more than 10% or so on your balance means you'll pay a lot of interest, plus your score could possibly go down if you keep too much on there. I have a $500 limit on mine and keep a $25 balance or so, normally.

This is extremely terrible advice though IF the interest acquired on the card for the month is determined on the total monthly balance, instead of the remaining balance if you fail to pay off the entire bill for that month.

People with little money starting off building their credit will probably not want to be tossing out money every month to _possibly_ build their credit faster by having to pay interest rates like that. If the monthly interest is based on the remaining balance, and not the full balance, that is another story though.

[Zalius]

i pay about 130 a month to my college credit card and prolly average 50 bucks spent per month currently. i owe like 820 bucks but thats from school so its interest free. i have the money to pay it off right now but i'd rather not be broke, so i stick to taking 1/3-1/4 out of my check towards paying it off, which is working out pretty sweet considering it started around 1700 at the beginning of the semester.

if you can find a college card with sweet shit on it, do it. the rest of those motherfuckers are sharks

the rest of the shit i pay off asap, but i do leave some in there because i do actually like the principle of paying more to pay later. how else am i gonna get beer money

[Serif]

I have stable income but its mostly under the table but I still want to start building my credit. My credit union doesn't handle credit cards so I really don't know where to start with this whole thing. Can anyone give me suggestions?

As I always say, you don't need a credit score.

[Maguspk]

I've talked to people I respect and they've all said 'building credit' by getting a credit card is more or less a myth. You really shouldn't be 'trying' to build a credit score, just don't be an idiot and only spend the money you have and you're set. No need to spend money on a credit card and pay it off in an attempt to 'raise your credit score'.

[noblemountain]

I've talked to people I respect and they've all said 'building credit' by getting a credit card is more or less a myth. You really shouldn't be 'trying' to build a credit score, just don't be an idiot and only spend the money you have and you're set. No need to spend money on a credit card and pay it off in an attempt to 'raise your credit score'.

Not true. If you have zero credit you can get a card and keep a 10-25% balance, your credit will go up. My best friend runs a mortgage company and has helped a ton of people who couldn't get a loan do this and did loans for them just a year later. I advised my ex to do this and some other things, her score went from 600 to 720 in a year. Secured cards are great, small loans are good...just don't run the balance of any CC over 25-30% or you'll be hurting yourself.

[Penthesilea]

I got my first Credit Card (I've had a debit card since I was 15) last year in November. I don't recall what my credit score was then (sub 650 for sure) but now it's at 744 due to spending about 300$ a month and paying it off. Granted I do have some other things like student loans, but those I didn't start paying off until about 6 months ago.

[Ferien]

As Chuyu said, credit cards are a pretty crappy way to raise your credit score. That being said, if it's your only option (not going to advise you to take out a loan just to raise your score, that's ridiculous) just be good about paying it off. Any late fees will leave a huge stain on your credit report, and most cards have absolutely ridiculous interest rates.

It may raise your score faster if you leave a balance on the card, since your score also takes into account how much money you make the agencies, but if you go overboard you'll be swamped in interest, and it'll have the reverse effect. Be safe and just pay your balance off, and build it slowly and steadily.

[Darus Grey]

This is extremely terrible advice though IF the interest acquired on the card for the month is determined on the total monthly balance, instead of the remaining balance if you fail to pay off the entire bill for that month.

People with little money starting off building their credit will probably not want to be tossing out money every month to _possibly_ build their credit faster by having to pay interest rates like that. If the monthly interest is based on the remaining balance, and not the full balance, that is another story though.

It's a myth, it makes sense logically, but in reality FICO scores are based on a simple pass/fail system("Paying as agreed, or not"), compared to your total balance and total available credit.

Carrying a balance actually hurts you, but it's negligible unless it's above 80% of available credit. That said, there's a difference between FICO score and credit potential, FICO is just a guideline, it seriously has jack shit to do with being able to get a new line of credit(for some companies, it might automatically put you in a lower APR tier, but not all). Your actual history, plays a much bigger role.

Having a paid off car loan or two is the biggest boost to your credit outside of a paid off mortgage.

Pay your balance off every month and don't worry over it.