Acquiring a Credit Card?

[Cephius]

After googling around, it seems the new credit card laws require you to have a co-signer for a credit card if you're under 21. So, I guess that's your issue.

[Corrderio]

Also, small purchases on credit help. Computers, shit like that. Pay it off, pay it early, the CC companies will warm to you.

This, a thousand times this.

[Omnipotent]

^, I still am w/o a credit card. Can't get anyone to accept me. So I gave up.

[Warudo Ecksu]

Also, small purchases on credit help. Computers, shit like that. Pay it off, pay it early, the CC companies will warm to you.

^ Do this. Go buy a $200-300 watch on credit at a store (one of my friends did that). The small purchases will help build a little credit while you wait to actually get a credit card.

[Tekki]

^, I still am w/o a credit card. Can't get anyone to accept me. So I gave up.

this, i gave up

[Jaregue]

my first card was a capitol one student card.
once i built my credit up a bit, i switched to chase

[kuronosan]

Go to a department store and finance something small, then use the money that you saved to pay it off.

Also, it's actually good to find small things you can get on deferred payment plans, like rentals or quick loans. Go to one of those fast loan centers, take out a $500 loan, pay it off the following week.

There are baby steps you can take to building your credit at your age. You don't have to get a major card. Your bank can even help you (take out a personal loan).

[toonces]

CapitalOne, has credits where you put the money in it ahead of time and that will be your credit limit on it. The fee is abolished if you pay your bills on time for about 4~6 months. Is very high interest but just pay your bills, create credit. Get a good credit card with benefits.

I did this route got credit easy peasy.

[Takedown3]

dont do it

[viperlasson]

I bank with chase and they gave me a credit and debit card right away... They have also been steadily increasing my credit limit o_o

[Osede]

There are credit cards where you have to deposit like $500 and that would be the limit on your card. You can't use that $500, but the card does build your credit score up like any credit card. That was my first credit card, but I forgot what it was called.

After a year, you get that money back and the card becomes a normal credit card.

Like what he/she said. Due to the new credit card policy right now, you won't get a new credit card right now from any company or bank w/o any history.

They will only issue you the type of card where you had to deposite an amount of money.

[aduidarnenye]

Don't get a credit card, they're evil. There has to be other ways to build credit that don't involve a credit card?

[Woozie]

If you have a card with no annual fee, and only use it when you have the funds to pay the bill immediately, I can't see any reason having a credit card would be any worse than not having one.

Edit: And if a person is worried they may accidentally screw themselves over, then get a credit card with a low credit limit so that screwing up is hardly even an option.

[Quicklet]

Yeah, like some people have mentioned, the new credit card laws have really fucked over college students who want to start building credit on a small card. I don't know if there are certain loopholes (like if you start with one of those "deposit" cards you can move up to an actual credit line at some point), but Chase and CapitalOne are both pretty good companies to start off with for credit cards though I don't know if any of that has changed (it's been a while).

Oh and as far as I know, the only real ways I know of to build credit are to (a) have credit cards for a looooong time (5+ years at least), (b) have other lines of credit such as car loans or mortgages but these are obviously more expensive and aren't permanent credit accounts. So starting early (even with a low limit like $500) could save you a lot of money down the road when buying a car or house.

[Fr34k]

I just graduated in 09' and had to jump through hurdles to get one from my local credit union. First I applied for the $300 minimum with about 2k in the bank, the lady said I'd be approved no problem. Then a week later they called me and said since I was a college student I needed a cosigner so my dad went down to cosign. About half of his income is from cash jobs, so they didn't approve me again because his check stubs were less than their mortgage. So then they had to have my mom and dad cosign for the minimum limit and I finally got the card.

So if the law is nation wide, go to your bank with one or both of your parents and get an application for a card. Ask what the minimum limit is and have one or both of your parents cosign. You should get it np.

[Warudo Ecksu]

Don't listen to people who tell you to give up. When you go to buy a car down the road, if you have limited credit, you're not going to get approved for anything at all. And if you're like me, you don't have parents who can co-sign, so it's very important to build up your own credit.

Make some small purchases on credit like others stated and pay those off. When you turn 21, you'll have a little bit of credit built up, and you should have np getting a capitalone/chase credit card then.

[Fitch]

What type of loan are you planning to get in the future?

How much debt do you currently have?

Do you have any collateral?

There is a lot that goes into determining if you get a credit card or a loan.

Your credit is broken down into two types of credit, revolving and installment. They are both a part of your credit score.

Which one are you trying to build?

Getting a credit card (revolving credit) means you can pay off the balance either monthly or over time depending on the card, with an interest penalty.

Getting a long/short term loan (installment credit) means you have the income to make your monthly payments consistently over the life of the loan, with interest figured into the loan.

If your looking to build your revolving credit then find a card that you can easily make the payable amount every month. But make sure to pay it off every month to avoid the interest penalty. Some good cards that should be easily applied for and easily payable are American Express, Discover, Citibank or Capital One. When I was 20 those are the companies that gave me cards, just make sure to apply for the card that fits what you are looking for.

If your looking to build installment credit then you need a good local bank. If you have one then go into the bank and take a small loan out for $1000. Make sure you find out what the payoff amount is before hand and simply use your savings plus the principle (loan amount) to pay back the loan within 6 months. Yes it will cost you in the short term but it will cost you far less than if you fall behind on your credit cards.

tl;dr: Dont get a credit card unless you absolutely have to there are far better and cheaper ways to raise your credit score.

[Takedown3]

don't do it

[octopus]

apply to Capital One, they give cards to anybody

That's funny, cause my gf just got rejected by them when she applied for a credit card (same situation as the op)

[toonces]

That's funny, cause my gf just got rejected by them when she applied for a credit card (same situation as the op)

She applied for the correct card? They have tons of options, your GF needs to apply for the Pre-Paid card.

PS: Getting rejected affects your score btw, some say no some say yes. But CC can look at this.