How to build up your credit?

[92accordDx]

i have a union card. i dont have any fees with mine ive had it for over two years and havent had any extra charges

[gloryaccordy]

I fucked up my credit...slowly rebuilding it back though. Long story short my parents thought it would be a good idea to give me a card while I was in school and not working. They paid it till maybe April of my sophomore year, and since the bills were going to their house and not my apt. I didn't know what was going on...then I totalled my car and had to buy a new one, and I fell behind on some payments...I was already close to the limit and those missed payments put me over, and I've been on a treadmill ever since. Thankfully somehow I got a good job so I'm gonna pay it off ASAP so I can start saving up to move out and not scare realtors when I'm looking for a place...

But yea...get a cell phone bill or a credit card, and setup automatic payments online, and make sure you have the necessary money when it's time to pay up. That's the best way to do it. You don't even have to do anything.

[TysCb7]

Okay I'm really going to chime in here since I work at Discover card. When you first get a card most of them are going to be around 18% give or take. Right now the prime rate is at 8% this means that any card with a "variable" rate is going to be higher than 8%(sucks). What you want to do is CALL your credit card company I recogmend discover And get a card through a representative NOT through the mail, the reason being is the mail offers are flat out terrible, and if you apply over the phone you can get a MUCH MUCH MUCH better rate. After time has gone by and you have established a good history with your credit card company call them and explain how your not happy with the APR and would like it lowered. Most of the time they will lower your rate tremendously. Then you are golden and are on your way to getting a fixed rate.
PS: You can actually MAKE money off of credit cards it's called cash back bonus. (discover offers the best CBB program available.) Just a brief of how cash back works everytime you use your card you automatically earn up to 1% for every purchase you make. Right now with gas and auto purchases you can get 5% cash back. I have talked with card members who have made well over $3000 just in cash back alone.
cp[mike] When I said "inquiries on your credit will lower the score" it is true. Whenever you apply for a limit increase or anything of that nature it DOES affect the credit score.

[93EXaesthetic]

hey can you build your credit through school loans?...hey dont flame me if i missed in this post..i didnt read everything...<sleep time>

im thinking of getting like a 15,000 dollar fafsa loan..if they let me..and pay off my debt of 3 k and pay the loan off within the same year..anybody got experience with FAFSA loans..and building credit? .

[cp[mike]]

absolutely, it shows up on your credit report. its a loan designed for academic purposes, but its still considered a loan to the bank thats issuing it.

[The G-Man]

What you want to do is CALL your credit card company I recogmend discover

Too bad Discover is not accepted everywhere, because they have crazy high merchant fees!
Visa and Mastercard are only like 1% I think.

Visa and Mastercard FTW!

[cp[mike]]

american express too.

cant go wrong with a standard visa or MC. both my cc and debit card are visa

[JdmH22a92accord]

one way i heard that is pretty good to do without a credit card is to take a small loan from the bank.. like $500 or so.. but DON'T spend the money.. just save it all and pay it off every month on time.. and then i guess after that loan is paid off, take a bigger loan and pay it off the same way..

[TysCb7]

I do balance transfers everyday from visa, mastercard, mbna america, american express, chase, and providian (just to name a few) ALL the time. Know why? Because their rates are way higher than discovers, sure discover isn't excepted everywhere but 99% of the time we are excepted. High merchant fees give cardmembers more options. Discover INVENTED cash back, discover has the lowest amount of fraudulant charges. The average american has 8 credit cards!
Who the hell doesn't want 5% back for EVERY gas purchase?

[The G-Man]

That is why you are doing balance transfers, nobody is able to use the discover at the merchant, so they use Visa/MC and transfer it later.