Credit Cards..

[Anonymous No.797819]

18, just got my first credit card.
$400 limit.

Do's and Dont's?

[Anonymous No.797822]

>>797819
don't buy stupid shit

[Anonymous No.797824]

>>797819

Serious answer, at 18, your goal should be to build up your credit score.

Easiest way to build up credit score (someone can correct me if there are easier ways):

1) Try to increase your credit limit when you can.
2) Use your credit card regularly, as a habit. But make sure you pay off your card every month, and never carry a large balance unless you have no choice.

A large part of your credit calculation is based on your available credit (larger is better) vs. the credit you use. If you carry only a small balance and pay it off every month, you'll keep improving your score (by doing pretty much nothing.)

[Anonymous No.797830]

>>797819
don't buy drugs for it/with it.

[Anonymous No.797831]

>>797824
Thanks for the advice.

I've read a bunch of different ways to improve your credit and such, I've read people saying to only use 25% of your limit. I've heard of some other person using their full limit balance and paying it off in full at the end of the month.

Building credit is what I'm focused on as I'd like to get into real estate investing within the next 2 years.

[Anonymous No.797832]

>>797824
This.

Don't max it out, you will pay for this a thousand fold when you come to get a mortgage.

Build up your credit score. Buy small things. Use a relatively minor percentage of the card, and ALWAYS pay it off at the end of the month.

[Anonymous No.797833]

>>797824
Also, should I pay the minimum amount a month, or the full amount of whatever I use?

[Anonymous No.797834]

>>797833
Full amount.

[Anonymous No.797841]

>>797832
>>797834
Thanks for the advice, this is exactly what I wanted to know.

I'll only use it to fill up gas which will get me at around 60.00 a month, and I'll just pay that back at the end of the month.

I have another question.

I've heard of people getting two credit cards, and using one to pay the other. And that's how they built their credit. Will that work, or should I look into doing that? I'd like to try and build credit as quickly as possible.

I don't have any bills other than phone and live free at home, trying to get a jump start on life and such.

[Anonymous No.797843]

>>797841
That's fucking stupid, don't do it


BTW does anyone know if/how amex/chase/discover do CLIs? Can't find anything really recent online

[Anonymous No.797853]

>>797843
Don't use one to pay the other?

Or don't pay the full amount of what I use, which will only be ~$100 a month?

Sorry, I'm just trying to get a good understanding of what to do and not to do.

[Anonymous No.797866]

Get 2 cards, preferably from banks instead of stores (capital 1, discover, bank of america are very student friendly)

Pay in full twice a month

In 6-12 months get two more cards, probably with much higher limits. AmEx, Chase might consider you.

Use all 4 at least once a month each, pay all 4 in full twice a month.

Repeat, closing older low limit cards if they won't increase your credit limit without a hard-pull.

If you ever get denied, look up the reconsideration/backdoor numbers (myfico forums have a master list) and ask them to reconsider your application. Common to get approved, even on an instant computer denial.

[Anti-White !!Sq2DWAm5KHj No.797870]

>>797819
dont spend more than you have

[Anonymous No.797871]

>>797853
The only way you can use one card to pay another is with balance transfers. Those usually come with a fee for 3% of the balance transferred, and unless you have a promo BT rate, they charge more interest than purchases. Don't do that unless you have a 0% promotion. It does not help your credit in any meaningful way, so only do it if you can transfer a balance that's being charged interest to a 0% interest card.

Always pay the full amount if you can. Making just minimum payments is a red-flag for banks because they know credit cards have high interest. You can get adverse action (credit limit decrease, account closed, APR increase) for making only the minimum payments for too long.

>>797843
AmEx does soft-pull CLIs up to 3x the initial limit. If it's your first card with them, wait 61 days; if you have history with them you can literally do it the day the card arrives in the mail.

Discover does softpull CLIs through their website, but you will be declined if the account is less than 6 months old. After an approval, you can try again every 17 days.

Chase doesn't do shit. They will insist on an inquiry and give you little. The best way to increase your limit on a Chase card is to open a new Chase card and then call them and ask them to transfer the limit (or close a card you already have and transfer the limit to another card). On the other hand, Chase tends to give much larger starting limits than AmEx or Discover so it's a trade-off.

[Anonymous No.797883]

>>797853
>have two paypal accounts
>hook cc to one and bank account to other
>pay invoice from one account with Ur cc
>withdrawal money to bank account
>pay off other cc


It cost the 3% paypal fee bit most cards atleast have 1% back or maybe even 1.5%

So it cost less then a balance transfer

[Anonymous No.797890]

>>797871
Surprisingly chase jewed me, I got 2.5k on discover, 10.5k on amex, but 500 on chase. Got a 790 fico (only so low because student loans).

So you're saying I could ask for 30k from amex? I've had the card for about a year.

Maybe double the discover?

As for chase, I have the freedom. Would opening say a slate and transferring the limit to freedom then closing the slate be a good idea?

[Anonymous No.797900]

>>797833

Pay it off entirely every month. Just use your card instead of cash, but pay it off monthly. If you have bonuses (cash back) on your card, take advantage.

And there is no "mininum" amount for you to spend monthly, like $25 or some arbitrary number. Spend as little as you want, but make a transaction or two a month.

[Anonymous No.797902]

>>797841
>I've heard of people getting two credit cards, and using one to pay the other. And that's how they built their credit. Will that work, or should I look into doing that?

Don't do this. You only do this if you can't pay off your credit card. In that case, you shouldn't be using your card anymore anyways.

And for building a credit score, it doesn't matter how many cards you have. You only need one active use card.

Also, multiple cards from different issuing banks is the ONLY way you can build up a very large credit pool quickly.

i.e. You can have 6 cards from 4 different banks, which gives you a very high cumulative credit pool. But you only use 1 and make small transactions monthly that are paid off.

This way, you maximize your available Credit to Usage ratio...

again, that's basically a shortcut for credit building.

[Anonymous No.797919]

>>797890
Chase is tough to get a foot in the door with, but with 6-12 months of history built up they will open up more. Depending on income they've been known to hand out 20k-30k starting limits on some of their higher end cards (Ritz, Marriott, etc.).

You don't get to request an amount with Discover. You ask for an increase, input your income, and they give you what they feel like giving you.

You can ask AmEx, but the rule of thumb is if you ask for anything over a limit of 25k they will ask for access to your W2 and other tax documents. Most people stop at 24,000 for this reason, and sometimes (rarely) it happens anyway. But yes, you can ask, and if you are denied they will usually counter off (ie We could not approve you for a credit limit of $24,000, but we can offer you a credit limit of $15,000, click yes to confirm" etc.)

Slate usually gives shitty limits because it's a balance transfer card. If you want a good limit, it should be a Visa Signature card so you know you will get at least $5,000 (the minimum for Sigs). Obviously this depends on your income too. I would recommend doing it on a hotel card because Chase is cracking down on people with >5 new accounts in the last 2 years, even with other banks. So be sure you have the Chase cards you want to keep before you start opening/closing new ones just for CLI, or stick to the hotel/airline cards (which seem to be exceptions to this rule). Once you have 5 new accounts showing in the last 2 years, they start auto-denying Freedom/Slate/Sapphire Preferred regardless of credit score or income.

[Anonymous No.797928]

>>797890
You'd need the income/debt ratio to support such an increase but yeah. and History.
Call every month and negotiate Limit and APR as per IWTYTBR.

>>797902
YOU NEVER DO BALANCE TRANSFERS unless they make you money or are net 0. Most transfers have an upfront fee of 3% of balance.

If you wish to move debt from card to card it is best to use MANUFACTURED SPENDING.
currently, Simon Malls has the cheapest cards and lets you buy 10k per day. it costs a 3.95 per card. then .89 cents to get money orders after you call and set your pin. With a 1% rewards card you're effectively neutral.
>>797871
>always pay amount in full
Don't listen to this A- tier advice. A+ is all cards except 1 paid off w/ 1% on last card see credit effects on regression pic.

[Anonymous No.798029]

>>797900
This is good information, thank you. So there's no set amount that I should or should not be spending so long as it's paid in full at the end of the month? I can definitely do that.

[Anonymous No.798038]

>>797928
I should be negotiating lower apr's? I thought that was set in stone?

[Anonymous No.798136]

I want to start an import/export business, any advice?

I have about $10K in starting capital, will that be enough?