I’m a young student who would like to get a credit card. A 10K limit would be more than enough. I have no credit history and I don’t have a full-time job. It seems everyone and his brother wants to give me a CC though, so I was wondering if anyone had any opinions on which is best. I don’t plan on carying a balance to speak of; I mainly want it because I have been told it’s safer than a check card. Is there anything that has a significant advantage over just going to my bank and asking for a VISA? I really could spend a lifetime reading all the offers that are available.
Is it true that I should carry a balance for a bit as a step towards getting a good credit rating?
$10K! No way you’re going to get a limit like that with no job or credit history.
But if you’re just using it for normal purchases and paying it off every month (and you damn well better!), then a few hundred is probably plenty.
Make sure the one you get has no annual fee and a standard no-interest grace period. And then look around for one with some kind of perks. I average a $50 Amazon.com gift certificate every few months with mine.
Most of the offers I’ve gotten in the mail and such seem to indicate that they want to give me a $10K card, even ones that know I’m a student. Yes, 1K would also probably be more than enough.
Do you belong to a credit union? They will often have good cards. My first card had a $500 limit, a 15% APR (one of the highest APRs the credit union had–my parents have one with a single digit APR) but no real features.
How about USAA? You are only eligible if you are the child of a member, are married to a member or someone who is eligible but not a member, or are a member of the US armed forces. I believe there is a second requirement if you are potentially eligible through military service, but I don’t remember exactly what it’s based on. I think rank might come into play. I’ve got a card through USAA now as well, with a $1500 limit, a 9.9% APR, and it’s technically a platinum card with rewards, but I don’t use it very much.
Whatever you do, check the terms, the penalties, and most importantly, the APR. While the APR doesn’t matter if you always pay the card in full, something always seems to happen that you’ll have to have to make partial payments for a while–say the car breaks down. When you have to do that, pay as little interest as possible by going with the lowest APR.
Get thee to [url=http://www.bankrate.com/brm/rate/cc_home.asp]Bankrate**, where they have an updated list of the best cards, with a search feature so you can look specifically for student cards. It also has some good education on credit.
I like AT&T’s Universal card for students (universalcard.com). It has a decent APR, no annual fees, 1-5% cash back, and it doubles as a calling card. If you choose the cash back option you’ll have a higher APR, but you shouldn’t be carrying a balance anyway. Just remember to pay off your balance each month.
Eventually you should try to have several cards (3 or 4 is considered ideal), but wait 12 months between card applications so that they don’t hurt your credit score.
Well, I have one that has an 8k limit, and I tell you it is no picnic. I pay off large chunks of it several times a year, and I have noticed that recently my minimum payment has jumped. I only have half the credit used atm, but my minimum monthly payment is in excess of 200 dollars. :eek:
I just opened a checking account and credit card with Wells Fargo. I’m a senior in high school, and I guess my account is classified as “college student account” or some such. When my dad asked the guy at the bank why anyone would give me credit, he said that the bank understands that college students need a way to build up a good credit score. So perhaps that’s something to look into. My limit is $1k
I’m a college student with just one credit card, a Capital One. It doesn’t have any perks as far as cash back or airline miles or anything like that. It only has a $500 limit too.
I use it like a debit card, usually. I pay for things like gas and groceries and sometimes food and clothes. The nice part is I can track my spending online, and also pay online using an electronic transfer from my checking account (which I also monitor online). I’ve never carried a balance, because usually I hit the $500 limit in the middle of the month and pay it off in full right when I hit it (so I can go on using the card). Basically I’m not using the “credit” aspect of the card for more than a month at a time.
It’s nice to see what I’ve been spending money on and how much I’m spending and when. I could, for instance, tell you how much I’ve spent on gas since May, or how much I’ve spent in total since then. Somewhat interesting.
