# what is a good credit card if you have no credit **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 23, 2003, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-good-credit-card-if-you-have-no-credit/183850 "2003-06-23T19:47:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![The\_Calculus\_of\_Logic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/aeb1de/32.png) [@The\_Calculus\_of\_Logic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Calculus_of_Logic)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2003, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-good-credit-card-if-you-have-no-credit/183850/1 "2003-06-23T19:47:31Z")
i want to establish some credit. i am a college student. what would be a good card to choose? i would only need a $500 limit. ---
**Author:** ![Aldebaran](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Aldebaran](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aldebaran)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2003, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-good-credit-card-if-you-have-no-credit/183850/2 "2003-06-23T20:03:23Z")
Ask your parents to back it up with a few millions. Then just choose your bank and Gold Cards… You can also play a bit higher and have such fancy Platinium US ones… ---
**Author:** ![Aries28](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e36b37/32.png) [@Aries28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aries28)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2003, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-good-credit-card-if-you-have-no-credit/183850/3 "2003-06-23T20:38:44Z")
Find one with a low introductory rate and with no annual fee. Don’t use it unless you HAVE to. Believe me it is easy to fall into a habit of charging things when you don’t have the money to pay your bill each month when you are in college. Pay off your balance each and every month. This will help you develop a good credit rating but also keep you from overspending IMO. Good luck! ---
**Author:** ![Ol\_Gaffer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Ol\_Gaffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ol_Gaffer)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2003, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-good-credit-card-if-you-have-no-credit/183850/4 "2003-06-23T20:58:44Z")
Try getting a gas card. You have to pay them off every month like an AmEx card and you can’t really run up a huge bill charging Slurpees and beef jerky (although you can try). They usually don’t have a very high limit and can come in handy for those late night nacho runs after a couple of hours of doing bong hits and playing PS2…oops, sorry, I didn’t spell _studying_ correctly.🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Kallessa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/7993a0/32.png) [@Kallessa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kallessa)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2003, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-good-credit-card-if-you-have-no-credit/183850/5 "2003-06-23T21:55:17Z")
I have always been pleased with the service of MBNA. Even when I had credit problems, they treated me with respect. And they have many types of cards, so there should be one that meets your needs. In establishing credit, paying on a monthly basis is more important than paying off the balance every month–this establishes that you can carry debt and pay it off–so maintaining a small balance each month is not a bad thing. Paying late, even a day or two, is a bad thing, so plan to get all payments in a few days before the payment date. Do not get more than one card–unless you can be trusted to keep one for absolute emergencies (I used to have one that I only carried when I was travelling, so if I had car trouble or something, I had that card and it’s entire credit limit). Once you have a card, you’ll get lots of offers (pre-approved) for more cards, but it’s a dangerous road. ---
**Author:** ![Kat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b19c9b/32.png) [@Kat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kat)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2003, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-good-credit-card-if-you-have-no-credit/183850/6 "2003-06-24T01:30:10Z")
As a college student, you’re going to get credit card offers coming out of your ears. What you want is no annual fee and low interest rate like **Aries** said but, if you can, try to get one that also gives you cash back or points towards something you can use. For example GM Mastercard gives you points towards a GM car, so if you’re planning on buying a GM car… My sister has a card that gives her points towards B&N gift certificates. And so on. Only get it if it has the other two criteria, though.