Which credit card would you recommend to a flourishing college student? I need to start building credit, and I don’t know which card to get through which bank, and what all those little terms mean. I am a responsible person, and I worked in a bank for about a year and a half, so I know a little about it, but then again, I don’t want to make any mistakes. I live in MI if that makes a difference, and I currently have accounts with TCF Bank (where I worked) and Bank One (the only ATM at school).
So dopers, offer me your opinions garnered from your infinite wisdom gathered throughout the years.
I would advise you to just apply for whichever card gives you the best free stuff. Whatever you do, make sure you pay off your bills right away, otherwise the interest could build up real fast.
Whatever free stuff you get, pay attention to. I got a free magazine subscription after getting a credit card and after the initial four free issues, they told me I had to call and cancel (the magazine), or they’d sign me up for a subscription.
I don’t know if you’ll find anything better than some free magazines, or a t-shirt. I think some cards offer some kind of tie-in to frequent flyer miles.
I don’t know, none of that info looks to helpful. Good luck anyway.
Definitely go with one that provides frequent flier miles (e.g., Citibank VISA). The annual fee is usually high ($85 US?), but the miles add up pretty fast.
Does Discover still offer cash back? I don’t remember, as I haven’t had a Discover card in years. If so, get either Discover or one of the frequent flier cards.
Other possibilities:
My sister has a Barnes & Noble Visa(?–might be a Mastercard) that earn her points good for B&N gift certificates, so if you’re a booklover, take a look at that.
If you plan to buy a car soon AND you plan to charge enough to make it worth redeeming, check out GM has a Mastercard, and Ford either has or used to have either a Visa or a Mastercard that earns you points that you can use as part of your down payment.
Remember to pay off the balance each month, though, or the interest will outweigh the earnings your card gets you.
Paying the bill off every month doesn’t build credit very well. All it shows is a good payment history. To build credit, you have to prove that you can take on debt and then pay it off again.
Taking on huge amounts of debt then paying it off does wonders for building your credit history. It’s also financially not a very smart thing to do.
It’s up to you to figure out how you want to balance it all out. Do you want a good credit rating but spend a lot of money on interest, or do you want to have sound finances and an only mediocre credit rating?
Personally, I’d recommend not worrying too much about it. Then, when you graduate and actually have money, buy a bunch of things on credit then pay them all off.
I’ve researched this for HOURS. Here is what I came up with.
Best Rate: American Express Blue
I believe I am getting under 15% APR with this beast. They also gave me a credit limit of $500. Good card, I WAS happy, until…I went to use it. My university book store doesn’t take AMEX. Hours of research for nothing, DAMN IT!
Next Try: WSU Alumni Association Mastercard
My school’s alumni association has a Mastercard. I’m getting 15.99% I do believe with a credit limit of $1,000 on that sucker.
Credit card companies try to give it to you IN THE ASS! I still get cards with 25% APR offers. I made only $1,000 a year and got these two at the same time. You just have to weed through the trash cards to get to the good stuff.
I had nothing but bad experiences with Discover. They would forget to send my statements half the time or they would arrive the day before the payment was due, but be compeltely inflexible about late charges. I had to ask them 4 times to change my address when I moved before they actually did it. Getting a discover card was one of the worst mistakes I ever made. I’d say it was just my particular brand of Discover card, but I know numerous other people who have had simialr problems with them.
When I was in school I got an AT&T Universal mastercard for students. No cash back or points options, but they sent advice/information for students with every bill and were great about actually trying to help students avoid credit card debt. I’d really encourage you to look into “student” credit cards as they’re often a lot more helpful. When I graduated they sent me a letter of reference in case I needed a bank loan, and their customer service has been nothing but helpful.
