CC Recommendations?

[kiltclan]

Hey all! I'm working to recover my credit score after learning that a bunch of medical bills I wasn't supposed to be responsible for went unpaid. I finally got them off my report, but am now struggling to increase my credit score. I've got a Target store card and have been very responsible with that for the last 8 months, (always spending less than 1/3 my available credit and paying back more than the min on time each month) and finally managed to get to a score where I can qualify for real CCs!

Then I looked around at all the options and was so confused about which one would be the best for what I was doing, as well as the circumstances of being broke most of the time and just sort of floundered. My top 2 choices are a Disney Visa (cuz, well Disney) or a new Barnes & Noble Visa (cuz rewards, and I work at B&N) but I'm not sure if those would be the best. Anyone have any recommendations on any CC that would be good for someone who's basically just starting out, to get the most back?

 

[Jen and Ashwin]

Hey all! I'm working to recover my credit score after learning that a bunch of medical bills I wasn't supposed to be responsible for went unpaid. I finally got them off my report, but am now struggling to increase my credit score. I've got a Target store card and have been very responsible with that for the last 8 months, (always spending less than 1/3 my available credit and paying back more than the min on time each month) and finally managed to get to a score where I can qualify for real CCs!

Then I looked around at all the options and was so confused about which one would be the best for what I was doing, as well as the circumstances of being broke most of the time and just sort of floundered. My top 2 choices are a Disney Visa (cuz, well Disney) or a new Barnes & Noble Visa (cuz rewards, and I work at B&N) but I'm not sure if those would be the best. Anyone have any recommendations on any CC that would be good for someone who's basically just starting out, to get the most back?

It really depends on your credit score. The best rewards cards will require excellent credit, which it does not seem that you currently have. Is your score above 660 or below? That would really impact my recommendations.

 

[Jen and Ashwin]

And without more information, I would recommend the Capital One QuicksilverOne Cash Rewards Credit Card. It has a $39 annual fee, which isn't terrible. But it only requires fair/average credit to qualify for the card and you get 1.5% cash back on every single purchase.

 

[LJSquishy]

I wouldn't get a credit card until you can manage the money you do bring in to cover 100% of your monthly expenses and completely pay off a credit card every month.

We've been extremely happy with the Discover It card and have earned a LOT in cash back. We choose to apply it toward our balance every month. We never carry a balance where interest is charged and make around 4 payments every month on it to keep the balance very low since we charge everything we possibly can to it to reap the most rewards including our cell phone bill, groceries, gas, etc. Essentially we treat it as a debit card.

 

[Shmily1]

PP, I'm confused. Do you keep a balance on your Discover card but said the OP should pay their's off every month?

OP, I would go with Capital One too. The Disney Visa is by Chase who is harder to get a card with than others. I'm not sure who backs the B&N card though so I can't tell you about that one. You might also have luck with a Barclay card as a second option. Good luck!

 

[Judique]

PP, I'm confused. Do you keep a balance on your Discover card but said the OP should pay their's off every month?

OP, I would go with Capital One too. The Disney Visa is by Chase who is harder to get a card with than others. I'm not sure who backs the B&N card though so I can't tell you about that one. You might also have luck with a Barclay card as a second option. Good luck!

That's not how I understood it. I think she pays when charges post throughout the month so it doesn't get a chance to climb.

I do this with my card. I don't like unpaid charges to accumulate so if I make a couple of purchases I will send a payment, so I don't suddenly check at the end of the month and have to send my whole paycheck or something. I constantly monitor my charges to keep my balance from climbing, but do not pay interest as it is paid within the month.

 

[kiltclan]

It really depends on your credit score. The best rewards cards will require excellent credit, which it does not seem that you currently have. Is your score above 660 or below? That would really impact my recommendations.

My score is around 619 as of last year, I'm trying to see what it bumped to this year and have forgotten what the website is for the actual # for free and not just the reports, though I also know that between the reports of this year and last 1 or 2 negative things were removed and more months of appropriate use of card factored in.

I wouldn't get a credit card until you can manage the money you do bring in to cover 100% of your monthly expenses and completely pay off a credit card every month.

It would be great to be able to do this, but I'm working 2 retail jobs part-time and I still have things I need to pay for when I run out of physical $$ (ie: i've just paid my rent and need to order my cat's pills tomorrow in order to receive them in time so she doesn't die, but I don't get paid again till friday) I'm not struggling with debt at all, in fact, my debt is quite minimal (under $300, easily covered by my tax return if I choose to kill it completely) and I do balance it as was recommended to me by Suze Orman in a book (spend less than 1/3 your available credit and dont have zero debt because both instances raise red flags to lenders). I've also heard that paying throughout the month instead of when the bill arrives looks bad for people who are working to fix their credit.

 

[CalDisneyMomof2]

Sign up on Credit Karma. It's free and you can get weekly updates to your credit. They will recommend credit cards based on your credit.

 

[techslacker]

I went through a bankruptcy a few years ago due to a bad marriage where she managed our money into the ground. I didn't get a CC until about a year and a half after that fiasco and started with a Kohl's card. The discounts in having it combined with Kohls competitive pricing made this a no brainer for me. After that I got 6 mths no interest credit from a local store to get a new mattress where I just set things up to automatically pay it each month, toward the end of that was a Capital One VentureOne card where I threw my bills on it initially to get the sign on bonus and paid those off each month, and then a couple months later Discover it. I didn't expect to get the Discover it card but I did a little homework to find out which credit agencies Discover might pull from in my area. It turned out that they didn't use the same agency as Capital One and it went through fine.

For what it's worth I used Credit Karma and Credit Sesame to check my credit back then. Forget them. Their numbers are calculated differently than the ones the CC companies use. A 700 on one of those two services isn't a 700 with most if not all CC companies...it might be more like a 650. There are different calculations that financial institutions can use to figure out a credit rating. Sadly they use a method that tends to be misleading. I did a lot of reading during this time and saw people on forums getting these same cards and talking about the CC limit they received. Don't pay attention to those numbers unless they mention something about their salary. I'm not incredibly well off by any means but I don't make a bad salary either. The people on the forums talked about CC limits for the same cards I got that were much lower than mine and the only thing I can think of is that they must have a lower salary as their rating was similar to mine. Just speculation on my part though.

At any rate the Discover it card has been awesome. I managed to get in on the Apple Pay benefits in December and the double cash back in the first year is pretty sweet. I use it to pay for *everything* now. If there's a bill that can be paid by CC without a service fee, I do it and just pay it off on the next statement. My credit is slowly going up. Since I put so much on it each month to collect rewards, I don't know with 100% confidence that it's the most efficient way to rebuild but it's under the 30% number that gets tossed around and like I said it has been going up...slowly.

Those cards have been good for me thus far. I can't say they'll be good for you and your situation but I wouldn't hesitate to recommend them. Whatever you go with just be sure that they report to all 3 agencies if possible. I've read that some store cards don't report to any or maybe only one agency which is why those are not usually recommended for rebuilding credit. Be careful as many will say to start with store cards. The only advantage to doing this is if there is a strong benefit to it. In my case we shop for a lot at kohls and they have those 20 and 30% off coupons that require the card. Consider those things when looking at something like a Barnes & Noble card as to whether it's worth it and reports to any of the agencies.

And, btw, I don't have the sites handy but a google search should turn up some sites where you can go to get a good idea what agencies are used by a lot of the cards out there.

Good luck!

 

[piccolopat]

Sign up on Credit Karma. It's free and you can get weekly updates to your credit. They will recommend credit cards based on your credit.

Credit karma doesn't use the big 3 or fico score, all of which are widely used by financial companies. Your score there can be quite different than what the bank will use.

 

[CalDisneyMomof2]

Credit karma doesn't use the big 3 or fico score, all of which are widely used by financial companies. Your score there can be quite different than what the bank will use.

Well the scores are provided by Transunion and Equifax. They should at least give you an idea (OP last checked a year ago? A lot can happen in a year) and Credit Karma has been VERY good about making credit card recommendations for me which is what OP is asking for.

 

[teller80]

It would be great to be able to do this, but I'm working 2 retail jobs part-time and I still have things I need to pay for when I run out of physical $$ (ie: i've just paid my rent and need to order my cat's pills tomorrow in order to receive them in time so she doesn't die, but I don't get paid again till friday) I'm not struggling with debt at all, in fact, my debt is quite minimal (under $300, easily covered by my tax return if I choose to kill it completely) and I do balance it as was recommended to me by Suze Orman in a book (spend less than 1/3 your available credit and dont have zero debt because both instances raise red flags to lenders). I've also heard that paying throughout the month instead of when the bill arrives looks bad for people who are working to fix their credit.

I'm not sure a credit card is the answer, it sounds like you have a cash flow problem (you can't pay for your cats medicine after you pay the rent). Do you not have any money in the bank to pay for them? Could you ask your landlord if you could pay the rent weekly (or twice a month)?

And I don't believe zero debt raises red flags, neither does paying throughout the month.

 

[techslacker]

Well the scores are provided by Transunion and Equifax. They should at least give you an idea (OP last checked a year ago? A lot can happen in a year) and Credit Karma has been VERY good about making credit card recommendations for me which is what OP is asking for.

I've used them and Credit Sesame. In my research my understanding was that they get their data from reputable places but they use a different calculation for the scores which is why the numbers can come up so different. I can vouch for the different numbers personally. As far as what they recommend it's not automatic. Again in my research I found I did better reading from personal experiences than using their recommendations. They were so far off that I can't help but suspect their recommendations are driven somewhat by advertising. What was kind of odd was that once I received my VentureOne card(which was not recommended leading up to getting it), they started recommending it.

You and several others out there have used their services and benefited and that's great but I can say that it didn't look realistic to me and a number of others reported similar stories where they were denied cards that these services recommended. In my case it either recommended cards that would not have been very beneficial or cards that were for those with much, much higher credit ratings. I simply don't trust them because once you apply that hard pull will hurt your rating for a little while.

 

[Shmily1]

Credit Karma and Credit Sesame are bogus numbers and useless. DH bought a car about 2 weeks ago. We have been tracking his numbers on both of those for several months prior to going to the bank to get the car because he wanted the 1.9% interest. While he still got a great interest rate of 3.49% it wasn't the 1.9% we were expecting. His actual credit score was totally different than on either of those sites. I guess the saying is right. You get what you pay for.

 

[kiltclan]

I'm not sure a credit card is the answer, it sounds like you have a cash flow problem (you can't pay for your cats medicine after you pay the rent). Do you not have any money in the bank to pay for them? Could you ask your landlord if you could pay the rent weekly (or twice a month)?

Yes. I have the money to afford them, but due to the shipping times of the medicine (I'm not walking to a pharmacy, I'm ordering from out of state and it takes up to 7 business days to arrive), I need to order/pay for them before I have the money in my hand/bank.
I live in an apt complex so paying rent bi-weekly is not an option.

I'm not planning on using the CC for any purchases I could not afford with my regular paychecks, but rather to assist with the week prior to awaiting for the paycheck to occur.



I was also scammed by one of those "free credit score" commercials. I think it was freecreditscore in fact lol. They hid their 'cancel subscription' button really well so it didn't present as a scam at first.

Please note: I don't have the # since last year of the credit score, but I have checked the credit report and the last of the negative things from last year are gone

 

[mommycrawford]

American Express Everyday Blue card, as it will give you cash back on groceries, and those are necessities, as well as my experience of AMEX as always being incredibly customer supportive! There is no annual fee on that Amex.

 

[hsmamato2]

I've seen some recommendations here.. but Op is saying they are responsible,and pay the bills, but sometimes a need arises...am I right OP? I get that!
Are you purchasing,then carrying a balance, then paying a fee b/c you don't pay it off each month by the due date? That is the real question. You need to pay it off,without a finance charge,each month. If you are not planning to do that, then getting back into 'fixing your credit' will likely backfire eventually.
That said, I disagree with others about which card is best. I like the Chase freedom card- it's no annual fee, gives you 1,or 1.5% back on purchases,keeps things simple, but there when you need it, unlike a Discover or American express card (both good cards, but not accepted everywhere) And OP doesn't sound like they need an annual fee to add to the bills.

 

[MrPTato]

What are your biggest spend categories? That is where you should start so we can make some recommendations.

 

[smokeyblue]

I would ask around and find out what is the best local credit union. I'd physically go in, ask to speak to someone privately about opening a credit card account and explain that you only want a low-limit card to build your credit and to have on hand for emergencies.

 

[gottalovepluto]

If you anticipate carrying any sort of balance on this card (i.e. not paying the full amount you owe every month) I'd look for lowest APR you can find. And no annual fee. If you get a card with an annual fee make sure the rewards you get back will cover the fee. There are enough credit cards out there that are no fee (& working 2 jobs I know you're counting every dollar) so why pay? I've seen the Citi Double Cash advertised, 1% back when you purchase, 1% when you pay it off I think- maybe add that into what you're looking at?

I've never read Suze Orman's book but the whole "zero debt is a red flag" thing sounds kind of odd. Obviously we build credit history by borrowing money & paying it back but are you 100% certain she is talking about credit card debt here? Credit card debt is expensive! I'd research that out more.

One thing about the Disney card- horrible rewards program. It's only 1% back & you can only get it back as Disney Dollars. Which you can't receive until you've spent $2000 & built up $20 worth of rewards. That's very restrictive. I love Disney too (obviously! Yay DisBoards!) but you have to ignore branding & emotions & pick out the card that is best for you based on the math. Which works best for your wallet? Check the fee, check the APR, check the rewards.