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Newbie to CC's

AM1997
Posts: 5 Forumite
in Credit cards
Hi! Thank you for allowing me to join, I've got a couple questions and I hope I'm in the correct place. It told me I was on the board for telling people about deals but I don't see any of that here and the "I wanna" board it directed me to had nothing to do with credit cards. I apologize if I'm in the wrong place.
To start off, I'm 21. I've had a debit card for many years as well as a credit card through my father, which has allowed me to build up a very high credit score (780+) This is my only line of credit though, which is my issue. My partner has a score around 650 I believe, we share a bank account but he doesn't personally have any current lines of credit and he would like to work on that. Neither of us have any debt, I use my credit card very little each month and pay in full. We have a paid off vehicle, and I work for a non profit that is currently building us an all bills paid house, which we will be in very soon. This means we are about to have very little in the way of bills, and we would like a few new furniture items. Nothing crazy, maybe 2000 or so total. We were considering a second credit card. I've been looking at the Discover Cash Back card. While we could pay outright, I thought this could possibly be an opportunity to raise his score if he could be approved for something. I'm seeing it has no annual fee, cash back and I believe it was 12 months of no interest (this may be wrong, I've been reading about many different ones. It was possibly 18, I'd have to look again.) Are there any cards anyone could suggest? How does this sound? With so little bills and plenty adequate income, I thought this would be a good opportunity to work on his score in a fairly low risk way. Please excuse my ignorance on the subject, I'm working on learning. If he were to apply for one, could I possibly cosign for him? If so, would this card be reported on my credit as well? It would be great if we could both raise his score and add a line of credit for myself at the same time. I know we would certainly want to get it paid off before the no interest term expires, and barring some sort of tragedy, as it stands now we wouldn't have an issue with that. An extra credit card bill once we move will still put us very much under what our bills are now in our current apartment. I'd love any input on this plan, as I said I'm still learning. I'd like to think I'm off to a fairly decent start at 21, but I know I need more lines of credit for the future! Thank you!
To start off, I'm 21. I've had a debit card for many years as well as a credit card through my father, which has allowed me to build up a very high credit score (780+) This is my only line of credit though, which is my issue. My partner has a score around 650 I believe, we share a bank account but he doesn't personally have any current lines of credit and he would like to work on that. Neither of us have any debt, I use my credit card very little each month and pay in full. We have a paid off vehicle, and I work for a non profit that is currently building us an all bills paid house, which we will be in very soon. This means we are about to have very little in the way of bills, and we would like a few new furniture items. Nothing crazy, maybe 2000 or so total. We were considering a second credit card. I've been looking at the Discover Cash Back card. While we could pay outright, I thought this could possibly be an opportunity to raise his score if he could be approved for something. I'm seeing it has no annual fee, cash back and I believe it was 12 months of no interest (this may be wrong, I've been reading about many different ones. It was possibly 18, I'd have to look again.) Are there any cards anyone could suggest? How does this sound? With so little bills and plenty adequate income, I thought this would be a good opportunity to work on his score in a fairly low risk way. Please excuse my ignorance on the subject, I'm working on learning. If he were to apply for one, could I possibly cosign for him? If so, would this card be reported on my credit as well? It would be great if we could both raise his score and add a line of credit for myself at the same time. I know we would certainly want to get it paid off before the no interest term expires, and barring some sort of tragedy, as it stands now we wouldn't have an issue with that. An extra credit card bill once we move will still put us very much under what our bills are now in our current apartment. I'd love any input on this plan, as I said I'm still learning. I'd like to think I'm off to a fairly decent start at 21, but I know I need more lines of credit for the future! Thank you!
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Comments
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Hi.
First thing to understand is that the scores you see are made up. They're a poor indicator of anything and not used by lenders. So disregard those.
You need to build good credit history. The easiest way is to get a credit card or two - any card - use it and clear in full each month. Stay under limit and never miss a payment.
They're no co signed cards, joint cards or anything of that nature. You can get an additional card on his account, but that won't build you any history.0 -
OP - Are you in the UK and talking about UK cards and scores? Or are you in the US?I’m a Forum Ambassador and I support the Forum Team on the Budgeting & Bank Accounts, Credit Cards, Credit File & Ratings and Energy boards. If you need any help on these boards, do let me know. Please note that Ambassadors are not moderators. Any posts you spot in breach of the Forum Rules should be reported via the report button, or by emailing forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com. All views are my own and not the official line of MoneySavingExpert.
If you can't be the best -
Just be better than you were yesterday.0 -
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Oops, sorry! I'm in the US!0
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Zx81, I was always under the impression that the score itself was simply a numerical reflection of the present credit history, is that not correct? The pay off each month method is the way I've garnered my current credit, it definitely works! Would taking say, 6 months of a 12 no interest term to pay off a card in full be a ding, or would it simply not build credit as quickly, or does it not matter? I appreciate the help and apologize about all the questions! I've seen so many kids my age absolutely wreck their credit with cards and it makes me weary of them, so I want to fully understand before moving forward!0
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Your credit score in the US means something completely different to what it does in the UK - here it doesn't really mean anything and is just a marketing tool to get people to take out credit products. In the US it probably means something more significant.
In the UK, you can't have joint credit cards. You can have multiple cards for different people on one account but the main cardholder is responsible for all debt built up and other users of the account will not see any usage reflected in their credit history/file/score.
Paying off a credit card in full every month is one strategy to improve your so-called credit score and it also makes sense to do so if your account is subject to a monthly interest charge.
If you have a 0% interest offer, there are better ways to use the card than paying in full each month (we call it stoozing) but I have no idea whether such methods would help or harm your credit score in the US.
At the end of the day, the key is to always make sure you can afford to repay what you borrow, not to miss payments and generally to use your brain with a credit card. If you can do that, you're on the right road. Yes, keep an eye on your credit 'score' but don't become a slave to it - remember to live your life the way you need to.
We none of us know what the future holds, so there will always be a bit of risk attached to borrowing on credit cards, so you may be as well to simultaneously build up a cash reserve in an easily accessed savings account to help you through any lean times - such as long-term sickness or losing a job. In the UK we reckon your 'emergency fund' should equate to somewhere between 3 and 6 months of your normal outgoings.
By the way, why do you want to buy 2000 bits of furniture:)0 -
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Thank you Terry! Is this primarily a site with UK memebers? I didn't look around too much before posting! And yes, we will definitely be shuffling whatever we can afford over to savings each month, another reason I'd like to draw out full payment on the cards to around 6 months or so! Thank you so much for the advice! I've been typing this late last night before bed and early this morning, I've been fully awake neither time. Definitely don't need 2000 pieces of furniture, but 2000 dollars worth might be nice! ��0
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You need to get to bed earlier[./QUOTE]
I need to go BACK to bed, this is my day off and I'm up entirely too early to be typing coherent sentences! 😁0 -
Is this primarily a site with UK members?
Yes, it is. No doubt there are contributors to the forum who have knowledge of the US position with regard to credit scoring but probably not that many.
Just to touch on the 'full-payment' issue again. You mentioned having a 0% interest deal for 12 months. What some people do over here (and doubtless over in the USA) is they spend on the card as much as they can and only make the minimum payment (plus $1 to avoid it showing as a minimum payment) and then save the cash they would otherwise have used to pay the full balance in an interest-paying account. When the 0% promotional period ends, they take the cash from the savings account and pay off the whole card balance before interest starts and have a little bit of interest earned for themselves.
There are other things you can do if you have a longer 0% promotional period and access to 0% Balance Transfer cards - but that's the essence of what we call stoozing.0
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