Hi All,
Looking at obtaining my first credit card.
I'm 22, graduated this past May and my research led me towards the Chase Freedom card being a great start (due to the cashback %) but I was denied when I applied online - assumedly because I have no credit. What did some of you younger guys go to at your start? Any advice is appreciated. Thanks.
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CSR has a $450 annual fee and $300 travel credit fee (good for airline, bus, train, tolls, parking decks, etc.). The Uber credits are from the Amex Plat. 3x points for travel/dining
Do you have income?
Yes, average starting salary amount.
Get a Discover card for students, or really anything with a low fee and limit. Use it for a few months to build up credit. Unfortunately, you won't get any "good" cards simply because they'll want to see some evidence of creditworthiness.
Look for student credit cards, they'll usually have lower credit limits but will help in creating credit history for you. Those cards tend to have lower interest rates as well. If you already have a bank account at a financial institution that offers cards, check those out as well. Good luck!
They'll give a Discover It or Am Ex blue cash everyday to just about anyone. Check Capital One too.
Maybe try the nerdwallet thing to give you other specific cards. Try this. And once you get a few cards, don't keep a balance!
Chase Sapphire Reserve is the best card if you want miles to travel. Expensive annual fee (I believe it's $500), but you get it back in uber and travel credits, also a TSA Precheck credit. Best card for that - and when you use your points for travel, they give you 50% bonus points. I think it's 1% on everything, but 3% on travel and 2% on dining.
Another good one is the Venture card (annual fee $60) and it gives you 2x points on everything (so essentially 2% on all purchases).
Also - if you go into the bank (and if you're with that bank, i.e. Chase) it's easier to talk to someone and see what they could do for you. Sometimes they'll look and see you're a bank customer and it'll help get a card.
And points. If you're disciplined, it's essentially a pay raise. I have friends who regularly charge $10-20k for trips etc with large groups, venmo everyone and pay it right off; they make a killing in points.
Luckily, I started early and applied for my first credit card on the day I turned 18. I got denied as well. I did some research and found the CapitalOne Secured Mastercard. Google "starter credit card" and a few will come up. I had that for about a year and a half when I got an offer from Amex. I applied there and got approved. Shortly after I got a "student offer" from Discover, applied for and received that. About a week after I realized I should make use of the Discover card not hitting my score yet and got a BofA CashBack Rewards card. I waited too long to apply for a Chase card, for which I got denied.
The multiple opened new accounts will hurt your score short term, but after a year they will reflect a higher limit used responsibly and will boost your score more than if you just opened one at a time. Unless you have something that you may be looking for in the short term, like a car or house, I would recommend this. I'm 20 and have a decent credit score slightly above average, and by the time I graduate(hopefully already with a job in IB) this should be much stronger.
Creditcard masters - Let's say you're 21, you've had a Discover IT card (1K Credit Limit) for 6 months, and your FICO score is hovering around 700. Stated Income = 1st year Street pay.
Would you be eligible for the Chase Sapphire Reserve/Preferred, or are there other cards you should consider? Goal is to get the highest line of credit, rather than to get the best possible rewards/points/travel possible.
Other places give more generous lines of credit than Chase. You could also get balance transfer cards if you need a lot of access.
Every 6 months or so, I call my card companies and ask for more credit. Just say "I'm thinking about making some big purchases and am requesting an extension" or some shit. It works every now and then
In regards to larger credit lines consider an Amex revolving credit card. With Amex you can request a credit limit increase every 181 days and it is always a soft pull so no slight dings on your FICO score.
If the goal is to get the highest line of credit, look at AMEX. They give out limits like candy on halloween. Also, after 60 days you can ask them to increase your limit 3x with no hard pull. They are the easiest, and its not even close, to get credit with.
stfu before i ice barrage u noob
Chase has a 5/24 policy where you won't be approved for new cards if you've applied to more than 5 cards/hard credit pulls in the past 24 months (rolling).
If you have military ties, check out USAA or NFCU. They are very helpful.
I second USAA and also add Discover. Great experiences with both and I find their products competitive.
The catch with Discover is it is not as widely accepted for payment as Visa/MC. Yes I also am aware of some smaller businesses not accepting Amex for payment.
USAA and NFCU have excellent customer service and would highly recommend them if you can become a member. Also will recommend the Chase Sapphire solely based off of the 3x points that correlate to things you use your CC for most - Uber, restaurants, and bars.
Was in the same boat as you last year.. but had zero trouble getting these cards with no credit
I ended up the BOA Cash Rewards - 3% on gas, 2% at Wholesale, 1% everywhere else. and the AMEX gold which waives the 195$ fee the first year and has whole bunch of perks.
Google "The Points Guy" go one Churning subreddit
I was in the exact same boat as you since I had no credit history and wanted to open up a credit card after graduating and working full time. I had my pre-selected offers coming in from BofA but it was only with a $500 credit limit. Since I had my checkings at BofA I went in personally and applied for the Cash Back Rewards card. With decent income, you should be able to get approved for at least $1K credit limit.
I was also rejected for Capital One since there was no credit history to pull. Currently building my credit using within the credit limit and paying off in full every month.
I would advise searching "BeatTheBush" or "AskSebby" on Youtube for how to build credit or best first credit card
I like simplicity. I don't have time to spend hours scanning promotions and applying for cards.
Fidelity's one of our competitors, but my primary card is a 'Fidelity Retirement Rewards Visa' (it used to be an AMEX, but they recently switched to Visa) No annual fee, and 2% cash back on everything, which gets deposited into a Fidelity account.
I'm not the biggest fan of their funds, but as a custodian, they're fine. I've never been charged an annual fee, and I can put in trades for $5.
I've had the card for the better part of a decade, and haven't heard from them other than the occasional fraud alert, or "we'd like to increase your line of credit" call. The interest rate is rather stiff, however, so plan on never carrying a balance month-to-month on it.
I'm a junior rn and my first card was Discover Student, I applied in freshman year and I didn't even have SSN back then(so credit line was only $750). The card has 5% back category each quarter, so pretty similar to chase freedom. On top of that they will double your cashback money for the first year, so its a pretty good&safe place to start if you have absolutely 0 credit history.
1 year later I managed to boost my FICO score to ~750, and got Chase freedom w/ $7K credit-line. I was also thinking about applying to Chase unlimited, but decided to play safe given I didn't have an income.
I just received my Barclays' Uber credit card last week, it gives 4% on dinning, 3% on travel, 2% on online purchases(includes uber rides) and 1% everything else, w/ 0 annual fee which makes it absolutely awesome. It just came out this month so not many ppl knows about it, but def worth checking it out.
btw my application for uber credit card was actually rejected on the 1st go, but I called Barclays for reconsideration and the dude manually approved it for me after asking me about my job, income, rent and stuff. So I def recommend u to try the same for your chase application before considering alternatives :)
Woah, you have a $7K credit limit for Chase? How were you able to achieve FICO score of 750 with no income as a student? Just paid in full every month with minimum spending? I would love to know how Chase allowed $7K spending limit for a college student.
I was quite surprised about that as well tbh. But for improving FICO score, I just made sure that I pay back my CC in full every month BEFORE the statement is posted, so that my credit utilization can remain low. Given my credit limit was only $750 back then(its now $4k!), I had to pay my CC very frequently. But yea I believe if you keep doing that for a year your FICO should be able to go 700+
Wow, good looks on that Uber card man. That's insane cash back rewards, definitely beats my Chase Freedom Unlimited and Discover Chrome cards.
If you're frequently abroad (especially in 3rd world countries), use B of A. In my experience, it's instant name recognition and acceptance, since who doesn't trust "Bank of America". Not everyone knows Chase in Chile or Tanzania.
I've used NFCU all over the world.
All they care about if it says "Visa" and it works. If you're in a third world country, they are going to take it and swipe it and not even look.
No one is going to have heard of Bank of America in some third world country anyway. I mean maybe they have heard of 'America.'
I think his argument is akin to the fact that most people outside finance do not know the difference between Deutsche and the Deutsche Bundesbank. it is trust by deception.
Best starter card would be the Citi student card imo, although it’s an sob to get. Otherwise I’d start with discover. I started with discover, And it helped tremendously. Just make all of your payments on time. Currently sitting on 40k in revolvers with chase/Amex/citi/discover based off of payment history alone.
go AmEx. Delta SkyMiles is a joke. Got 1K on the spot first day out of college.
PuppyLoveProcessing is the best credit card
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