I warn all in advance, this is an extremely long post but contains valuable information for everyone. Print it out if you don’t have time to read it now. I am writing this statement as of finishing typing the post, this has taken me close to 45 minutes and I still haven’t said everything I wish to have said. I have proof read this many times for your reading pleasure. If you notice something that is incorrect or have something to add please post.
If you don’t have the money now don’t get a credit card, you will only get in debt. I am 16 and have a credit card but I will never buy more than I know I have. You don’t want to screw up your credit, unless you never want to buy a house or a car.
As for that no interest for 6 months thing, watch out. 99% of the time the interest accrues, meaning if you don’t pay it off before the 6 months is up, you don’t only start paying 22% interest on it but you will pay 22% interest for the entire amount of the loan. So if you don’t pay it off on time that $350 camera will now cost you $889. That is why people get into debt, they don’t realize all those tricks the companies put in there to get money.
I only have a credit card to build credit but I know how to use it so as not to get into debt.
After I said all that, to get a credit card you usually need income. It doesn’t matter how much it is (although more income will create a higher credit limit) but there needs to be some. I have a credit card through my credit union (Visa) but I have heard good things from American Express. There are many different companies that offer credit cards though, that Staples card is not owned by Staples, they have a separate bank. All credit cards are by some bank no matter what label is on it. AAA's Visa card is from the bank MBNA, an excellent bank with great rates. However another stores Visa may be owned by a different bank with different rates, promotions, and policies. Thousands of stores have credit cards from MBNA but there are so many others out there, make sure to shop around different banks not just different credit card companies.
One of the great things MBNA offers that no one else does is there rebates, I get a % off all gas I purchase with it. This isn’t like American Express's 4% back at the end of the year (I'll get into that next) this is instant money off the gas. Each time I get gas I save about a buck due to the bank the credit card is under, a buck each time can save me a lot of money by the end of the year.
Other common rebates are like American Express's 4%, there are many quirks with this. First it is not instant money, it is money you use towards something else, which is not your purchases. Usually they will send you a catalog of items you can purchase with your rebate check, still nice but its not real cash. The other main problem is that you typically get different percentages based on the different amounts you spend. Such as if you only spent $10k with the card you may only get 1%, you have to spend much more to get the higher percentage bracket. Different banks have different brackets and can differ on how much you get. Again shop around.
As for building credit, most banks are the same. Certain cards may provide more credit than others though. Such as a Platinum card or a card with a higher credit limit. Also how much you spend on the card will vary how much credit you get. If you spend $10k over a year on the card and pay it off promptly every month you will get great credit points, but if you do the same with $20k then you will get more. This is why it is good to put most purchases on your credit card, as long as you know you have money in the bank that can cover it. Also try not to have to many credit cards, 2 or 3 is good, but if you have 5 or 6 then it will hurt your credit. Remember any purchases you put on a credit card are like mini loans, the more loans you have the more it will effect your credit.
Large loans can be good for your credit. While your credit will go down while you have the loan, after you pay the loan off, assuming you paid every payment on time, your credit rating will go up higher than it was before you had the loan.
While this may be a future thing for you, if you are planning to purchase a house within 6 months then pay off all loans, that way you can get your credit score as high as you can. Higher credit is great for purchasing a house, not only will it get you a great interest rate which will save you thousands but when you put an offer on an house, the sellers will check your credit score and if it is high than they will likely pick you. If you have low credit then not only will it be hard to get a seller to take your offer but your interest rate will be much higher which will cost you much more on your mortgage payment.
My father managed his credit and took great car all his life, he is now 50 and his credit score is 830. Anyone who knows credit knows 830 is amazing, but it is close to impossible to get.
![[:D]](/images/smilies/biggrin.png "Big Grin [:D]")
![[rofl]](/images/smilies/icon_smile_rofl.gif "ROFL [rofl]"){kind=icon}
