Credit card question

[gimp]

My buddy and I are arguing over this. We're talking about building good credit. I'm not really sure how this all works, but my understanding is that your credit score is based on how reliable you are. So if you pay your credit card bill in full, every month, then that would be the fastest way to build credit. That's what I thought. He is trying to tell me that your credit score will be better if you pay just the minimum payment every month, because the credit card company makes more money from you. Seems to me like your credit score would be worse if they see that your only paying the minimum payment. If someone could shed some light on this I'd appreciate it.

[XtremeC]

as long as you pay your bill im pretty sure it builds credit all the same but it would jsut be wise to pay it off with out the interest... i think that if you pay minimum payments the company will expand your limit.. thats where the trying to make money off of you come in...

[Lohman446]

Go to the bank you normally deal with, take out a small personal loan, make about double payments. Paying of too quickly does not always build credit best.

[Vex]

A credit card is a good way to ESTABLISH credit; however, it won't build credit very quickly.
It's always a good idea to pay your bills on time, even if you can only afford to pay the minimum (banks/cc companies love it when you pay the minimum because then they make their money off of the interest that you pay by keeping a balance on your card.)
One of the best ways to build credit is to get a loan and pay on it (ON TIME) for a while. A car loan works well too. You don't want to have too many open lines of credit unless they are necessary, i.e. mortgage, auto loan, & one or two charge accounts.
Choose your debts wisely.

[CprodigyX]

Your credit history basically shows other people (lenders) how reliable you are. The high your score the better rates you'll get. Both of you are right; if you pay the minimum just remember you'll have to pay the rest later with interest

[Alley]

Credit card companies do prefer you to pay minimum payments so they will get more in intrest. But, the most imporant thing on your credit rating is if your payments are current and not delinquen(this meaning you never make a payment late) It gets labeled if you do it starts at 30 days then keeps adding up the more late payments the worse your score is so, paying on time is VERY important. Some companies will be turned off by someone who pays things off quickly actually due to the fact that they arent going to gain as much intrest. Also, some loans have an early pay off penalty and tack all the intrest on anyway (something to ask if you get a loan, make sure you wont be paying off mucho intrest in the end. Then some monthly installment loans already have the intrest for the life of the loan figured in and your paying on the entire amount so paying off early will be good for you. So, it all depends on how you look at it.

[fire1811]

its always good just to have a credit card or two. I have two. One I use for online stuff with a $500 limit and the other one I have sits in a drawer in my desk. I do not use it at all.

I fell into a credit card problem a while back, finally got them all paid off BE CAREFULL its easy to get in debt with them.

the reason I keep two is the more accounts you have open the better score you will have. well you dont want to have to many open either.

when I payed off some of my old cards and cancelled the accounts my credit score actually went down.

its funny but your punished for not being in debt.

[Automaggot68]

Your credit history basically shows other people (lenders) how reliable you are. The high your score the better rates you'll get. Both of you are right; if you pay the minimum just remember you'll have to pay the rest later with interest

Hey dude!
Havent seen you on AIm at all.
We need to hook up and shoot a few games at the field guy!

[CprodigyX]

hey there buddy. Ya i sent you a few pm's? any ways just got my x-mag back from curtis at havoc. The thing is sick! he did a great job. I'm planning to go to velocity this weeken, it'll be my last chance before I leave. Well I would this guy sure got alot of info about credit. Hopefully he can stay out of debt. You know what kills me, my student loans The price for an education i guess.

[Automaggot68]

hey there buddy. Ya i sent you a few pm's? any ways just got my x-mag back from curtis at havoc. The thing is sick! he did a great job. I'm planning to go to velocity this weeken, it'll be my last chance before I leave. Well I would this guy sure got alot of info about credit. Hopefully he can stay out of debt. You know what kills me, my student loans The price for an education i guess.

Haha, I got your PMs, you didnt get mine?
Where are you leaving to, dude?

[CprodigyX]

I'm going on a 2 month cruise to the south pacific. Then 1 month backpacking around new zealand. Then when i get back I start school again up in san fran. So yup im going to pretty busy the next few months. Hey but are u going to velocity this weekn?

[Vex]

Also every time your score is looked at it goes down too, don't ask me why.

You don't get docked every time your credit is viewed. If your credit is looked at a lot in a very short period (like if you go to 4 or 5 car dealers in one day or weekend), or for certain types of inquiries (don't know exactly), you are docked points. You can view your credit every couple of months, and maybe even monthly, without it affecting your score.

[fire1811]

I know when I first tried getting a credit card I applied for quite a few to try and get the lowest APR. I was turned down by a few because of to many inquiries in a 12 month period.

[Wheelman]

I could tell you what not to do with a credit card but you can probably see where I'm going with this.

[Alley]

You get docked 5 points everytime your credit is checked. Where I work one of our training facilitators decided to use his name for our trainning purposes in running credit checks ... The class consisted of about 30 or so people. We destroyed his credit. I'd say our facilitator wasnt too bright that day :)