22, In college and planning for the future and starting to put money away and I'm looking for help/advice on getting a Credit Card to start building credit.

What would be the best way to do so, appreciate the advice.

I don't know now but when I went to university they had little booths were you filled out an application and got a student visa from a major bank usually with a $500 limit and two department store cards, a furniture store card, and a gas station credit card. People were dying to give students credit to the point where those morons who don't believe in personal responsibility started to claim it was predatory. Assuming nothing has changed just apply for a student credit card with your bank.

If you hit a wall and can't get a student credit card get a secured one. I'm not sure who does these in the States but use someone who does normal cards as well. My guess is that Capital One would fit this description. Given them $2500 as security and they will give you a credit card with a $2500 limit. Here in Canada most of the banks do this as well but often they require between 110% and 300% of your limit as a deposit. 110% to have a credit card from a major bank is fine but anything over 125% is too much.

Here in the states my student visa had a limit of $200, and if you were enrolled in a major college it was a lock you would get one.

Just be on time and basically pay it off instantly as you go and after 1-2 years you should be able to get a bigger one no problem.

When I was in college I got a student credit card in 1995. They gave me a credit limit of $1,000 and pretty much increased the limit every year for the next decade. I now have a credit limit of $48,000, which I could never actually pay off were I to use it all.

It should still be pretty easy for you to get some low limit card or, as Henry said, a secured card. Would your folks co-sign a card for you? That would pretty much guarantee you a card, I would think.

Things have changed with the new credit laws that were enacted in 2010. Credit card companies can no longer provide credit cards to students under 21, unless they have a co-signer, or have proof of income sufficient for their credit limit. They're also limited in terms of advertising / promotion on campuses. That said, since the OP is 22, it shouldn't be hard for him to get a student credit card provided he has some type of part-time income.

OP, if you have a checking account, you should check with your bank and see if you can get a credit card with them. Since you have no credit history, your credit limit will probably be very low at first ($200-$500 per month), but you'll be able to build some credit and as long as you pay on time, they'll slowly raise that limit over time.

Advice: Always pay your bill off in full when it's due, don't max out your card (usual advice is to utilize ~30% of your available credit, but can be exceeded a bit with such a low limit), don't use your card to buy things you can't afford to pay cash for, and since you have such a low limit, structure your purchases to maximize your rewards.

little tweak:
pay off the credit card in two installments/month, instead of one.

never heard of this...does it help?

It does, especially if you're getting close to your limit.

The easiest thing is to ask your parents to add you to one of their credit card accounts (if they have good credit). They don't actually need to give you a card, you're just technically on the account, which is fantastic for your credit score. It's called "piggybacking".

There is absolutely no benefit to your credit score from paying your credit card twice a month.

Where you do have an impact is by ensuring that you pay it before the date that card reports to the credit bureau. Most cards report every month and utilization is a significant component in your credit score. Even if you pay your balance in full every month if you do so after the reporting date that card is going to represent a high utilization which is negative.

I was in the same situation and got a secured card from BOA, they told me the way to best help my credit is to pay like 80% of the total instead paying it off as soon as you buy something....They could be FOS but her reasoning was they want to see that you can make constant payments and not instapaying something off as soon as you buy it

I think you got tarped.

It was a tarp. Making your monthly payments counts just the same. In fact, it's really just that you didn't miss any payments. You don't even have to carry a balance to not miss a payment. Also, the thing about a credit card is that you have credit available to you. The lower your credit utilization number the better. In other words, if you have $10k in credit, you want to use as little of that as possible. If you have $9k, it hurts you. But if you owe no money, it helps you.

Sorry they tricked you into paying interest. BOA is the devil.

http://www.creditcards.com/credit-ca...score-6000.php

Included on the tips are both piggybacking and making two monthly payments.
(Probably not a bad link for OP to follow.)
fwiw, I remember listening to a Bloomberg Radio show a couple weekends ago with a guest that also mentioned two payments as well as a secured card.

Yes, but what they recommend that method as simply a way to keep your credit utilization number down. It's not the number of payment itself but the balance as a percentage of your total credit limit. If you have a $10k limit and never had more than a $500 balance, making two payments versus one a month is going to have zero effect on your credit score.

...



can we move on now?