Yep. It works just like a normal VISA, only it there is no loaned money involved, and there are no monthly payments. It takes only what you have.

 

me+"check card"= Part for mah car. Thanks a lot everyone for you very helpful advice. fing02.gif

 

here's my advice, do not use your check card online... it's tied to your bank account and if the #'s get stolen and used it's your money, you can get it back because it's a visa but still annoying (happened to me and i ended up having to make a new bank account to avoid calling national city every month to have money put back in)

credit cards aren't bad if you use them right (pay them off each month, then there is no interest). I have a aaa card i use for gas cause it get rebates with it. started out at like 5%rebate on gas now it's down to a retarded 2% but oh well.

bank accounts and using your check card help almost NONE with your credit rating. read here to find out : http://money.howstuffworks.com/credit-score.htm (btw, the bank told me this as well)

I had a bank account for like 2 years, used my check card for gas, everything, and never overdrafted once. I went to get a cell phone and guess what? no credit, they wanted me to pay them 800 down to get a cell phone. so i ended up on my parents plan for a couple years till my credit went up. You'd probably be getting one of those prepay phones since you have no credit, which end up being like 50-75 cents a minute. And since they are prepay they don't help your credit much.

The best way to up your credit score quickly is credit cards, period. second is loans. third is paying bills on time (that cell phone).

This was all told to me by a rep. at my bank who also happens to be a friend of my family. and btw, I'm only 21 and my credit score is in the 800's, the max is 900...

 

i have a cellphone plan for 4 years and one credit card for about two and both w/o late payments and I was approved for a $20,000 loan with ease.

offtopic.gif hey guys... but how exactly can i check or see my credit rating for free?

 

Credit Cards are great. I think I have 14? or something like that.

I never went over $1000 all cards combined together, so it's all about you being able to control yourself.

I have many cards that have 0% until certain amount, so I buy something for $300 and just pay $25 a month until it's paid off. Doesn't hurt at all.

Also, have a bunch of cards that have very low ARP, so I pay no more than $3-5 a month if I borrowed a lot of money.

My credit score is better than my parent's score is and I'm only 20. I could easily go and buy a house now if I wanted to.

 

I think credit cards are uncessary, but this is my own opinion. I had friends, when I was in college, that got into debt big time with those things and haunted them later in life when they tried to buy cars or houses. It's easy to dig yourself into a hole, if you're late or miss a payment, you have to pay a late fee plus you annual percentage rate can go up as well. I stay away from them as they can potentially cause more harm then good (it's a win win situation for credit card companies, if you make your payments, they make a good profit, if you don't, they claim it as a loss and still make a profit). I havn't had a credit card in 7 years and have never needed one ever since. It's very easy to get a credit card in college and credit card companies purposely target this age group, just be carefull and try to resist buying those kegs for the parties..lol

 

as someone who came over here just three years ago, and obviously, didn't have any credit history in my former country, tell ya.. DO NOT apply for any credit cards.. Sears kinda thing is BS... will take you forever to get ur credit score up...

What i did is went to the Citizens bank and created the secured credit card... it was a year ago.
6 month later, they've switched my SC into CC.. two weeks ago i got one more CC for 15000 and a loan for the car.. =)

Basically, using that card, i got my credit score up to 7.9 wich is damn good.

 

You guys got to remember that it dosn't matter if you have 1 or 20 credit cards, it only counts as one source of credit. The potential harm you can do to your credit history with credit cards far outweight any good it can do for you. I think it's better to have a debit card then credit card..just my 2cents..again

 

Cyber, you're not quite right.
Unfortunately, american economy is based on the credit system. If you don't have any CCs you will not be able to get a loan in future due to lack of credit history. my brother has hard time getting his insurance because for last three years he was paying cash only, never had any cards...now he has to pay 15-16 hunderds for 6 month...

 

I just got my first credit card this year (had and have a checking card for more then a year now)..I avoided it like the plague for so long but I figured it was time to start building some credit.

I got a "student" type of Visa card from this good bank. I put my limit to $250 because I feel that is more then enough for an emergency or what not. I have had it only for about four months and I just went to Verizon last month to get my cell phone switched over to my name (it was under my mothers) and my credit was approved and I got put into the C-list which as told by the represenative there, is real good for a person my age. My mother's credit score was 810 from what I remember..I plan on building my credit that well.

If you get a card then dont put that limit too high and dont pay minimum payments when bill time comes. I read that if you pay on time, dont spend over half of your limit (say 500..you shouldnt spend more then $250), dont pay minimum payments, your credit rating goes higher.

Oh if any of you guys want your credit score, some of the states allow you to get it for free..here in the Northeast we can get our annual report on Sept. 1. If you dont want to wait you can get your report for $10 from sites like equifax.com