so i just turned 18 and i'm looking to get my first credit card
currently I do my banking through TD, if that helps at all
so I'm looking for what would be a good credit card to go with for a starter card :P
so i just turned 18 and i'm looking to get my first credit card
currently I do my banking through TD, if that helps at all
so I'm looking for what would be a good credit card to go with for a starter card :P
td green.
I just got mine 2 weeks ago from MBNA.
If your staying in school get a student credit card, I found that easy to get. You have to remember when applying for a credit card that they are going to look for how long you've been employed for, how long at the place of residents. Try to get a low intresed credit card, you don't want to be paying 18.5 percent on everything. Check to see if your bank has interest free.
Don't go with MBNA... shady company. They don't have online banking, and were accused of having sketchy tactics to try to push people further into debt (switching up the payment date on some months to make people's payments late, etc).
Definately go with a TD card if you have a TD bank account. That way you can go online and transfer money from your chequing account to your credit card and it pays it off instantly (if you go with a differnt bank/card it'll take 2-3 business days).
After you get your credit card, never use your debit card again. Buy everything on your credit card and pay it off when you get your bill. Pay your credit card off when they send you the bill and not as soon as you get a chance to. You build your credit score faster this way.
Never leave a single cent unpaid on your CC... talk to your parents about co-signing on a line of credit for you. That way you're paying Prime +1-3% (so 7-9%) interest instead of 18-21% on whatever goes unpaid... though ideally you don't overspend and can pay off what you use.
stick with your bank for a credit card, much easier to deal with and very easy to pay your bills online.
And as 88crxguy said, go for a student card.
Super_geo is right, use your credit card for buying everything. Thats what I do and it makes my credit better, also I get points. Make sure that you pay if off every month, have no overdue balance. Since that you never have had a credit card before they are probably only going to give you something like 500 bucks, take that and build up from there.
Start off with one credit card, don't apply for a bunch because everytime they check your credit it sort of red flags it as you need the money. So have one and have it for a year or whatever and keep it in check. If you've been with the bank long enough you shouldn't have a problem getting. You may want to bring someone as a co-signer just in case.
TD green has no anual fee but has a 19.75% interest rate
TD gold select also has no anual fee with a 19.75% interest rate
TD rebate rewards visa this is a new visa its currently the only visa TD offers with no anual fee and 1% anual cash rebate what this means after one calender year has passed you will receive 1% of the money you spent over that year back! this visa also carries a 19.75% interest rate
the above cards are great if you pay your balance off right away as there are no yearly fees. If you use your car alot and carry a balance i would suggest going with a TD Emerald visa this visa has a $25 anual fee but the intrest rate is prime plus 1.9% and prime currently is 6% so thats only 7.9% interest.
there are many other visa'a avaiable at TD but i wouldn't suggest them as starter visa's.
Hope this helps!!
-Dallen
^^^ werd, only start with one card - and start with the LOWEST credit. You dont want to be 18 and getting yourself in major debt. I agree that you should buy everything on your CC, but make sure you have the money before you spend it. Just because you have a credit card doesn't mean you should start spending lots of money that you have to borrow. Trust me you will get in alot of troble quick!
Good luck, and good credit! (trust me when you go to buy your first house, you will be happy with yourself if you have followed my advice)
I have mbna, and they have online banking. I checked my balance yesterday...Originally posted by Super_Geo
Don't go with MBNA... shady company. They don't have online banking, and were accused of having sketchy tactics to try to push people further into debt (switching up the payment date on some months to make people's payments late, etc).
I'm overall pretty pleased with them, interest isn't that bad, and for some reason 2/3rds of the time they give me a "payment holiday" which means I don't have to pay that month (but of course I'm still charged interest. In the last year I've had more "holidays" than actual payments, which is nice when I was in school and could delay paying them back until I was working.
It was weird, when I turned 18 I couldn't get a card for the life of me, I applied at tons of places, including CIBC, where I've been banking since I was 5.
The only annoying thing is they keep calling me to upsell me on insurance on my card... even though I already have it.
Wrong.Originally posted by Super_Geo
Don't go with MBNA... shady company. They don't have online banking.
I do all my banking online, and use a MBNA card.
Meh, I have had no problems with them and I've been with them for almost three years (aswell as other companys, however this is my main cc provider)
Yeah, I have 2 mbna cards, my only problem is that they keep upping the limit without informing me, I don't really want my limits to go any higher.Originally posted by thrasher22
I have mbna, and they have online banking. I checked my balance yesterday...
I'm overall pretty pleased with them, interest isn't that bad, and for some reason 2/3rds of the time they give me a "payment holiday" which means I don't have to pay that month (but of course I'm still charged interest. In the last year I've had more "holidays" than actual payments, which is nice when I was in school and could delay paying them back until I was working.
just wondering, is it possible to pay off a credit card with another credit card...
I cant remeber, but i heard something about using cheaper money to pay off more expensive money.
one card has 19.75% and one has 11%....only thing is one is a visa and one is a mastercard
A friend of mine had a visa that was 18 percent and it was maxed out. She talked to the bank and they sent her the a visa but with a lower rate of intertest, I think it was 10 percent or something. You should talk to your bank and see if they can give you a lower interest card instead of going back and fourth between credit cards.Originally posted by slick2404
just wondering, is it possible to pay off a credit card with another credit card...
I cant remeber, but i heard something about using cheaper money to pay off more expensive money.
one card has 19.75% and one has 11%....only thing is one is a visa and one is a mastercard
Lets put it this way....Originally posted by Super_Geo
Don't go with MBNA... shady company. They don't have online banking, and were accused of having sketchy tactics to try to push people further into debt (switching up the payment date on some months to make people's payments late, etc).
Definately go with a TD card if you have a TD bank account. That way you can go online and transfer money from your chequing account to your credit card and it pays it off instantly (if you go with a differnt bank/card it'll take 2-3 business days).
After you get your credit card, never use your debit card again. Buy everything on your credit card and pay it off when you get your bill. Pay your credit card off when they send you the bill and not as soon as you get a chance to. You build your credit score faster this way.
Never leave a single cent unpaid on your CC... talk to your parents about co-signing on a line of credit for you. That way you're paying Prime +1-3% (so 7-9%) interest instead of 18-21% on whatever goes unpaid... though ideally you don't overspend and can pay off what you use.
I got a student visa when I turned 18, did the work this way. Now I am 20 and just picked up a brand new car and the loan guy said I have a better credit score than most 25 year olds.
Just make sure that if you put it on the credit card you have the cash in your account and nothing will happen
BTW I am with TD and got the $500 student card at first, in 6 months they offered me a $13,000 Emerald Visa
Cos...
First of all if you want to get rich, don't get into debt. Simple as
that. And of course easier said than done... but goodluck.
TD Student card is good.
What the hell are you talking about? When you make mistakes with debt, it's usually something awful, but borrowing money is not a bad thing, and certainly not something that will hinder your ability to get rich. In fact, the wealthiest in this world started with debt - hey, they probably still carry some. If you know about debt, you can use it to your advantage. The same goes when you play with money in any other fashion - play smart.Originally posted by Dayclone
First of all if you want to get rich, don't get into debt. Simple as that.
I can use +your+ money to get rich, while whatever I have sits in my savings account. Sometimes its THAT simple.
Originally posted by thrasher22
I have mbna, and they have online banking. I checked my balance yesterday...How long have you guys had your cards for? Cause when I had a Queen's MBNA mastercard 2-3 years ago they didn't have anything online. When I called them they said that MBNA USA had an online system but MBNA Canada was looking to get one but it wasn't set up yet. I thought about getting a Flames MBNA Mastercard but when I called them they said they still didn't have it... and this was maybe 3 months ago at the most.Originally posted by ChokeEmOut
Wrong.
I do all my banking online, and use a MBNA card.
Payment vacations where interest is still being generated isn't something I would expect from a reputable credit card company. It encourages people to pay higher interest on their debts intead of getting a line of credit. Sure paying $75/month in interest on a $5000 loan doesn't seem like much, but that's $900/year. Thats with 18% interst, if you had a 8% line of credit you would only pay $33 a month and save $500 a year.Originally posted by thrasher22
I'm overall pretty pleased with them, interest isn't that bad, and for some reason 2/3rds of the time they give me a "payment holiday" which means I don't have to pay that month (but of course I'm still charged interest. In the last year I've had more "holidays" than actual payments, which is nice when I was in school and could delay paying them back until I was working.
It was weird, when I turned 18 I couldn't get a card for the life of me, I applied at tons of places, including CIBC, where I've been banking since I was 5.
The only annoying thing is they keep calling me to upsell me on insurance on my card... even though I already have it.
I'm not saying that you're going around holding $5000 on your credit card, but a lot of people in North America have much more than that in high interst debts, and it's cause they don't put in the simple effort of securing low interest borrowing.
I worked out a system with my parents and some close relatives where I borrow money from them and pay them 2% less interest than what I get on my LOC. I don't have a lot of history on my credit so I'm paying 7.5% on my LOC, but 5.5% that you don't pay any tax on beats the shit out of any high interst savings account. Low risk mutal funds will get you 10%+, but you have to pay tax on whatever you earn so depending on how much you make that 10% is actually only 6-8%. There's also a risk, though if you're looking to make a 10% return it's probably pretty low risk. If they ever need the money I just transfer it online from my LOC to their account in all of 2 minutes or so. I just bought a condo and didn't have as much as I would've liked saved up so furnishing it pushed me an extra $10,000 in debt, so this setup has really helped me quite a bit. Fucing debt...
Really? That's fucking awesome! Wish I knew that before I just bought all my furniture/home theater equipment/etc. I have a TD Emerald right now, which has a pretty low interst rate, but I haven't left anything on there yet so it's not really doing too much.Originally posted by DALLEN
TD rebate rewards visa this is a new visa its currently the only visa TD offers with no anual fee and 1% anual cash rebate what this means after one calender year has passed you will receive 1% of the money you spent over that year back! this visa also carries a 19.75% interest rate
I can't wait to have enough equity paid off on the condo to get a home equity line of credit... I've seen some with interst rates as low as prime -0.8%, which would be 5.2% with prime where it's at now. Add that rebate visa in there and you're only paying 4.2% interest on borrowed money.
I got it maybe 2 years ago, it must have been new?Originally posted by Super_Geo
How long have you guys had your cards for? Cause when I had a Queen's MBNA mastercard 2-3 years ago they didn't have anything online. When I called them they said that MBNA USA had an online system but MBNA Canada was looking to get one but it wasn't set up yet. I thought about getting a Flames MBNA Mastercard but when I called them they said they still didn't have it... and this was maybe 3 months ago at the most.
Payment vacations where interest is still being generated isn't something I would expect from a reputable credit card company. It encourages people to pay higher interest on their debts intead of getting a line of credit. Sure paying $75/month in interest on a $5000 loan doesn't seem like much, but that's $900/year. Thats with 18% interst, if you had a 8% line of credit you would only pay $33 a month and save $500 a year.
I agree payment holidays aren't a great thing if you're responsible with your money, but the
most I've ever had on my card is $700. The payment holidays are just a nice option if money is tight one month, which is common for broke ass students like me lol.