Thin credit report

[iwashmycar]

Try and get the card that will give you the largest limit. For example, I noticed (in my case) AMEX was stingy....maybe a few grand. Citi seems to hand it out like water.

 

Also get a card that will pay you!. For example discover will give you 5% back at gas stations April-June, then it changes to restaurants, and so on. Or maybe if you want to bank miles look into those, ect.

[Radio Flyer1647545514]

I would just apply for three cards the same day you know you'll get approved for and that you think you can hit the sign up bonus for.

 

In my experience CITI and Chase give you the highest credit limit.

 

Spend like cash and pay off each month.

[Dharris89]

Thank you again for all the added comments.

 

I thought long and hard over the weekend:

 

The next few weeks I am going to look at credit card offers. However, I will only be putting a tank of gas once a month on what I get and pay it out prior to the end of the billing cycle.

 

Otherwise I have resigned myself to save, save, save for what I want to purchase. Yes this sucks in the age of instant gratification but I guess I can appease that with hookers lol.

 

I think hookers only take cash so you are good on that.

 

I have read and listen to a lot of Dave Ramsey. I don’t agree with 100% of his teachings but most is sound common sense. Check a couple of his books out or watch some YouTube. He will give you some basic guidelines for how to make what you have go a long way and how to save. There is also good advice on what to look for when finding a financial advisor, saving up for a house etc. Again congrats on getting out of debt!

[downingracing]

Cash back credit cards (no annual fee) and use them for your daily purchases. Pay the bill as often as you need to keep a $0 balance. (You can make one payment per day on most credit cards) That can be handy if saving the cash is difficult. Reap the benefits of the cash back and never pay a cent in interest. Been doing this for years and end up with ~$2-2500 cash back every December. Keeps your credit account active and shows the balance as of the monthly reporting cadence. Good luck!

[2 Sweet]

Cash back credit cards (no annual fee) and use them for your daily purchases. Pay the bill as often as you need to keep a $0 balance. (You can make one payment per day on most credit cards) That can be handy if saving the cash is difficult. Reap the benefits of the cash back and never pay a cent in interest. Been doing this for years and end up with ~$2-2500 cash back every December. Keeps your credit account active and shows the balance as of the monthly reporting cadence. Good luck!

 

This is what I should have been doing for the last decade. I haven't had a CC in years, I've paid cash or used my bank debit card for everything I've bought. I've only recently realized how foolish that is.

[downingracing]

The difficult part is the discipline to keep a $0 balance. It's easy to fall into the trap of "I'll make a smaller payment this month and pay the balance off next month". I know - I've done that 2x in a 10 year period (a long time ago - I'm old) and it SUCKED both times. Led to 10's of thousands of dollars in CC debt each time. Clawed my way back from that (yes - I'm a slow learner and had to do it twice) and haven't paid a cent in interest on a CC in over 20 years.

 

And with all the identity theft/cc # theft these days, it just isn't safe to use a Debit card anywhere other than an ATM (after checking for a skimmer of course). CC paid off daily, weekly, or monthly is the way to go.

[2 Sweet]

The difficult part is the discipline to keep a $0 balance. It's easy to fall into the trap of "I'll make a smaller payment this month and pay the balance off next month". I know - I've done that 2x in a 10 year period (a long time ago - I'm old) and it SUCKED both times. Led to 10's of thousands of dollars in CC debt each time. Clawed my way back from that (yes - I'm a slow learner and had to do it twice) and haven't paid a cent in interest on a CC in over 20 years.

 

And with all the identity theft/cc # theft these days, it just isn't safe to use a Debit card anywhere other than an ATM (after checking for a skimmer of course). CC paid off daily, weekly, or monthly is the way to go.

 

Good advice. Lots of good info in this thread that is very helpful.

 

I'm in a similar boat as BBQ Dude. I'll be completely debt free here very shortly, but I don't have any credit accounts or anything, and haven't in a long time. I figured paying my bills on time and having no debt would be good enough, but nope. My credit score is around 640 I think. There just isn't much history there. It hasn't been a problem until now that I'm getting ready to buy a newer car and need a loan and realized my credit score needs work. I should have looked into this years ago. And I never even considered the rewards, getting cash back from a credit card is another perk I hadn't considered.

[AudiOn19s]

My wife works in credit...the games you have to play to keep a great credit score are amusing at times.

 

Something to point out here...if you're hoping for a quick score jump it's not going to happen. Opening new cards (I'd start with 2) is going to lower your score in the immediate future, but it's the only way to fix it long term.

 

I'd also see if you can find a credit union that will do a loan on your upcoming car purchase for reasonable interest rate...as one other person stated make sure there aren't early payoff penalties and carry it for 18 months...consider the interest paid the cost of increasing your score and then pay it off. We always pay off our car notes at least 3 months early just because it's one extra thing that goes into getting you those extra points on your score in the long run.

 

Also agree on going somewhere like "The Points Guy" and figuring out which cards work best for you (cash back vs. travel rewards vs. ???) and then LIVING off of those cards and paying them off every 2 weeks.

 

We love to travel so we're more centered on travel rewards cards because they provide the most value for us. We took a vacation in November that would have cost $25K plus and we were out of pocket just under $5k for a trip of a lifetime thanks to all our rewards points.