I gota ask my dad for my AMEX card then. Got me one that is shared with his name but never gave be the card. Do you know about AMEX wishlist event that goes on twice a year? Had some great deals. Even had 3 2007 Porsche Cayman for 5k. Those were 3 very lucky people. BTW what CC do you think has the best reward points system?

 

You need a card in your name only if you want to build your credit score. It won't help if the card has your name on it but is under your dad's account. They should start you out with something with a low limit like $250 or $500.

 

I don't have any CC's. I have 2 debit cards though. For credit score, I have a forever loan (aka. student loan). My SL is 3.65% APR, so it is lower than inflation. This means that by not paying it off early, I save money!

Soon I will also have a debit and CC for my LLC, but that's not for personal use. I guess the CC could be used for an emergency, but I keep a buffer in the debit/checking accounts.

 

Dad got me the AMEX with his name because of the higher credit limit. I do have 2 others in my name alone. They started me with $600 for my first card. Second card was $1100. For some reason my first card raised its limit to $1100 after I got my second card. Then shortly after that the second card went to $1600. I wanted one card with a low limit for me to use most of the time without worrying about losing it and not reporting it in time. Can I ask them to lower my credit limit?

 

I'd imagine that you could. Why not get rid of one card? It's not good to apply to too many cards .... including store and gas cards. To the credit companies, it makes you look desparate for money, aka- a risk to them. Also, every credit check to get these cards lowers your score a few points. This does not apply to debit cards.

 

Well I never use the card under my dad's name it's just there in case I need to pay for something really expensive. I got my second CC because it offered one year no interest. So I basicly only use the 2 CC that I have under my name. I probably will never get any of those stores or gas cards because I can always get my parents to use theirs for the discount. I know it's not good to own too many CC but I think having 5 or fewer cards that use usually use won't hurt your credit score.

 

I don't check my credit score (I know I should) but I have 2 personal visa cards (1 with 1st financial bank USA - got when I was in college, and 1 Chase Visa Platinum I just got last month) and I have a Best Buy card (gotta love no interest/same as cash for big ticket items like washer/dryer and refrigerator) and I have the company Trustmark Visa card trough my work (I don't pay this bill, the company I work for does.)
So I guess technically I have 4. I use my debit card or paypal for online purchases. Gotta be careful though- I have already had my Debit card info stolen online once....big headache[:@]

 

Sorry if I am double posting this over someone else but if the card is in his name and his dads name then it will report on his credit and help him. Joint accounts mean that you both get credit for the account (good or bad), that's how a first time borrower can use a co-signer to get their credit rating up.

As for having multiple cards the only way that really hurts your credit is if you have really high limits on all of them (even if it's a 0 balance). It just shows up as to large of a liability and docs your score a bit. The important thing is that the first credit card you ever get, always keep that account open, even if you NEVER use it, so it shows a good long history of revolving credit accounts.

Credit checks to get a card generally speaking won't hurt your credit more than a few points (if that). CC companies use a different style of credit check that doesn't have to be reported all the time. If you apply for like 8 credit cards in one month each a few days apart then it will hurt you a lot more than applying for 8 cards in the same day.

 

I stand corrected. I guess I was told wrong then. I can't remember who told me that the account itself had to be in your name and not someone else's with your name on the card. If I knew who it was I would teabag them. I know sir_nasty knows more about credit than I do as he is in the car business and likely has to check people's credit often.

 

The credit check for a CC is called a soft credit check and it cost about 2-3 points per instance. A new CC per year isn't a problem as long as you don't keep outstanding balances. As for keeping the 1st card, real good idea, but I just don't like CC's! Like I mentioned, credit cards are not the only way to boost credit. My student loan on automatic fund withdraw currently shows a 5 year history without any late payments ...... my score as a result is over 750. In addition, the car loan that I just paid off doesn't hurt either.