whats your limit?
Thread Starter
|
Senior Member
Joined: Oct 2001
Posts: 748
Likes: 0
From: Long Beach
whats your limit?
i recently applied for my first credit card ( i am 18).
i was curiouse what you guys(and gals) think they will give me for my first credit limit. also, what kind of limits do you guys have? btw i had my father be a cosigner...which should help.
i was curiouse what you guys(and gals) think they will give me for my first credit limit. also, what kind of limits do you guys have? btw i had my father be a cosigner...which should help.
Senior Member
Joined: Apr 2002
Posts: 2,003
Likes: 0
From: Dallas
500 bucks...rent a large elephant to stand on that card so you don't use it...they are the biggest reason that so many are in credit trouble in the US...what did they say? 660 billion dollars are owed by Americans on thier credit cards...half the federal budget defecit....good to have(for emergencys and a line on your credit report) bad to use for folly...mods included
Senior Member
Joined: Oct 2001
Posts: 343
Likes: 0
From: Texas
Trending Topics
Senior Member
Joined: May 2001
Posts: 1,080
Likes: 0
From: Maryland
Unlimited (Amex 0 balance)
10k (platinum Visa 0 balance)
only buy what you can pay for in short order. no matter what your interest rate is a 1k balance only making minimum payments will take 25 years to pay off! yes I said years! it is because the interest is compounded daily!
good luck and be carefull your credit rating is a terrible thing to waste!
10k (platinum Visa 0 balance)
only buy what you can pay for in short order. no matter what your interest rate is a 1k balance only making minimum payments will take 25 years to pay off! yes I said years! it is because the interest is compounded daily!
good luck and be carefull your credit rating is a terrible thing to waste!
Senior Member
Joined: Nov 1998
Posts: 118
Likes: 0
From: Kellyville, Oklahoma
If you turn out to be like the majority of people, you will regret the day you applied for your first credit card.
Like others have said, pay it off every month, and don't carry a balance, they can be a bottomless pit. Most cards these days if you make a payment even one day late, the interest starts racheting up, and up, up.
First time card you can probibly expect $250-$500 limit
Mine are:
$10,000
$10,000
$15,000
$25,000
Only one carries a balance, and the day its paid off, it goes in the trash in tiny little pieces.
Like others have said, pay it off every month, and don't carry a balance, they can be a bottomless pit. Most cards these days if you make a payment even one day late, the interest starts racheting up, and up, up.
First time card you can probibly expect $250-$500 limit
Mine are:
$10,000
$10,000
$15,000
$25,000
Only one carries a balance, and the day its paid off, it goes in the trash in tiny little pieces.
Member
Joined: May 2003
Posts: 69
Likes: 0
From: Scott AFB, Illinois
Concur about the Interest rate ratcheting up with a late payment. I had a 9.9% card, and the paymenyt was a week late due to being deployed to the desert. Took 6 months of correspondance and phone calls to the company to get the interest rate back down from 22.0%.
Credit cards are great for emergencies, not for everyday use unless you can pay off the balance monthly.
Good Luck
Credit cards are great for emergencies, not for everyday use unless you can pay off the balance monthly.
Good Luck
Member
Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 32
Likes: 0
From: Bradon, Mississippi
Besides saying don't even get a credit card. I would not let your credit be set over whatever you bring home in one month. Don't buy into the nonsence of getting one to build your credit so you can buy a house. They actually count against you.
I learned my lesson on credit cards, and my wife and I getting rid of them. We are done buying stuff on credit. We were inspired by Dave Ramsey (www.daveramsey.com), and there is no turning back for us. We have about 3 months till we are debt free, except for a house note, which is less than 2 years from being completed.
Whatever you do!!!!!!...... do not use the credit card to impress someone or to try and live a lifestyle you can't afford!!!
I learned my lesson on credit cards, and my wife and I getting rid of them. We are done buying stuff on credit. We were inspired by Dave Ramsey (www.daveramsey.com), and there is no turning back for us. We have about 3 months till we are debt free, except for a house note, which is less than 2 years from being completed.
Whatever you do!!!!!!...... do not use the credit card to impress someone or to try and live a lifestyle you can't afford!!!
Senior Member
Joined: Sep 2002
Posts: 535
Likes: 0
From: Florida
I somehow managed to get approved for a Platinum American Express Optima card 2 months after I turned 18. They gave me a $2,000 credit limit for reasons I still do not understand.
About a year later, I applied for a Capitol One VISA card and was approved for a $200 limit. I kept it for a week then cancelled it. Not worht having a limit like that.
Then I got a VISA card from NextBank with a $700 limit that was eventually raised to $1,900 after 6 months, then NextBank was taken over by FDIC and closed. So my account was closed also.
I also, somewhere along the lines, applied for a Sears card. I was approved for a $1,300 limit and never used it. Then Sears "converted" my account to the Sears Glod Mastercard and upped my limit to $4,700! Yeesh. To this day, they increase it frequently. I am up to a $7.500 limit on that one.
I recently applied for a VISA from StateFarm Bank that gives me reward points to use toward my insurance. Sweet, so I applied expecting a modest credit limit. Nope. They gave me a $10,000 credit limit. Then, two months later, upped it to $11,500.
So now I have:
AmEx Optima: $3,500
MasterCard: $7,500
VISA: $11,500
Which adds up to about 125% more than I made last year
Its easy to see how folks get into credit trouble real fast.
About a year later, I applied for a Capitol One VISA card and was approved for a $200 limit. I kept it for a week then cancelled it. Not worht having a limit like that.
Then I got a VISA card from NextBank with a $700 limit that was eventually raised to $1,900 after 6 months, then NextBank was taken over by FDIC and closed. So my account was closed also.
I also, somewhere along the lines, applied for a Sears card. I was approved for a $1,300 limit and never used it. Then Sears "converted" my account to the Sears Glod Mastercard and upped my limit to $4,700! Yeesh. To this day, they increase it frequently. I am up to a $7.500 limit on that one.
I recently applied for a VISA from StateFarm Bank that gives me reward points to use toward my insurance. Sweet, so I applied expecting a modest credit limit. Nope. They gave me a $10,000 credit limit. Then, two months later, upped it to $11,500.
So now I have:
AmEx Optima: $3,500
MasterCard: $7,500
VISA: $11,500
Which adds up to about 125% more than I made last year
Its easy to see how folks get into credit trouble real fast.
Senior Member
Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 417
Likes: 0
From: SouthWest Ohio
Not long after I was married, we got a Sears credit card. Wow! Was it great! Took over 25 years to pay it off!!! We probably spent enough in interest to build an extra floor on the Sears Tower! Now I've got the preferred, titanium, diamond-encrusted, you could buy a space shuttle with it, Sears card. I also have a collection of Visas and MasterCards, but I carry a small or no balance on them. Those cards carried us through some lean years, but boy is it rough to pay them off! The key is to use them only if you have enough money in your checking account to cover the purchase...Or to take advantage of zero interest sales.
Member
Joined: Apr 2003
Posts: 10
Likes: 0
From: Jacksonville, FL
ok, so I have a nice horror story about a card I got when I was 19.
One day I got one of those nifty letters saying I could get a credit card, So in my infinant wisdom said great I will fill this out send it in and hook my car up with the credit I get. So 3 weeks go by and I finally recieve the card with a whopping $400 limit. At the time I was taking leave to go home to see some family, so I bought a plane ticket for $170 roundtrip from seattle to reno. So im still doing good on the credit card. I get back from reno and I am ready to buy something for my car, I went online and checked the balance on my card, and I owe $300.00. So I looked at the bill and what I didnt read in the fine print was, here we go, there was a $99 startup fee plus a the monthly fee for having the card, plus the interest rate which was at 24%, nice huh, it gets better. I pay the first payment ok, then I slip and miss a payment, they charged me $30 for missing the payment, so now im in the hole, next month I pay the minimum payment but I am still in the hole so I get hit for another $30 plus the 24% on my ever growing bill, I havent gotten anything with the card except for a plane ticket and 1 tank of gas for my car. So 1 year later after getting hit with all those late fees and whatnot im in the hole $1200. Well I got lucky and my parents bailed me out and I payed it off. Now there is alot of things I could have done to avoid that much of a bill which now I am little older, married and more aware of my money and how im spending it. And my wife and I decided never to get credit cards, and we havent to this day. If you plan to keep that credit card make sure you have read the fine print and you plan on paying it off, my advice is always pay cash, you dont have to worry about paying that interest fee which in the end you pay more for what it was worth. Hope I didnt bore you all to much.
One day I got one of those nifty letters saying I could get a credit card, So in my infinant wisdom said great I will fill this out send it in and hook my car up with the credit I get. So 3 weeks go by and I finally recieve the card with a whopping $400 limit. At the time I was taking leave to go home to see some family, so I bought a plane ticket for $170 roundtrip from seattle to reno. So im still doing good on the credit card. I get back from reno and I am ready to buy something for my car, I went online and checked the balance on my card, and I owe $300.00. So I looked at the bill and what I didnt read in the fine print was, here we go, there was a $99 startup fee plus a the monthly fee for having the card, plus the interest rate which was at 24%, nice huh, it gets better. I pay the first payment ok, then I slip and miss a payment, they charged me $30 for missing the payment, so now im in the hole, next month I pay the minimum payment but I am still in the hole so I get hit for another $30 plus the 24% on my ever growing bill, I havent gotten anything with the card except for a plane ticket and 1 tank of gas for my car. So 1 year later after getting hit with all those late fees and whatnot im in the hole $1200. Well I got lucky and my parents bailed me out and I payed it off. Now there is alot of things I could have done to avoid that much of a bill which now I am little older, married and more aware of my money and how im spending it. And my wife and I decided never to get credit cards, and we havent to this day. If you plan to keep that credit card make sure you have read the fine print and you plan on paying it off, my advice is always pay cash, you dont have to worry about paying that interest fee which in the end you pay more for what it was worth. Hope I didnt bore you all to much.