I’m a 19 year old college student with just the Discover IT card and a Fico score of 771. I know I need to get more lines of credit, my sister likes her Savor but I don’t go out much. I did some research and saw the Chase Freedom Unlimited was good. What should I know before getting another card and what cards should I consider. I currently have low expenses and may just want to put rent on this when I move out in a few months.
Coming here because my parents aren’t credit card fans
byu/bottots inCreditCards
Posted by bottots
4 Comments
I am going to be getting the Freedom Flex for rotating 5% categories. If you are getting it strictly for the 1.5% cashback look into the Wells Fargo Active Cash for a rotating 2% card.
My question is why do you want a card? Your goals will be important in determining what card is best for you. The Discover it card is actually not a terrible card if you want to just have a simple set up and accumulate cash back. If you want to optimize cash back we can give you recommendations or if you’re looking for travel rewards we can give tips. What do you spend the most on other than rent? Give some more information about your goals and what you’d use the card for and we can help you out.
> saw the Chase Freedom Unlimited was good
The CFU is fine if you’re interested in travel points and partner with a premium points transfer card like the CSP/CSR, but is less useful if you don’t “get out much.” Since that is a 1.5x card, you’d be better off going with just a flat 2% cashback card.
Chase probably also won’t approve you with a credit history less than a year and without an existing banking relationship. You can try their Freedom Rise, which is a student/starter card and will auto convert to a CFU after a year.
> may just want to put rent on this
Most places will charge you a fee to use a credit card, which will likely be higher than any rate of return you’d get from a credit card. In many cases nowadays, you’ll be losing money unless there’s no fee. Also, hopefully you’d actually have the cash to pay it back in full each cycle.
Ultimately, the Discover is already a good starting point to build credit. From there, it depends on your wants and needs in rewards and benefits. What exactly are you looking to get out here?
You don’t **need** anything else at 19.
Building and using credit is a lifelong endeavor.
Paying rent with a credit card comes with high fees that offsets any rewards.
Bilt is an exception but has its own caveats.
Focus on building up cash savings, staying out of debt, and using your current card responsibly.
you’ll have decades after you graduate and have a real income to maximize and optimize.