0
0

Free Credit Report and Credit Card Recommendation Please


 invite response                
2016 Jun 27, 9:00pm   6,942 views  17 comments

by BayArea   ➕follow (1)   💰tip   ignore  

Hi folks,

I need to do a credit check and recall that some credit agencies do offer free annual reports. I'm looking for a recommendation with no gimmicks or obligations to sign up for monthly membership.

Also, the son of a friend will be applying for a first credit card to build credit. Who out there is giving the best credit card offer today, any recommendations?

For disclosure, I hate credit cards... but we live in a society where you are severely limited if you can't show solid credit.

Also, you can't rent a car with a debit card without getting your credit score dinged, as I've come to learn recently.

Thanks.

Comments 1 - 17 of 17        Search these comments

1   Tenpoundbass   2016 Jun 27, 9:31pm  

My wife does that for us both, I feel so dirty signing up for that stuff. My wife does it, and she gets the junk mail and has to call and fight to cancel the service.
Plus if either of us get hacked I can always blame her.

2   mmmarvel   2016 Jun 28, 9:02am  

I use (and have for several years) creditkarma.com - gives you Transunion and Equifax scores and is totally free. As for credit cards I lean heavily on the Citibank Double Cash card that gives me 2% cash back. I usually get between $30 - $60 a month refund/rebate, however you do have to have a fairly decent credit score to get it. Yeah, go to creditkarma for your report.

3   mmmarvel   2016 Jun 28, 10:06am  

Ironman says

What's the "catch". Who do they sell your information to?

Actually I've not been bothered at all - about the WORST of it is very occasionally when I log onto the site it will make suggestions about cards that I might want to apply for, but I don't get email or mail from the credit card companies. No, at least for me it's been all good.

4   anonymous   2016 Jun 28, 10:30am  

I've been getting literally 5-7 credit card offers in the mail over the past two months. Now there's no more than ten unique/different cards overall, rather just a piss ton of junk mail from the usual suspects. But it is offputting to see all that waste. I have more credit cards than i can keep track of, and juggling their perks and due dates winds up being a little bir of work. At the end of the day, I'm pretty well compensated for utilising all the different offers.

5   simchaland   2016 Jun 28, 9:46pm  

I have to admit that the Gold Card just looks cool. Lol...

Otherwise I have the Citibank Double Cash to use for most purchases and the Citibank Costco Visa Card to use at Costco, to buy gas, to eat at restaurants, and pay for travel. If Costco allowed me to use a Mastercard in their stores in California, I would only have the Double Cash card.

For the Costco Card you get higher than 2% cash back for gas, restaurant, and travel purchases though so that's my reason for using it for those categories instead of using the Double Cash Card that yields 2% once you pay the balance off which I do every month.

With no annual fee for each card it's worth it for me to use these cards for all purchases to recoup at least 2% of the purchase price. It's not much but every bit recouped helps.

6   BayArea   2016 Jul 25, 3:00pm  

Well guys, here is what I learned recently.

If you don't want to use a credit card anymore, cut it up, but DON'T close the credit card account. Doing so could reduce the average age of your credit (which apparently influences your score). The credit agencies like to see an average age of at least 9yrs, which they consider "excellent" length of average credit.

Not knowing this, I recently closed a card that I had for 14yrs... After closing that 14yr old credit card account and refinancing my home mortgage, my credit dropped ~100pts!

7   BayArea   2016 Jul 25, 3:09pm  

Ironman says

To make sure your credit cards don't work against you, you should only carry 5% - 10% of your total credit available on all your cards

I've heard this before.

However, I'm not clear on whether you should avoid going above 5-10% at anytime, or avoid going above 5-10% after your balance is due...

8   BayArea   2016 Jul 25, 3:22pm  

I appreciate the input Ironman.

You know, this FICO stuff is borderline silly... I understand that staying current and avoid default is necessary to maintain credit score... No question.

But carrying over 5-10% of your available balance can hurt you, even if you are paying everything off in full each month?
Closing accounts can hurt you by reducing the average age of your open credit?
Under utilizing your open accounts can hurt you?
Having too many open credit sources can hurt you? -> although I've heard this one disputed by a "professional"
Requesting that your credit line is increased leading to a "hard" ding to your credit can hurt you?

How counterintuitive are some of these rules? SMH

9   BayArea   2016 Jul 25, 3:46pm  

Ya, you just need to learn to play the game by their rules I guess.

10   HEY YOU   2016 Jul 25, 6:42pm  

If one pays their debt, one will have a high FICO
& they will not have to check their score.
Too complicated?

11   FortWayne   2016 Jul 25, 6:46pm  

annualcreditreport.com this is your free once a year government regulated credit report. credit agencies owe you one a year, and this is where you get it.

12   BayArea   2016 Jul 25, 8:10pm  

HEY YOU says

If one pays their debt, one will have a high FICO

& they will not have to check their score.

Too complicated?

that's what I used to think before I realized I had no clue how the algorithm works.

13   EBGuy   2016 Jul 26, 1:22am  

The REI Mastercard offers 2% back on groceries (and 5% on REI purchases). One percent for everything else. I've also got the Chase United Airlines Visa as it gives you the first bag free for yourself and a companion; it pays for itself with one roundtrip ($25 x 2 x 2) as the annual fee is $100.

14   mmmarvel   2016 Jul 26, 6:18am  

simchaland says

I have the Citibank Double Cash to use for most purchases and the Citibank Costco Visa Card to use at Costco, to buy gas, to eat at restaurants, and pay for travel. If Costco allowed me to use a Mastercard in their stores in California, I would only have the Double Cash card.

For the Costco Card you get higher than 2% cash back for gas, restaurant, and travel purchases though so that's my reason for using it for those categories instead of using the Double Cash Card that yields 2% once you pay the balance off which I do every month.

With no annual fee for each card it's worth it for me to use these cards for all purchases to recoup at least 2% of the purchase price. It's not much but every bit recouped helps.

I use a Sam's Club mastercard for gas and get 5% back, plus it pays 3% for food, entertainment and travel. I use my 2% back Citicard for my reoccurring bills such as internet provider, electric bill, toll roads, gym fees, etc. I also use it for stuff I buy off the internet. And the 2% card stays at home to minimize being scammed/stolen by someone. Since I have all my reoccurring bills on it if it would get compromised I'd have to go through all the hassle of notifying the various companies and switching cards, etc. I have a Chase Freedom card that gives me 1.5% back on everything. I use that for stuff I buy at the grocery store or department store. Again, if the Chase card or Sam's Club card get compromised (which recently happened with the Sam's Club card) I don't have to go through the hassle of the automatic payment accounts. Oh, and the Chase card - the offer that came with it was charge $500 within the first six months and they'd give me $150. Since I was in the market for new tires, I eagerly accepted the offer, bought my tires (easily spending over $500) AND got a money back discount on set of Pirellies (another $60). Seems like a hassle but it's really a game, I typically get $40 to $50 a month off my Citicard account, another $20 off the Chase card and at the end of the year Sam's Club sends me $200 - $400. Works for me.

15   BayArea   2016 Jul 29, 3:20pm  

Capital One Quicksilver Visa is on the way...

Right now my primary card is the Citi Double Cash.

16   BayArea   2016 Aug 20, 7:06am  

As a note, my Capital One Silver Visa and Citi Double Cash MasterCard both come with credit score monitoring which is a nice plus.

17   anonymous   2019 Feb 24, 3:58pm  

What consumers need to know about the upcoming credit card from Apple and Goldman Sachs - Experts say the card is designed to get more people to use Apple Pay, but consumers may want to think twice

Apple and Goldman Sachs are teaming up on a credit card, seemingly in hopes of getting more American consumers to switch over to mobile pay.

Apple and Goldman Sachs are expected to launch a joint credit card later this year that is designed to be used in concert with the iPhone and Apple Pay.

The card, which will be Goldman’s first, will help the two companies meet major goals. Apple will diversify its revenue base through the swipe fees it will earn, while for Goldman, the credit card fits neatly into the investment bank’s push into consumer-facing financial services.

Given the big names involved, the credit card appears primed to make a big splash. To add even more sparkle for Apple fans, there will be special features in the Apple Wallet app that will only be available to consumers who sign up for the card, The Wall Street Journal reported. (Apple and Goldman Sachs did not respond to request for comment.)

Despite the allure the new credit card may have — especially to devotees of Apple’s product line — consumers may want to think twice about signing up.

“The credit card marketplace is so competitive and there’s so much out there that it’s not going to be easy for these two brands, even as big and significant as they are, to come in and make their mark,” said Matt Schulz, chief industry analyst at CompareCards.com

Here is what consumers need to know:

The card is being designed to promote Apple Pay

One of the primary ways that Apple and Goldman plan to make the card competitive is by offering special features to card holders in Apple Wallet, according to the Wall Street Journal. The expected features are the sort that a consumer might expect from a run-of-the-mill savings app, including setting spending goals, managing card payments and tracking rewards.

With these features being key to the card’s appeal, it’s clear that Apple is using this as a way to drive user growth for Apple Pay, the mobile payment service through the Apple Wallet.

Mobile payments still have not caught on in the United States as much as they have in other parts of the world, especially China. That’s largely because merchants have been slow to adopt the technology, and banks until recently were fixated on the transition over to chip-and-PIN credit cards, said Richard Crone, a consultant in the payments industry.

Aside from PayPal’s person-to-person payment app Venmo, few apps have broken out from the pack.

PayPal (including Venmo) has 267 million users, compared with 32 million for Apple Pay, according to research from Crone. Apple Pay has only slightly more users than Walmart Pay (31 million) and the Starbucks (25 million).

Apple has a vested interest in trying to get more people to use mobile pay: It diversifies its revenue away from products like the iPhone. Apple earns a portion of the interchange (or swipe) fees that go to credit card issuers anytime someone pays with Apple Pay using credit card information stored in the Apple Wallet. With its own credit card, Apple will increase the amount it earns. “If Apple were able to move just 5% of its sales to its own co-branded card they could save more than $2 billion a year,” Crone said.

Mobile payments can affect how you spend money

The problem for consumers is that mobile pay can be bad for your finances. “Any way you make spending less tangible, there is that risk you’ll spend more because you’re not actually seeing that money come out of your wallet,” said Arielle O’Shea, a credit card expert at NerdWallet.

A recent study found that the total amount of money consumers spent increased 2.4% after the adoption of mobile payments.

The other issue is that there still aren’t a whole lot of retailers that take mobile pay, including Apple Pay. “If consumers can’t consistently use a tool, they tend not to want to use it,” said Thad Peterson, a senior analyst at The Aite Group, a consultancy.

When it comes to rewards, this card won’t be a game-changer

Cardholders will earn 2% cash back on most purchases and potentially more on Apple-related products and services, the Journal reported. It’s not clear what the card’s APR will be or whether it will come with an annual fee.

“If it is indeed 2% cash back on all purchases, then that is very competitive with the best cards that are out there right now,” O’Shea said.

But it doesn’t necessarily stand out from the crowd. It’s in line with other flat-rate cash back cards, including the Citi Double Cash card, (2% on all purchases) and the Capital One Quicksilver Cash Rewards card (1.5% back on every purchase). But when considering the appeal of these rewards, consumers need to think about what they’re spending on.

You have to learn from your spending habits if cashback or another rewards card is best for you,” O’Shea said. “And you don’t want to use a credit card like this an excuse to spend more on Apple products.”

Other cash back cards offer higher rates on certain purchases. The Discover it Cash Back card, for instance, earns 5% back on certain categories of purchases, which rotate each quarter. And the Blue Cash Preferred Card from American Express earns 6% back on groceries.

Another way of looking at this card’s rewards, as Schulz argued, is viewing them as Apple Pay rewards. But this wouldn’t be the first card to offer special rewards for mobile pay purchases. Other cards that do this include the Wells Fargo, Cash Wise Visa Card and the U.S. Bank Altitude Reserve Visa Infinite Card.

Goldman Sachs could use your data to sell you other loans

What this card really might be though is a ploy to get increased access to consumer data, Crone said.

Apple and Goldman will be able to collect data on what consumers prioritize in their financial lives through the new features added to the Apple Wallet app. And with the data they collect each time consumers use the credit card, they will understand more about what items consumers are buying.

In turn, Goldman would be able to take that data and use it to better target other credit offers it provides customers. Apple and Goldman could even be poised in the future to offer customized financing offers at the point of purchase to these card holders, Crone said. In other words, consumers shopping with the card could find themselves getting financing offers on purchases as they check out through the Apple Wallet app.

This would put the two companies in competition with PayPal Credit — which provides consumers with 6-months “special” financing on purchases over $100 whenever they shop -- as well as other start-ups that are entering the bill-me-later space.

Of course, for consumers, those attractive loan offers may only end up increasing how much debt they’re in — at a time when it’s taking many people two or more years just to pay off their credit cards.

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/what-consumers-need-to-know-about-the-upcoming-credit-card-from-apple-and-goldman-sachs-2019-02-23

Please register to comment:

api   best comments   contact   latest images   memes   one year ago   random   suggestions