I RECENTLY RECEIVED A GOLD VISA AND I DO NOT WANT TO USE IT. I JUST WANT TO REBUILD MY CREDIT. WILL THIS HELP ME REBUILD MY CREDIT EVEN IF I DO NOT USE THE CARD?
Betsy, My suggestion would be to make small purchases with the card (i.e.: gas, the occasional lunch, etc.) and pay the card balance in full each month, thus creating a positive payment history (without creating a strain on your budget). I have been doing this for about a year and a half now, and it does seem to be working. (Admittedly, some of my cards do not allow me to purchase much more than what I listed above, LOL!) Cheers, Cindy
Advice: Use the card to the max. Hopefully its an online payment credit card. When i first started with my capitalone with $500 limit, i probably charged near $1000/month on it, making payments 2-3 times per month online. 9 months later cap 1 gives me a unsecured gold card with $500 to complement my original $800+300 capitalone secured. Since the card has a 25 day grace period, you will lose nothing, and gain a much cleaner looking checkbook. I have like Insurance, Rent, 3 Credit cards, and thats IT. I write one check per month (rent, dont trust online payment quite yet). the rest is paid 100% online. I cycle everything through my citibank card. I mean everything, food, insurance, purchases, gas, and if i could, rent,cs, too. It simplifies my check writing (read: less to lose track of). I also pay my paycheck cept maybe $100 for spare cash for lunch or whatever. Most of my creditors are very happy with this method. I usually pay about $5/month in interest to them to keep them happy about making so much money from me every month. After 6 months, i'll be able to ask my creditors for a line increase, say look , im charging $1k month and paying it close to off every month. Thats very responsible. Some people may say they don't like to see you carry a little/no balance at the end of the month, but if that was the case, then why would one of the most popular cards in the world (amex green) work that way. The key is to NOT spend over your means, and get yourself in trouble.
Amex works in a different way.. The merchant pays to amex about 5 % of the transaction. for Visa it;s something like 1-2 % that's why amex isn't as popular with most merchants accepting vis and mc not amex . and that's how Amex makes there money.
