Author Topic: Best first credit card?  (Read 8053 times)

ZiziPB

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Best first credit card?
« on: October 26, 2017, 01:31:20 PM »
What would you recommend as the best first credit card for a young person starting life on her own?  She has excellent credit (through being an authorized user on her parents' cards for several years) and no debt.  Not a big spender so is unlikely to spend $3-4K in 3 months to qualify for a large signup bonus, but a lower spend requirement for an initial bonus would be fine.  Also, would prefer a card with no annual fee and no foreign transaction fee.


GizmoTX

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Re: Best first credit card?
« Reply #1 on: October 26, 2017, 03:33:06 PM »
The Citibank DoubleCash card pays 2x cash back rewards on every purchase (redeem the reward as a direct deposit to your bank account, not to your credit card statement, for the full reward), has no caps or complicated quarters, & no annual fee. It does charge a foreign transaction fee.

The CapitalOne QuickSilver card pays 1.5x cash back rewards, has no annual fee or foreign transaction fee.

DS has these cards after building credit with a Wells Fargo reward card linked with his checking account. It only paid 1x & had to be co-signed (he was 17 when it was opened), but had no annual fee. He primarily uses the DoubleCash card, & uses the QuickSilver for overseas travel & backup. Why backup? Just yesterday, his DoubleCash wouldn't work because Citibank canceled it due to possible hacking of their system, but he hasn't received the replacement card yet. This happens all too frequently these days.

Timmm

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Re: Best first credit card?
« Reply #2 on: October 26, 2017, 03:51:14 PM »
I had my kids sign up for Discover through my referral - $50 bonus after any transaction for both them and the referrer (and I gave them my $50). They were very low income but excellent credit mostly due to AU on a couple old cards of ours. Cash back is flat 1%, but with a one-time matching bonus after the first year.

I don't think it's 0 FTF, but was a good fit otherwise for their expected low usage.

Bracken_Joy

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Re: Best first credit card?
« Reply #3 on: October 26, 2017, 05:52:31 PM »
My first CC was through my credit union. No rewards to speak of, but only a 7% interest rate. I never did carry a balance, and it was drilled into me not to, but in retrospect it was a good safety net to have a lower interest rate in case I did screw it up. But then, I also did *not* have any previous credit, so it was probably the only one I qualified for.

ZiziPB

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Re: Best first credit card?
« Reply #4 on: October 26, 2017, 08:14:50 PM »
I’m assuming that she won’t carry a balance as that has been drilled into her as well :-)

So I’m thinking the capital one quick silver may be a good one for her. Or chase freedom ultimate.  She should be able to get the $150 bonus on either one.

galliver

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Re: Best first credit card?
« Reply #5 on: October 26, 2017, 09:22:49 PM »
I was in a similar situation, though I didn't realize how much being on my dad's card for ~1year had benefitted my credit (checking her score on CreditKarma or similar might be worthwhile before applying). I got a Discover student card (now Discover It Student) at the beginning of grad school with 0% intro APR and then something like 13 or 14% (low for an early-in-life CC, I think!). They seem to have added some perks since I got mine, too! There's a good grades reward ($20/year is better than nothing!) and they match any cashback you earn in your first year. The 5% on rotating categories, 1% back on everything is nice. There is a foreign transaction fee...but I don't have one on my debit card, so when we traveled abroad we used that. The only other downside is it is sometimes not accepted; so it's good to have a backup, like a Visa/MC debit card or cash.

ZiziPB

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Re: Best first credit card?
« Reply #6 on: October 27, 2017, 12:27:45 PM »
Thanks everyone for the advice.  She checked her credit on Credit Karma and it's solid, so she applied for and got approved for the CapitalOne Quicksilver card.