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Part of the application process for both cities that I'm applying to require a good credit report. I don't even have credit because I don't have a credit card. Will this be a problem?
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It won't be as much of a problem as having bad credit would be.Originally posted by Josh Perez View Post
Past behavior is the best indicator of future behavior, and your credit report will be used as one indicator of how you manage your personal finances... -
At your age (20), it is understandable that you may not have credit. Don't sweat it...Comment
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If you want to be a cop, you need to learn not to hemorrhage personal information on the internet- if you are using your real name as a user name here, you should change it. I would also recommend not displaying your birth date in your profile. Anyone can read this forum, including people who want to attack police officers and anyone associated with police officers.Comment
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Sounds good. I just filled in the information at the sign up page and didn't think it was a big deal. Thanks for the heads up. -
If you have social media, you'll learn to lock down the privacy settings. None of my coworkers use their full real names on Instagram, Facebook, etc. I don't even have my picture up anymore. It's too easy for criminals/offenders to find you, even if they only have your work phone number.
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Back on the credit thing, if you don’t have a credit card now... get one.
Use it carefully, pay it off in full and start building that history. You’ll probably only qualify for a law tier card, that has high interest and maybe even a fee. The sooner you start building history, the sooner you’ll qualify for a good tier 2 card with no fee, reasonable interest and maybe even some perks.
This guy has pretty good explanations of how it works:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=pBtSNH8lU6A
Besides good credit history, another important thing is credit history length. The longer you wait, the shorter your history will be. The length of time you’ve helped your longest credit account matters... I have one CC I never use, but also don’t cancel because it was the first CC I got that didn’t have a fee... so that’s my longest held account now, going on 32 years.Last edited by tanksoldier; 05-11-2021, 09:37 PM."I am a Soldier. I fight where I'm told and I win where I fight." -- GEN George S. Patton, Jr.
"With a brother on my left and a sister on my right, we face…. We face what no one should face. We face, so no one else would face. We are in the face of Death." -- Holli PeetComment
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Good advice.
I'd add that, if you can find one, get a credit card with NO annual fees and some kinds of cash-back reward. The interest rates don't matter...IF (and this is important) the card is paid off every month and you don't carry a balance over. Use that card to pay recurring monthly bills and then pay it off every month...you'll get cash back from whatever rewards program they have, you'll build credit, and you won't be paying anything extra in interest. -
Also, use the card often enough that the account doesn't get closed. That happened to one of my oldest accounts, which dinged me on the length of history. -
True about using it. Some CC companies will close a card eventually that is never used. I have a $5/ mo subscription going to mine that then gets paid by auto bill pay, just to be safe.
OP is a ways from having to worry about that tho. Just get the best entry card you can, it will have a limit of $300-$500, put your utility bill or something on it, and set your bank account to autopay the card and forget about it.Last edited by tanksoldier; 05-12-2021, 02:31 PM.
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JFYI...
Keep a low balance on the credit card account(s). One part of the credit rating is based on the percentage of credit used on all accounts, on time payments and length of credit history.
Some of the credit card companies have credit monitoring features which may show your credit score and may be updated every few days. Also their score may not be your actual score but it gives you an idea of your credit standing.
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To add to the above- a good credit rating is the product of how good of a "credit slave" you are. As you already know, paying everything off does not result in a good credit rating.
Having a bad credit rating is bad of course. At your age, not having a credit rating at all is okay. You will, however, probably want to have a good credit rating when it's time for you to buy a home, cars, and stuff like that, because a good credit rating will get you good interest rates on loans, and spending less money on interest is always a good thing.
The way to get a good credit rating, is to borrow money (within your means), and then pay it back exactly as you agreed to.Comment
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Somewhat trueOriginally posted by Aidokea View Post
When my wife started working again after the older kids left the nest she had the opportunity to get a credit card through work. She had not had anything in her name for 15 yrs or so at that point. Throughout the remainder of my full time working career she would use that card sparingly and then after I retired she started using more.
With the advent of the internet we make almost all of our online purchases using her credit card as it is linked to a "cash reward" after so much use. It also unlike our main credit card is not linked to our bank. Both her and my cards are paid off monthly
One reason for her to put a card in her name was to build a credit history of her own just in case something should happen to me.
FYI our credit rating is somewhere south of excellent JUST because we have credit card debt . Up until I took a $10K 0% interest loan to pay off a utility tractor we had not owed anyone anything for nearly 10 yrs.Since some people need to be told by notes in crayon .......Don't PM me with without prior permission. If you can't discuss the situation in the open forum ----it must not be that important
My new word for the day is FOCUS, when someone irritates you tell them to FOCUSComment
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Your fico score and whatever credit karma shows you means nothing btw. Your actual score on the 3 bureaus will be much lower than what your fico is.
Every year you can order the credit report lenders banks and employers will see from the 3 bureaus for free.
Get used to checking it and learn how to dispute items as well.
I screwed up my credit early in college and have built it back up considerably.
Last edited by Saluki89; 05-13-2021, 11:34 AM.Comment
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Sort of.The way to get a good credit rating, is to borrow money (within your means), and then pay it back exactly as you agreed to."I am a Soldier. I fight where I'm told and I win where I fight." -- GEN George S. Patton, Jr.
"With a brother on my left and a sister on my right, we face…. We face what no one should face. We face, so no one else would face. We are in the face of Death." -- Holli PeetComment
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The better way to get a good credit rating is to not borrow money on a credit card at all, just use the credit card for expenses you would be paying anyway. Then, when you do have to borrow money, say for a house, you get a good interest rate. Borrowing money is always a loss compared to paying up front. True borrowing should only happen in emergencies or for major capital items like houses. Buying a new car at 100% financing, even with an interest rate less than inflation, is still a losing proposition when you borrowed 100% of the car's cost, but it's value drops 50% when you drive it off the lot... you're paying interest on the full cost, and owe the full cost plus interest, but the car isn't worth that anymore.
A $100,000 car loan at 1% over 60 months ends up costing you $102,600... but the car was never worth that, and five years later when you pay off the loan isn't even worth the original $100k sticker price... so you're paying more than the asking price for something no longer worth it.
A 2016 Porche is worth 50.53% of it's new value in 2021. Assuming that holds true across model years, the $100k car bought today, that you're paying $102k to own, will be worth about $55k when it's paid off.
...and nobody is buying a car at 1% interest.Last edited by tanksoldier; 05-14-2021, 03:55 AM.
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