December 2nd, 2008 
Vijaianand Before that, I posted a blog about CITIBANK which was needed to shed some light on the issue. Let me switch gears to get back to my favorite which is left over topic, IDENTIFY THEFT&CREDIT CARDS. I talked about why credit is preferred by many people and talked about self searching yourself to see whether you need one or not. This post I am going to cover some things on how to get a credit card taking different individuals role from different walks of life.
Getting your first Credit Card
First of all, once you decid to get a card after finding its ease of use and to avoid the burden of carrying cash all around. To tell you frankly, it is not that easy to get one these days. It was easy a year ago but not now as companies are going back to basics looking out for credit history to offer a card. You would have to have good credit history to get a credit card with good limits. But Credit history only gets built once you start borrowing and paying back your debts from the lender whether its credit card company and bank. Its Catch 22!!
Normally, you are eligible to carry a credit card after 18 years. So College students are very attractive customers for the credit card companies.
Let say you didn’t go to college and your parents didn’t help you out, then it gets tough. You have to start it all out from scratch. Luckily you found a job and earning reasonable income. You can open a bank account and get your earning flow through the bank. This way you would have accomplished a good bank history. Once you have the bank history, you can apply for a credit card with low credit limit as many banks offer these days and start building your credit history.
Another section of consumer are the Immigrants(like me when I came first) who are here to work and your situation is similar to the above. They don’t have any history of any type as they don’t even have SSN. They have to start it all out and it is tough so most of the time they dependent on their company offerings until they accomplish some history.
Without credit history, it makes living in America a tough ordeal. I been there and learnt lot of lessons. You cannot buy a car, you cannot get a good place to live and list goes endless. You end up depending on their big brothers/co workers who came before them for everything. Once they good bank history, try banks low credit limit cards many banks offer binding to your savings/checking account. You can start with those credit cards to get your history and slowly you will get into to good books of credit card companies.
Once you got into the good books of credit card companies with good credit history and credit score, then you will start getting offers at your door steps and they won’t stop until you die.
Things to know in advance
1. If you have a good credit history, attractive offers will sure to show up for you even in bad times like this one. Credit card companies/banks need borrowers to borrow money so they can do business and make money in interests. But be wary of their offers. Its not all the same.
Every credit card is different and they have similar rules but different mechanism to attract you to getting the card. So read the offer carefuly before signing up.
2. I strongly recommend you to check whether your credit card issuing bank offer Fraud Alerts for free or might be able to sign for little cost. This alert system come in handy to give signals when peculiar activity happens in your card that may be a hacker who got your card number or thief stole your card.
3. Check all the fine prints like fees or charges on withdrawals, Interest rates for Balance Transfer/Purchases, fees on Balance transfers. Some card offers 0% interest on purchases which is not the same as Balance transfers to your card. Both are entirely different. Also check whether they have transaction fees for Balance transfers. Many credit card companies charge 3% – $10 min fees but very rarely you get free balance transfer fee offers.
4. Check on their billing period and when do they start so you can plan on paying back the money borrowed. Also try to check on their grace period which is either 20 or 25 days depending on their bank offering the card.
5. Finally, just make sure the offers are right when you apply for your card over the phone which is better than applying over mail. That way you can confirm the offers sent to you and you can always use that conversation in future when things go wrong.
I covered some basic as well as important points on how to get a credit card and how to start your credit history according to my experience. I will cover some more facts and pointers in my next post on what are the ways your card or card number can be stolen so you can watch out and what you can do when it happens.
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