Thread: Brand new member, 21 years old

Hey everyone,

This is my first time posting to this site. A little background- 21 years old, full time job, full-time student. Each one of my Parents have an 800-820 credit score, so the importance of good credit has been drilled into me since an early age.

I currently have one open card- a Capital One Platinum. I have had it open for 1 year. I've never made a late payment and I pay it off in full at the end of each month. As a result, they have raised my credit limit from $500 to $750 in the first 7 months, and lowered my APR to 24%. Yes, 24%. As you can figure, I only maybe put 15 or 20 dollars a month on that.

I would love to get a card with rewards and ditch the debit. I am looking for cash back rewards on items such as gas and groceries. I am not a big spender ($500-$700 month) and pay it off in full. I was reading money magazine, and they say the best thing to do is get the Chase Freedom. I'm sure that ad may be a little biased, though.

i would love to hear any advice on not only the Chase Freedom, but any other card suggestions. Also, would love to hear some advice on how to boost my credit score. Thank you.

Cash back cards can be tricky to evaluate. Rotating categories, preferred categories and tiered systems are just some of the things that have to be taken into consideration. My best advice would be to look at your spending very closely over the past few months. Take those numbers and put them into a spread sheet. Compare each of the rewards programs side by side. Some will be harder to code (think rotating categories) but it can be done.

I would look at the following cards for the comparison:
Amex Blue Cash Everyday (and Preferred if you like)
Chase Freedom
Capital One Cash
Fidelity Rewards Amex (If you plan on traveling this evaluation will work for the Capital One Venture and Discover Escape).
(I am sure I am missing a few)

If you don't want to do that you can always look around the web. There are several sites with credit card calculators that will allow you to put in your spending habits and see projected rewards.

Also remember that signing bonuses are one time deals. So if you look only at the first year they will give you a lot of bang. The longer you keep the card the less the signing bonus will matter.

also, to note, I get very frequent mail in offers from American Express for the green card and the Zync card. I also get lots of offers from a Discover student card.


I think the big contenders are coming down to Chase Freedom and AmEx Blue Cash (not preferred)

Well, after a few hours of researching, I applied for the Chase Freedom and was approved. My persuasion went to the fact that, simply put, I live in a smaller town and alot of places don't except AmEx. Also, I read that for people who spend under 1,200 month that Freedom pays out higher in cash back.

Also, I read that any purchases from Walmart during most other 5% cashback categories (Home Improvement, etc.) count. So, say for instance that you buy your groceries at Wal-Mart during the Home Improvement 5% quarterly bonus. Even though that it is not the Grocery 5% cash bonus time, you will still receive the 5% cash back because Wal-Mart's retailer code is also listed as a Home Improvement site. Can anyone attest to this being true on this forum?