Do you remember the feeling of being young getting your hands on your first credit card? You probably thought of it as free money seeing as though the credit card was offered to you by the company with a set limit of maybe $500 - $2000.  I remember when my first card arrived it was a chase credit card with a maximuim limit of $500,I was only 17,so here i was with the money to blow on whatever,not thinking of having to pay anything back, the only thing going through my mind at the time was shopping. I skipped school that day,went to the mall,maxed out over $400 in shoes,clothing,food,and more shoes. Yeah you feel almost like you have got the world in your hands when you are young and out there with a credit card,but guess what? The world doesnt pause it continues with you diggin yourself further n further in debt. I started my credit card payments when i turned 20,by then it had so much interest built that i was paying back far more than i recieved which is how credit cards work. On top of my payments for the credit card itself,I had student loans as well. The part time job I had finally gotten wasnt paying enough to cover both payments along with my living expenses. My living expenses included partying,you cant party much when all you have left from each paycheck is around probably $50 or so. Learning at a early age has worked wonders for me because I was able to dig myself out of the financial hole i dug.  I still mantain several credit cards but only use them in cases of emergency or less often than I have to.  Many have learned from my mistakes.

        Today more and more people are learning to manage their credit cards and financial status. The reason behind this is that they know what many of us didnt in the past which is the fact that having a great credit score can get you ahead in life where everything you want will be at your fingertips. Many have found themselves in a deep hole with credit card debt,student loans, and payday loans like myself. When you get into those situations it is really hard to get out even with credit consolidation.

         Everything these days depend on good to excellent credit ratings,you can get that credit for the sony plasma 52 inch tv you want but cant affor to purchase flat out,the house you want to buy,the car you want to drive, now even your chosen field of work depends on your credit score. Your credit score reflects how others see you, you can tell if someone is reliable,dependable,or if someone is untrustworthy,unreliable.

This is the simple version broken down,there are 3 major credit reporting agencies eperian,equifax, and transunion that use your social security number to find out info about your debt,address,jobs,payment history etc. Various aspects of info are then analyzed to come up with the FICO number,but remember each report may be different whereas something that would show up on one such as a late mortgage payment might not reflect on the other 2. A excellent credit score would be 700 or above,the higher it is the better. Below 600 could indicate risks to certain things you might apply for,but you may still be at good standing. If you are too much below 600 you might as well forget about applying for a loan or such because even if approved your payments will be higher along with interest rates landing you back in debt eventually.

Even though you may think your credit history is ruined you can always improve it by using credit repair services or making payments on time,you can even deal with the financial institutes direct,some may offer you a flat rate to pay out,others may offer payment plans that are affordable to meet your financial payment availabilities. Whatever you do just dont sit back letting your credit history remain negative. You dont want to leave this life with financial debt,its never good for your family in the end someone will pay.

Request free credit reports to make sure that the info is accurate,if you dont do this someone might be using your identity for financial gain then it would be too late for you to stop it. If you ever find that someone has used your identity for credit cards or such items you must immediately file a police report,contact the loan institutions immediately,do all the neccesary paperwork to prove it was not you,the debt will be removed from your credit history and the financial institutions along with police will use the info to find the culprit which would take a while to do depending on how long ago they applied or recieved something in your name. Identity theft happens everywhere so you can never be too careful,but you can put a block on your credit reports with each of the major reprting agencies that wil notify you anytime someone tries to open a account even if its you.

  Also the commercials you see with the"free credit report.com" guy singing are false advertising because the credit reports are in no way free. Do the research before submitting your card to anyone and think logical. Should you have to pay for a "free credit report"?

Typically if your credit rating is good you might do something that would send red flags to suggesting you are a credit risk to the issuing bank,these flags could come from too many high charge purchases back to back. It is good to avoid high interest rate cards at anytime but is still does not mean that your credit interest rate would not jump from time to time,I guess it just really depends on the card issuing,or loan issuing institution. Its good to do research before accepting any credit card,search the background info for the issuing institution along with online complaints through the BBB.

Never max out your credit cards ever,never get it so low to where you only have $25-80 available,always keep at least $200 in the availability. I say this because at times you may want to get a higher limit,the balance and daily use is what the credit card companies look at before issuing you a increase. They will figure he/she is not spending much maybe if we raise the limit they will use purchase power more but if you know your limits it could be a great thing for you.

Debit cards could in fact be the better option if you have had financial troubles in the past. With debit cards you control your own money so there is no overspending,interest rates,red flags. You must still know which debit cards are the best otption because some can carry high fees that may not be noticeable to you in the beggining such as atm withdrawal charges.

Some debit card companies will also charge a monthly maitenance fee, this can be good or bad depending on the benefits they offer along with this such as cutting the cost of atm fees etc.

Its a really good thing when debit cards act just like credit cards or bank accounts in the sense that you can recieve direct deposit for your paychecks,shop online if they have visa or mastercard logos and much more purchasing power.

I have linked you to one of the best debit cards that I have encountered because it works just like a bank account allowing you to utilize all the features such as routing number,bank account number and online account management.

If this blog was helpful feel free to leave a comment at the bottom of page,also would love to hear your credit card horror stories.