What do ya'll think I should do?..

[maikoshi]

Ok, I've made up my mind what I'm gonna do about school. I'll start some time this summer, my bf is gonna help me pay for it (I dunno if I qualify for financial aid yet) and I'll work a few hours part time.

I think I'm gonna get a credit card to establish some good credit, but not really use it except like rarely. No, I'm not one of those girls that spends all the time, I'm a pretty good saver. ;P

So the question is about my car. I wanna do stuff to it, but I know I won't have the money until I get out of school. I could charge things on my credit card, but I'm afraid I won't be able to pay for it all so I figure I might as well wait.

I need a new paint job and I have a few body damage issues, nothing major. I need a couple things replaced and it just seems like it's all adding up and maybe because I have an older car (it's a 95 civic dx) and I want more features maybe I should do nothing with it the whole time I have it and just sell it when I get more money and get a better/newer car with more features.

Yeah, I'm totally rambling but does that seem like an idea I should run with? Sometimes I get all excited about things and don't see the negitive side of things, maybe someone here can help me with that part...

[Duckydos]

I have gotten myself into some trouble a few times with the credit card. They say "Don't put it on the card unless you have the money in your pocket." Well, I'll go tot he mall with $100 in my pocket. I will charge $70 here and say "I have the money in my pocket" then go to get something to eat with some friends, then the movies, then some more food; all on the card. Well, I still have $100 in my pocket but have charged well over that. Anyway, that's why I don't keep the card in my pocket anymore.

I think that if you are having to get help from your BF to finance school, you shouldn't be putting money into your car. I can see how good credit is a good thing, but try not to justify getting stuff done just because you have the 'card.

So, my opinion. Don't do anything to the car unless it HAS to be done. The last thing you want to do is to be worrying about making a credit car payment instead of your grades.

-Ducky

[Edit: You said something about financial aid. There are scholarships out there EVERYWHERE. I was going to school and making $250/month PLUS 175% of my tuition was paid for (so, I got a nice little $900 (or so) check every semester plus free tuition) PLUS another $500/semester for books... and that was only from 2 scholarships (a state-program and ROTC). Anyway, it would be worth your time to look up some scholarships or grants. It's free money :) )

[pimpinprelude]

"I could charge things on my credit card":no: right on duckey!

[maikoshi]

Well, the kind of schools I'm going to a lot of them dont offer financial aid, grants or loans. And by helping me I don't mean he's gonna be my sugadaddy, He just said if I get into a rut he will be there but basically I'll be paying for everything myself.

I think I'll just get the card and use it once and a while on small things. I just wanna establish some good credit, I know I won't go over board with chargin up things cuz that's not my style.

Maybe I'll get the card and hide it from myself for a year :paranoid:

[pimpinprelude]

or you can send it to me.....:yes: ill take care of it!

[zm_dawg]

definately.....i used my credit card once when my debit card didn't work.....on $13 of gas

[Shot 2 Hel]

go for it maikoshi, and about the car. I just say save up and get a newer/better one

[GetTheImage]

I've never gotten a credit card because I have pretty limited credit so I've never really tried, I'm afraid I'd have to get a secured credit card. I've told myself that if I got one, though, that I would use it only for gasoline, or something like that, just to establish credit.

As for repairing your car, I'd evaluate the extent of the damage and whether or not it would be worth it to fix it before selling if you plan on doing that eventually....

I'm kinda facing a similar situation because I'm hopefully starting college again this fall and might be moving across state.

Good luck!!!:yes:

[spoogenet]

For the car, I'd save up and just get a nicer one later. One of the best ways to save money is to not spend on your car....

For credit, get a card with a low credit limit. Also try getting a subsidized federal Stafford loan or something. The subsidized is where you don't start paying until after graduation and interest doesn't accrue until after graduation. The subsidized ones aren't too bad, you don't have to pay till after graduation but interest accrues before you start paying, iirc. Just get a small loan that you know you can pay off quickly and pay it off quickly. Having a loan history is good. Having good credit card history is also good. Just use it to buy gas every now and then and then pay the bill immediately when it arrives.

Just be mindful of your credit score which is composed of how much you make, your credit history, and how much credit you have. Too much credit vs. not enough income hurts your credit score. Too much income vs. not enough credit supposedly also hurts it. Each time your credit is checked it goes down too.....so don't go applying for 50 loans and/or cards just to get 1 or 2.....

Good luck! :)

b

[ebpda9]

my dad used to pay off his balances as they came. i payed like half and then the next month the other half. cc and preety much everyone else looks to get your money. if you don't let them get a finance charge once in a while they won't like that and you will get declined pretty easy. i look at my dad's credit and he still has the regular cc's and i went to platinum. i can go out and buy a 25k car with no money down and he qualified for only 11k. needlesss to say he makes a lot more than i do, and i still have the better credit because i let the cc comanies get some of my money. the problem is don't let them take too much tho.

[maikoshi]

I start classes on Monday! Wooofreakin hooooo I'm so excited. I still dunno about the credit card though. *shrug*

I was gonna start like in 2 months bet I met a girl who will carpool with me and we can start super early. Now I just have to tell my boss I can't close the store anymore, heh.. :paranoid:

[spoogenet]

Originally posted by hondaman-iac
my dad used to pay off his balances as they came. i payed like half and then the next month the other half. cc and preety much everyone else looks to get your money. if you don't let them get a finance charge once in a while they won't like that and you will get declined pretty easy. i look at my dad's credit and he still has the regular cc's and i went to platinum. i can go out and buy a 25k car with no money down and he qualified for only 11k. needlesss to say he makes a lot more than i do, and i still have the better credit because i let the cc comanies get some of my money. the problem is don't let them take too much tho.

Dude, my parents never carry a balance and always pay in full. Always have. They continuously get offers for Platinum or get their cards upgraded to platinum. They've had cards with 30k+ limits.

I've never carried a balance either, and one of my only 2 credit cards is platinum, the other is Blue. Every offer I get in the mail is for platinum.

Does your father have lots of credit cards? That could easily be why he wouldn't qualify for much. It all depends on your credit/earnings and debt/credit ratios (well, and credit history). If he has too much debt and not enough earnings, then he won't qualify for higher credit on any given card.

However at the same time, credit card companies have been aggressively targeting college age customers because they tend to rack up lots of expenses and carry high balances for long terms.....chu-ching!$$$ But those wouldn't be platinum cards, they'd be low credit limit high interest cards usually.

b

[SolPol]

I almost always pay my full balance on all my cards and they are always bumping me up. They get no interest, so they figure if they bump you higher, than you can't pay full balance every month.

Spooge,

You have Blue? How is it? I been thinking about it.

[spoogenet]

Blue? It's just another card as far as I'm concerned. I use the ShopSafe feature for online shopping (if they take AMEX, which many don't). It's not as good as MBNA's NetPayments program, though.

There are some CoolBlue offers that can be worthwhile. Things like discounts on membership at Costco and some other things. I used it a lot at Costco since they only take AMEX.

I got the SmartCard reader, but it's useless....you can do everything without it.

They have BVG (Best Value Guarantee) where they'll pricematch products for you. Lots and lots of people used it for online pricematching and got smokin deals, but they just canned the online feature. I believe it's still available for regular B&M shopping. I never used it. Most of the time people used it to price against fly-by-night companies and misprints in ads and stuff, things that a normal retailer wouldn't pricematch against.

b

[SolPol]

What's the MBNA NetPayments? I have a loan from them so they rejected my pre approved card. Good stuff huh. Course, the loan is paid off now.

[pdiggitydogg]

most things that I buy go on the credit card. I never go too far with it so I havent gotten into trouble...too much anyway...

If you want things done to it, just do it bit by bit, a little piece at a time, until its where you want it to be. I would think that getting a new car would cost the same, if not more, (initially and in the end) than fixing up 95

[spoogenet]

Originally posted by SolPol
What's the MBNA NetPayments? I have a loan from them so they rejected my pre approved card. Good stuff huh. Course, the loan is paid off now.

Well I'm not sure if they still have it around because I heard a rumor it was getting cancelled. Anyhow, it allowed you to get a temporary credit card number linked to your account to use online. You could set the expiration date and the balance of the temporary card (up to your account balance) and then use it as a 1-time use number. Helps to keep companies from overcharging or having your number stolen.

It wasn't available on all their cards, though. I've got the LL Bean card and it's not available on that card.

For Blue (Private Payments) I can only request a temp number. They set the expiration for the month you request it, unless you request at the end of the month in which case it expires the next month. But you can't set the balance on it.

b

[SolPol]

Sweet. Thanks man.