If you’re reading this, you probably know where you’re sitting credit wise. If not and you’ve stumbled onto this website through random chance, you’ve come to the right place, just trust that the universe has found you here for a good reason.
If you don’t know your credit score, check out credit karma.
If you haven’t seen you reports since your last two New Year’s Resolutions expired, check out AnnualCreditReport.com
I NEED TO BUY A TRADELINE, BUT I’M NOT SURE WHAT TO DO WITH IT
Today’s questions are, what credit score do I need to get a great credit card, and why would I even want one?
We’ll get to the credit scores in a minute, so let’s look at what you’ve got right now…you’ve had a credit card in the past, perhaps even have one currently, but if you’re going to have your pick of the litter, which unsecured line of credit (the fancy term for credit card) will you choose?
Wait a minute here.
They’re dangerous affairs you say. People get in trouble with them, high-interest rates abound and so forth. Perhaps, but they are necessary as transportation these days. They make up 33% of your credit score, so if you want to get a loan for that aforementioned transportation, you’re going to have to make nice with these little plastic friends.
The truth is, a credit card in the right hands can be your financial workhorse. You have expenses, you’re paying them anyway, why not run them through a rewards card? And since they are necessary anyway, might as well utilize them in the most efficient way possible.
Now, just how good does your credit have to be to take full advantage?
An excellent credit is considered 720-850 and if you’ve used a credit repair service such as Credit Booster 101, then you will likely be in this range and able to take advantage of the most premium offers on the market. It just depends on what fits your spending habits. Do you want good balance transfer options, 0% for over a year, travel or cash back rewards just for signing up?
If you’re in this “excellent” category, you get the best rewards cards available, most of which have zero annual fees (and unless you are a jet-setting executive, you shouldn’t pay an annual fee, ever. Some of the cards to look at when you have this good of a score: Capitol One Venture card (great travel rewards), Citi Diamond Preferred Card (great system of getting points you can use on Citi’s website), and the Chase Freedom (great quarterly rotating categories of 5% cash back on things you will usually be spending money on: gas, groceries, etc).
The better card you have, the better spending tool it is. We say this all the time here, but keep your total utilization under 30% of your total available limit month to month. If you can remember this, you’re well on your way to staying well above 720.
