long time no see,
s2ki.com brothers...

i had a quick question for
anyone who knows a lot about credit stuff.

can you build credit by using
amex charge cards?
like amex gold, platinum... etc. cards that
you have to pay in full each month.

i'm pretty new to the world of amex cards,
so help me out.
thanx!

 

Yes, amex works to build credit. What most people do who have no credit is start with the Amex. Then as you build even the slightest bit of a credit rating, you'll get offers for true "credit" cards. Sign up for one of those and you're on your way to building a credit history.

 

Just make sure you build good history...

 

The "regular" AmEx card, yes, but pay it on time or early.

 

And when you get other credit cards, keep paying them off monthly. DO NOT pay those ridiculous interest rates!! If you cant pay it off monthly, dont buy until you can or get a real loan at a reasonable interest rate!!

 

and NEVER pay minimum payment or late payments.

 

Not ENTIRELY good advice for building credit. Actually carrying a balance and paying it off timely INCREASES your credit rating. Creditors want to see that you can pay off a high dollar loan.

 

[QUOTE=kadeshpa,Aug 31 2006, 06:24 PM] Not ENTIRELY good advice for building credit.

 

Strong statement when you're not 100% correct.

You're not accounting for credit utilization. Your score depends on this little tidbit. If you maintain a credit utilization of 0%, well, it's not going to do much for your score (positive or negative that is). However keeping it under say 20% of your max can help.

I'm not saying you need to maintain a high balance, actually you want to keep it low. However there is some benefit to carrying a balance on occassion.

 

[QUOTE=kadeshpa,Aug 31 2006, 08:55 PM] Strong statement when you're not 100% correct.

You're not accounting for credit utilization.