Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Common Interests what to do (credit card related)

i currently owe almost $700 on my CC (with a limit of $1000) im 20 yrs old and trying to build credit

now i have the cash right now to pay it but heres my dilema.

i can either

1) pay my CC off in full, then use it to buy my suspension (konis, etc)

or

2) pay the minimum payment (currently 0% interest) use my debit to buy the suspension stuff, and pay it off in another month or 2

i was told by some people paying it off at once dont build credit, but others told me it did

what should i do?

thanks,
Russell

This might not be the best thing to do, who knows, but if I were in your situation I'd pay about $350 on the CC, and buy your konis with your debit. Then if you have more money next month pay about $100 on the CC. Then buy more stuff on the CC, pay a little more than min. payment the next month, then buy more and make a big payment. Sounds weird, but that's what usually happens with me and my CCs. I have two, one with a 2k limit, and another with a $500 limit. I am car shopping and recently got approved for a $8000 loan with only $1000 down and I'm 20. It took a few places though to get approved. My beacon credit score is 680, which is decent, and experian figured it out as 706 which is good. I've had two late payments in the two years I've had the cards. Mix it up a bit, but don't buy stuff and pay it all the way off. Others may disagree.

~Paul

Anytime you use a credit card it builds credit, so the people who said it doesnt are wrong.

I dont know though I always pay off my CC the next month in full, just cincase something goes wrong in life I dont have a CC debt laying around.

That doesn't build credit.

What builds credit is making monthly payments on time over a period of time. With that said, in my experience, when I've made a big payment or a few big payments on a CC, my limit usually gets bumped up....not that that is a good thing...

Originally posted by HITMANinMI:

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I dont know though I always pay off my CC the next month in full, just cincase something goes wrong in life I dont have a CC debt laying around.

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Pay the card !! I first got a card from Comp USA, got 1800.00 worth of stuff and paid it back in that first month . Then i also have a visa with 50,000 on it and i use it constantly for flights to europe and right now i owe 400.00 on it , i constantly pay it off within the first month .I NEVER just pay the minimal balance due, Best advice i can give you, since your young just save save save save save !! dont even buy the suspension ! just save !!! Later when you get older like me you can have nice things !! and even spend 10k on a airplane ride

I always pay my card off in full every month, but yes sometimes you can't.

with 0% interest it wouldn't be that bad to let is slide some but i wouldn't make a habit of it

like I am not in a hurry to pay my school loan off as I have like 2% interest fixed for the next 20 years

I'm 21 and my credit was 740 .. now its 690 because my one cards revolving balance is too close to the max. Anyways.. NEVER pay the minimum, always pay at least a little more. DONT let your bill start going up, its so easy to let it go up and so hard to bring it down (example you want to buy this suspension instead of getting rid of debt)

so if i were you, i would pay 350 on the next credit card statement, then charge the suspension, the pay the rest of what you had for the suspension on the next bill.

Im going to just charge mine and say to hell with it.. LOL

Im 18 (turning 19 in a few weeks) and ive had my credit limit raised on one from 1100 to 2000 and ive never taken more than a month or two (latest) to pay off balances. I agree that making more payments raises your credit, but its a tradeoff with paying interest (unless you have 0%) and getting too confortable with low payments until you have one big bill.

-ivan c.