Help, need to build credit.

[Kevin T]

I have recently turned 18, and well our family is mainly only using 1 credit card, the Citibank Driver's Edge. The account holder is my dad, can this be switched to my name in which my dad will cosign for me so that I can build credit?

I have applied for MBNA Platinum, cosigned with my dad, and got accepted however I have yet to receive their card for many many weeks. However I do not really want to use this card because it provide no rewards.

[stickmanx]

you could ask your dad to issue you a supplementary card,. If you are in college or university get a student credit card. Another option if you have an income is to apply for department store card. Last option is to get a secured credit card like www.hometrust.ca, use it for 6 months to establish credit and then apply for a regular credit card.

[Singh_21]

Supplementary cards dont build credit history.

[Kevin T]

I have a supplementary card already since 17... I want to be primary account holder. And theres no point getting another Drivers Edge, and I dont want to use PC or anything because I am buying a car soon. Grocery at 1% doesnt interest me.

[Agent_J]

I have a supplementary card already since 17... I want to be primary account holder. And theres no point getting another Drivers Edge, and I dont want to use PC or anything because I am buying a car soon. Grocery at 1% doesnt interest me.
how bout TD GM Visa, 3% cash back towards GM vehicles

[peterbrowne]

sign up for Starwood Preferred Guest MBNA or check the comparison

[Kevin T]

I have no interest in purchasing a GM vehicle.

Is it possible to change the primary account holder of DriversEdge to mine?

I don't want Starwood, I already have MBNA Platinum.

The family only uses 1 major credit card: Citi Drivers Edge. I don't want to buy gas on my card when I could get rewards using the Citi card.

[Hellfire]

Is it possible to change the primary account holder of DriversEdge to mine?

No. Just apply for your own DrivesEdge Card. You have no credit, supplementary card count for nothing. And if you get someone to Co-sign for your own credit card your still not going to build any credit so your MBNA card counts for nothing too.

[motorcycleguy]

I received my first CC at 17. Nobody cosigned me. At 18 I had 4 credit cards. Apply online and lie about your income. Tell them you make 18,000+/year.
Lots of credit cards will bring your credit down,as for them it means you always need money and unstable.
If your credit history tells them you can have 20,000 limit-it's all you are going to get.If you have 15,000 on your credit cards and you'll apply for a loan,you'll only be able to get 5,000.
There are ways around that though.

Start with TD bank. Their minimum is 500,which makes gives you 50% more chance

[Kevin T]

Ok why would I apply for my own drivers edge card? :confused: That is completely useless. the reason i need a cosign is because MBNA needs a history, and after 4 months of use, I will take over the account.

[bmaz]

Ok why would I apply for my own drivers edge card? :confused: That is completely useless. the reason i need a cosign is because MBNA needs a history, and after 4 months of use, I will take over the account.
AFAIK you can't just switch the name on the credit card account from your Dads name to yours.
Which is why you have to apply for a new one

[bmaz]

How do you know that you got accepted for that MBNA card if you haven't received it.
The only way I know I am accepted is when it arrives in the mail.
If you know for sure that you have been accepted, then there is no harm querying the status of your card.

[Hellfire]

Ok why would I apply for my own drivers edge card? :confused: That is completely useless. the reason i need a cosign is because MBNA needs a history, and after 4 months of use, I will take over the account.

LoL they won't let you do that. For all intents and purposes its your dad's CC. They gave it to you guys because of his credit history, not yours.

And why would you apply for your own drivers edge card? TO BUILD CREDIT!!

So far everything you have done counts for nothing as far as BUILDING YOUR OWN CREDIT goes.

[Tiberius]

You need your own credit card - in your name. It's that simple.

A "family" with just 1 credit card seems.... well... not "wise". I personally only hold 1 credit card (well... 2 because I have an HBC card that I don't use and will cancel). That is actually foolish of me. You should have 2 credit cards (anything more than that I also think is useless and just risky as you have all of that "credit" out there and you shouldn't use it unless you can pay it off anyways).

Only one person in your family is building a credit history - your dad. If your parents broke up (just for the sake of making a point), your mother would be screwed with no credit history - unless she is "joint" on the family credit card. Even then, it's not her 'own' seperate credit.

Get YOUR OWN credit card. If you still want to use a supplementary card of the family's credit card - fine - do it. BUT!!! Make ONE payment on your own PERSONAL credit card each month (set up a recurring bill to automatically be charged to the card perhaps), and then - PAY IT OFF IN FULL EACH MONTH.

So long as you have credit in your name (your own personal credit card), and you use it (one transaction per month), and then PAY IT OFF IN FULL EACH MONTH, you will start to build a solid credit history.

You should not have a problem getting a credit card of your own at the age of 18. If you are going to college/university I'm sure you'll be bombarded with credit card offers once you are on campus.

[Kevin T]

LoL they won't let you do that. For all intents and purposes its your dad's CC. They gave it to you guys because of his credit history, not yours.

And why would you apply for your own drivers edge card? TO BUILD CREDIT!!

So far everything you have done counts for nothing as far as BUILDING YOUR OWN CREDIT goes.

Do you even read? MBNA requires a cosign applicant in order to verify payment style for the future. After 4 months, they will issue a take-over in which I will have my own credit card.

We do not have 1 credit card, 1 have Amex - Costco for purchases at Costco, TD Visa, Scotia Visa, Drivers Edge for racking up reward.

If I were to pay $300/mth of gas on my own credit card, thats just wasting $6/month on potential reward. The main point is I want to prioritize using 1 MAJOR CREDIT CARD to maximize Driver Edge's reward program.

I'll just get a TD Visa or something for low requirements; I make $0 purchase/month excluding gas.

[dolphie]

and got accepted however I have yet to receive their card for many many weeks.

CALL THEM ASAP!!!!
Make sure they didn't send out the card. Someone could have intercepted it (ie. stolen it out of your mailbox) and could be ringing up crap on it right now!
If you were accepted and were expecting a card find out ASAP where it is.

[Kevin T]

Thanks, I did call, and the current balance is $0 so its okay. They said to wait till Friday since it was sent since 03/21/05.

[Kevinck]

Got this link from another thread. I think we should keep an article like this around for all the people asking how to build credit history.

http://www.cbc.ca/consumers/market/files/money/credit/glossary.html

Specifically:
http://www.cbc.ca/consumers/market/files/money/credit/tipsscore.html
and
http://www.cbc.ca/consumers/market/files/money/credit/getinfo.html

Very good information.

[taile]

do you have any bank account with any major bank?
I'm not sure about others, but I have a account with TD, when I was a college student i walked in a TD branch and asked how to apply a credit card, the teller checked out my account status and asked some information about my study then told me I'm pre-approved for a green card with a limit of $600. At that time, I'm with TD for only 2 years and my balance is only so so. This is in 2002, not sure if they changed the policy or not.

hope this will help!