What's the optimal credit card to get at a young age?

What is “a young age”? Honestly the best credit card is no credit card, especially at a young age. If it’s about building credit, it’s always best for someone in their teens/early-mid 20’s to get a parent or guardian to co-sign on a card so they can monitor it and teach you spending habits.

  1. Credit cards almost always carry extremely high interest rates.

  2. Credit card companies can raise your limit without notice. This can lead you into the trap of feeling you have more money and cause you to spend, and owe, more.

  3. If you just pay the minimum payments, you will have spent 3-4x what your original purchase cost.

Take it from someone who is pretty responsible and level headed. I started off in college with a credit card with a $200 limit. Wells Fargo was giving free T-shirt’s to people who applied. I didn’t even have a job, and they approved me. Fast forward more than a decade later, job and life changes, marriage, mortgage, a kid, etc... and I have about $20,000 in credit card debt costing me over $400 per month in payments that barely make a dent in the principal owed.

/r/personalfinance Thread