I am 21 years old and have grown up with teaching about not having credit cards and that they = debt. My parents went through a rough patch financially and we almost lost everything, this made me shy away from credit cards of all types. Until recently, i have had these feelings. However after taking a gap year to travel and volunteer i realized i waisted so many point opportunities. Because of my type A personality i am a numbers guy with spreadsheets and budgets and know that I can handle using credit cards for my benefit and not the banks.
This is my predicament. I currently have zero credit. And in januaray of 2017 i will be moving to asia for at least two years. Before i leave i would love to be approved for a premium card, like chase sapphire card. Is this possible? I have read post on different websites about getting approved for a basic card and then doing all the good things with it and then in 4-6 months have a good credit score. I have also read about getting added as an authorized user, however there is no one in my family that i could do this with because they don't have credit cards. What would you do in my situation that would be the quickest way?

Thanks everyone for the help! Its awesome that there is this community online!

okay whole bunch of bullet point advice:

1) don't jump into premium cards right away.
2) You won't be getting whole lot of benefit from CSP in your year 1, unless you travel and dine a lot.
3) you should start with Chase Freedom for sure! It is one of the must have cards out there. Be sure to get a referral for +50 bucks
4) Then get Citi Double Cash. (a) this starts a relationship with Citi (b) this is a amazing card for newbies.
5) stop. don't apply for cards anymore for a while.
6) actually, at most you can get another card and that is it. only do this if you can't resist the signup offer and/or the credit card is too good.
7) btw it seems like amex targets non-amex users with awesome offers....so maybe not join them right away?
8) now, is your relationship with chase good? you've had freedom for a while? you've been a good with payments? then get Chase Shapphire Preferred WHEN you know you can take advantage of the 50k signup bonus.
9) next up, get Chase Ink Plus when you know you can take advantage of the 60k signup bonus. downgrade to Ink Cash next year.
10) You've just been approved for 3 chase cards that fall under "5/24 rule". You've also established good credit history. Now go get other cards.
11) I would recommend Citi Prestige. It is the best premium card atm and you effectively only pay $100. Unless you travel a lot, don't apply for it right away. If you do travel a lot, this could maybe be your 3rd card in step 6.

edit to repeat #10: it is absolutely vital that you do not have more than 5 cards in last 24 months before applying for Chase Freedom, Chase Ink, and Chase Sapphire Preferred. Hence why I gave you the scheme of how you should apply while still staying under 5/24 rule.

I also recommended Freedom + Ink + CSP over everything else because it is the best credit card combo available in the market. Nothing else comes close.

And before you ask, yes, Ink+ is a business card but you as an individual can still get it just fine.

Well, for many it is

I always pay off every card when it is due, so don't pay interest. I look at them as convenience cards - OK, used to, now I look at them more as way to get some bennies, as well as convenience.

This forum is more dedicated to folks who already have credit and want to maximize benefits, but hopefully someone can find a creative way for you to jump into credit without credit history.

I'll make a couple of suggestions:

Did you have a student loan that you were able to pay off.

Do you have money in checking / saving account?

Reason I ask is that your local bank may issue you a credit card since you have an account with them. It's a way to start building credit.

Not sure if this is still the case, but back when I got out of college my first card (back then they gave one to everyone) was for gas.

Oh, and welcome to FlyerTalk

runb4fun,
I went into chase and they said that the slate card would be better option since i dont have any credit and i would most likely get approved. So i signed up for that and that will also start having a relationship with chase. I am not planning on having points and such built up before my trip, but rather begin building them on my trip for another travel time later. Thanks everyone! Any other advice would be awesome!

EmailKid gave you the best advice you will ever get, but let me reiterate: never EVER EVER EVER carry a balance. Not a dime, not a penny, not a dollar.

When you start out, use a credit card sparingly. Start an envelope at home and each day put in enough to cover your charges that day (and you should probably only use it once a week or less). Use it for a meal at McDonald's or a small purchase at the mall.

If you want to buy something larger -- SAVE AND PAY CASH.

Also, IGNORE THE POINTS AND BENNIES!!! They will accumulate slowly but come nowhere near enough to cover the trouble you will be in if you get in debt.

Start reading Dave Ramsey (Google him) about how to handle credit and money. If you email him, he or his staff will AWLAYS get back to you -- at no charge.

You will NEVER in your life get a better chance to start out well.

BTW: No matter HOW MUCH IT HURTS, start putting money away for retiremet (even if it is only 1%). You should also put some money away every paycheck for a rainy day fund (at your career point 2 months GROSS should suffice).

Good luck and welcome!

The downside with using the Slate abroad is that it charges a 3% foreign transaction fee. Granted so does the Freedom. Off the top of my head, most no annual fee credit cards charge a foreign transaction fee.

I got my first credit card when I was 18 from Bank of America because that's where I had my bank accounts and it upped the chances of being approved. I got a really low credit limit, but it was enough for being in college.

Yeah they're probably right but freedom > slate. Freedom I believe was my first credit card. I've fair amount of people in my family who started out with Freedom. I don't think it is a difficult card to get. The bank probably recommended slate because beginners to credit card tend to carry balance?

I would highly recommend you get Double Cash, particularly since you seem to want to take it slow. It gives 2% on everything and that is just wonderful.

If you still intend to get CSP in next 2 years, follow the steps I gave you.

0) wait couple of months
1) next card Double Cash
2) then Freedom - convert Slate to Freedom if you think you won't have enough expense to meet the signup bonus
3) wait out a decent amount of time
4) get Chase Sapphire Preferred (first year AF is waived)
5) get Chase Ink+ (first year AF is not waived)
6) downgrade CSP to SP if you aren't getting the most value out of it and keep Ink as it is
7) if you prefer CSP, downgrade Ink+ to Ink Cash

I just gave you the advice that I wish someone else had given me several years ago.

and of course, never carry a balance. if you find yourself carrying a balance, stop, step back, and rethink this whole credit card business.

Okay great! Yea I have no intention of EVER carrying a balance! I also listen to dave Ramsey a lot! He in fact was the main reason i never got a credit card. However i have learned through the blogs i follow that if you are dedicated and nerdy enough you can use the rewards to your advantage for travel.
So its looking like my plan is to use this card at about 10-20% utilization of the ammount i get approved and then build my credit until i can upgrade to the freedom card in a few months.

do note that you won't get signup bonus offer when you switch over to freedom.

freedom currently offers $150 when you spend $500. you also get $25 for adding an authorized user (could literally be your dog) and using that card once. also, i think referrals give you $50. it is basically free money. if you don't have $500 expense, just open square account and send $500 to yourself. it'll cost you 2.75% of $500 but it'll be worth.

Several tips:

1. You should never have any expectation on your first several cards. It is all about the approval, not the reward.

This means if you have to give up the reward or get a secured card, so be it.

2. Know when to stop - if 2 apps don't get you an approval, further apps will not do any good.

The first year of building credit is always difficult. But you have to understand what you are up for.

Don't conflate the two. One can definitely build credit with credit cards without going into debt. However, it takes financial responsibility.

There are no quick and easy shortcuts with credit. Building is a long, slow process.

With your thin profile you're going to have to slowly build. You won't be able to open a whole lot of accounts to start off. Gradually work your way to 2-3 cards.

Keep the standard factors in mind:
http://www.myfico.com/crediteducatio...yourscore.aspx

Given the typical weight of Payment History every payment must be on time. You must have 100% Payment History. Not 90%. Not 99%. 100%. Do whatever you need to do to ensure that every payment is on time and that you do not incur lates, collections or other derogs as they will have a significant negative impact and hold you down as long as they are on your reports. If auto pay would be of benefit to you then use it to ensure that at least your minimums are covered by the due dates. Pay every statement balance in full. Don't spend what you don't have. Keep your revolving utilization (balance[s]/limit[s]) as low as you can as it has a significant impact and falls under Amounts Owed. General advice is do not exceed 30% but that can be tricky with the low limits that you will be getting. Most other factors just take time and responsible usage to build.

When you get to where you are focusing on rewards you'll need to look at where your spend is going to find cards that maximize rewards on your major spend. In other words, it makes no sense to fixate on getting 5% cash back if you don't have much spend in a given category. You want to focus on rewards on where you spend your money. You want to look at total cost/benefit of a given card and not just whether or not a card has an annual fee. Run the numbers for your spend. For rewards programs like Ultimate Rewards, Membership Rewards, Thank You, etc you need to also consider how redemptions impact rewards value.

Carefully consider how any card suits you. Don't just app for a card because you think it is "premium". If you want the CSP then ensure that it maximizes rewards on your major spend and that you can leverage the higher value redemption options with Ultimate Rewards.

The Slate is a poor option aside for balance transfers. Definitely research carefully before taking action. However, what's done is done so use it responsibly to build your credit.


Hit the credit-specific sites for more info on credit.

I've found that for whatever reason, Amex is much more willing to give a charge card to someone with no credit history than a credit card. One would hope that would make getting a credit card from Amex easier later.

I'm curious why you would want to us a US credit card for your local purchases in Asia? As an expat with (I assume) an above average salary in Asia you would generally have no trouble getting a couple of local credit cards straight away.

With a US credit card, since you will (I assume) be paid in local currency and make purchases in local currency, being hit for two spreads (moving your salary to US$, and the transactions being converted to US$) plus fund transfer fees in order to use a US card seems a bit daft. Points/cashback on Asian cards aren't generally quite as high as US ones, but that still wouldn't be enough to justify using US cards as far as I can see.

Lot of good tips in here, thanks for taking the time to put that out there.

One thing that I have done with my boys while they are in high school is set them up with an excel spreadsheet checkbook that they maintain. They track their spending like an old-school check register, but it's with their credit card receipts, so in essence, they are reducing their balance by every charge, then we reconcile them BEFORE the end of the billing cycle and make a payment - this leaves a very small (if any) balance.