Credit cards?

[lordxizor]

Yup. I have a feeling that carrying a card with a $3,000 balance on it (which I have payed every month) is going to help me get a lone one day.

Even though I shudder to think about how much I've paid in interest!

Carrying a balance does not help your credit history or score anymore than using your card and paying it off every month does.

[yorost]

It's great for wasting money, though.  That way you'll need all the more loans later in life.

[MetalJunkie]

So your going to save up for 30 years in order to be able to buy a house up front on top of paying rent at wherever you currently live?

At least he's thinking it through.

[Phoenix87x]

so,

after having a credit card for about a year and a half now and never missing a single payment, I have gone from getting denied from every single credit card company, to now getting pre-approved cards in the mail on like a weekly bases. Some of which are platinum cards ect.

Since the offers keep getting progressively better, it made me curious about what my credit actual was. Since I have zero faith/trust in online credit report sites, is there a way to just easily find out what my score is? I guess just go to a bank, but this is new territory for me.

[rumborak]

All 3 credit rating institutions are required (by law) to give you one free inquiry into your credit score per year.

This is the website to use: https://www.annualcreditreport.com/index.action

[El Barto]

Yeah, and the recommendation is to check one every 4 months, so you can make sure nobody's ripping you off (because as Scheavo's currently on about, it's your own damn fault if it happens).

[TempusVox]

and does annual fee mean a price you pay to use the credit card service?

Yes.  Avoid them.  My advice is to NOT use your card for anything you cannot fully pay off at the end of the billing cycle.  If you pay your full balance each month instead of making payments, you don't have to worry about what the interest rate is on the card because you are never paying any interest.

This.