Looking for a credit card. Anyone have one they really like?

WHAT, WHAT, WHAT ARE YOU DOING??

Introducing my sassy gay friend Suze Orman.

give me some credit! (please.)

Ok. Sorro for the cheesy title, but it had to be done. In other news:

1. I checked my credit score!! It’s good, I’m not too high of a risk or anything, but I would like to improve it - I got mine for free by signing up for a ten-day trial of Score Watch at myfico.com (but remember to cancel it before your ten days are up or you’ll be stuck with a $50+ three month subscription fee)
2. What is FICO? you may ask. I was under the impression FICO is a European sports league of some kind. It’s not. According to the illustrious Suze Orman, FICO score is “The gold standard of credit scores, developed by Fair Isaac Corporation…Lenders use your FICO score to determine if you are a worthy credit risk, and what sort of deal they are going to offer you. A higher FICO score puts you in line for a lower interest rate on a loan or credit card.” Suze also gives some good advice on how to deal with it: “DON’T SCREW IT UP.” Ok then. Thanks Suze.
3. Did you know that the three major credit bureaus (Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion) are required by law to give you a free credit report every year? I didn’t. Go to annualcreditreport.com to get yours! Not freecreditreport.com, although that would probably be a lot more fun. 

writeupyour-ali-deactivated2013 asked: Cute pic.

thanks, some rando took it of me.

so far, so good.

So, I figured I would catch up with my current financial situation before making some big decisions.

Current State of the Union:

• I have a checking account through Regions. I love the customer service - they have been extremely helpful in the past.
• I have a saving account through ING Direct. Why this is balla: Because it’s online, there aren’t any overhead fees such as having to pay tellers or operating costs such as electricity, rent, etc. So, that means I get 10% interest compared to the 1% interest I would get at Regions. 

What needs to be done:

• check out my credit. Credit still baffles me…do I even have any?? So many questions
• Get a credit card. Honest moment: Credit cards scare me. And confuse me. But, I’m taking the plunge. I’ve been investigating and trying to figure out which would be the best for me.
• Open up a Roth IRA. A retirement fund that only uses after-tax dollars. Why this is balla: as opposed to a 401(k), which uses pre-tax dollars, all the money in the account is mine, so the government has already taken its share when I’m ready to withdraw!

That’s all that I’ve come up with…for now. I’m sure I’ll encounter more adventures.

Now off to bankrate.com to compare credit cards!

About

Hi tumblrverse!

I’m Carrie, a junior at Samford University majoring in Musical Theatre. I’ve started this blog to chronicle my journey to financial independence and financial literacy because money is hard. Being in college is hard. And I’m going to need some help if I’m going to tackle both in the next two years.

I pretty much know next to nothing about money, so I bought two books on personal finance: I Will Teach You To Be Rich by Ramit Sethi and The Money Book for the Young, Fabulous & Broke by Suze Orman. Am I embarrassed to be seen around town reading books with these titles? Yes. Have I already doubled what little knowledge I had? Yes.

Let the adventuring begin!

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