First things first, why is this related to this community? A key element of financial success is avoiding getting suckered by bad fiscal deals. A huge aspect of which comes down to reading the damn terms. Not a day goes by that someone gets sent pre-approved credit cards in the mail with absolutely insane terms such as below:

https://i.imgur.com/XIgkGJ0.png

Predatory lending is a thing and you have to look out for #1. If you're in the market for a credit card and you have bad credit, the only route I can confidently recommend is a secured card with a low limit that you make a small monthly purchase on (and pay off immediately) until your credit score gets back up over 700, and preferably 720+ (so you get the best terms for future credit).

A secured card is one where you put money down and the credit card company gives you a line of credit relative to how much you contributed. After several months of on-time payments you may request the credit limit be raised as your score begins to improve. For example, I put down $50 for a Capital One card and got a $200 limit. After about 4 months of on-time payments I asked to have the limit raised and they agreed and bumped it up to $500. That's more available credit which also helps improve my overall score. I'll write up something on how to build your credit score later and dive into that more deeply.

Later on once your credit score begins to get back up into a healthy zone, then perhaps start looking into rewards cards to use for your day to day purchases as was discussed in this thread so to avoid getting burned by debit card fraud/identity theft.

If you're not able to control yourself with credit, then you really should follow the Dave Ramsey model and just not have credit cards. However, for those of you who can use them responsibly, then consider rewards cards with fair amounts of cash back and pay them off every month. Frankly speaking I'm not an expert on credit cards and tend to avoid them, so I'll refer to you Graham Stephan as he's all about the credit card churning life, and more power to him.

Also, if you are using rewards cards, actually use the rewards! Only 38% of people actually use the rewards points every month.

As always if your credit cards have an annual fee, then please do yourself a favor and find another company's offerings without one. There are so many good cards out there, there really is no excuse for having a card with terms like the one linked above. One way to really spoil your credit is to toss a credit card in a lock-box at home, forget about the annual fee, and never bothering to check your account because after all you haven't been using it, right? All the while that annual fee is causing missed payments and accruing interest. I'm speaking from experience, so learn from my mistake so you don't repeat it!

If you want to learn more, please subscribe to my YouTube channel I'm in the process of launching for the community, and subscribe to the Red Pill Finance tribe over at TRP.RED.

And if you'd like to begin investing, not trading--trading is for chumps and gamblers like the autists over at WSB, then feel free to use my referrals below:

M1Finance
Robinhood