How do I build my credit score?

[AVAFREAK182]

I'm 18 and I guess I'd like to consider myself conservative financially with money. I do OK.

Well I'm wanting to start building credit early.

What are some ways?

 

[guyver01]

Secure Credit Card.

 

[manlymatt83]

Secure Credit Card.

this

 

[AVAFREAK182]

Suggestions on which? A low limit?

 

[deadlyapp]

Suggestions on which? A low limit?

Chase rewards is probably a good place to start.

use it for daily purchases and pay it off at the end of the month. Don't ever make a late payment. Rinse and repeat.

 

[dfuze]

Pay all your bills on time like electric, water, or any loans (home, car, etc...).

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

get a student credit card and pay it off in FULL.

6 months later if you are responsible, you can move up to a better card (why not? cashback helps). It might take longer. Maybe a year. I got my Citi Dividend card in about 9 months. I got the Costco AMEX in 1 year after my first CC. By then I closed my student card and just ran with those two. I later added Discover and Chase Freedom, and those are my 4 cards now. I have a 750+ credit score last time I checked. No loans, just CC since I was 18. It'd probably help if I had a loan.

 

[deadlyapp]

Pay all your bills on time like electric, water, or any loans (home, car, etc...).

paying bills (other than loans and unsecured credit) does not help your credit, but nor does it hurt it.

If you miss a payment it will hurt you.

 

[boomhower]

Student credit cards are a lot harder to get these days than they were in the fast. When I started college in 2000 they were literally throwing credit cards at you, not so much any more. As others have stated get a secured card to start out with.(Bank of America is a good to start with) and after a while it will unsecure. After making on time payments with it other companies will start offering you better cards. Another option, one which I highly recommend, is a secured loan. Yes, you are basically buying credit but it's a good way to build it when your young with credit cards being as hard to come by as they are.

As others have said, utilities do nothing to help your credit but can hurt you real quick. They don't report late payments to the credit bureaus, only if you go into default. But they do have their own little credit bureau. If you are consistently late you can bet when you move and change companies to a new power company you will have a hefty deposit.

 

[highland145]

Sig doesn't really apply to you but I'll still lend at 35%.

 

[IceBergSLiM]

http://www.creditboards.com/forums/

 

[Kyteland]

Building your credit score means having a credit history. This means using credit to purchase things even if you don't need to. Get a credit card and use it instead of cash for planned purchases. Planning on buying a car with cash? Get a loan instead (with favorable terms of course) and pay it off early.

If you are already prudent with money using credit instead of cash shouldn't be a problem. Don't ever make the mistake of treating your credit card like an ATM. If you can't afford to buy it with cash then you can't afford it on credit either. If you can use credit while avoiding the credit trap your credit score will take care of itself.

 

[dank69]

As others have said, get a credit card. Now. One without annual fees. Keep it forever. Even if you don't use it. One big factor in credit rating (bsides the obvious pay bills on time) is length of credit history. I got a card when I turned 18 and still have it to this day. My score was 813 when I bought a house last year and I'm only 36.

 

[Saint Nick]

Get a credit card and buy cheap crap and pay it off monthly. That would be a good place to start.

Check out Discover.

 

[rcpratt]

Take out a $30,000 loan with high rates to show them you mean business.

 

[highland145]

As others have said, get a credit card. Now. One without annual fees. Keep it forever. Even if you don't use it. One big factor in credit rating (bsides the obvious pay bills on time) is length of credit history. I got a card when I turned 18 and still have it to this day. My score was 813 when I bought a house last year and I'm only 36.

Had the same visa since 1988.

 

[BarkingGhostar]

I'm 18 and I guess I'd like to consider myself conservative financially with money. I do OK.

Well I'm wanting to start building credit early.

What are some ways?

If you want to buy credit score then I would suggest getting someone to co-sign an initial personal loan, pay it back within 90-days, repeat until they trust you enough to not need a cosigner. Then do a car load, home loan, and then try to buy the bank.

 

[SunnyD]

A credit card... any credit card. Secure or not, doesn't matter (if you can get unsecured, get it). Only thing is be weary of annual fees and whatnot. Best bet is go to your bank and apply for a card.

Spend no more than 10% of your limit during the first billing cycle. Let it roll to the next cycle (your first bill should be for $0 minimum anyway). Once the next billing cycle is due, pay the balance (which should be the original balance on the card), then after the cycle date closes and charge another 10% on the card. Rinse, repeat ad infinitum.

To be honest, building credit isn't a difficult deal if you're not in a hole to begin with. If your credit history is clean, go out and get a credit card or a car loan or whatever you need, use it responsibly and pay it every month as agreed. You'll build your credit from there. There's no "magic" method to it. Just don't get in over your head with credit.

 

[AVAFREAK182]

Alright, I'll check out Chase.

I took a math class that was based around statistics and credit. Correct me if I'm wrong but does it work like this?

Say I make all my everyday purchases with my card and have the cash to pay it off; do I still have to pay interest if I pay it off on time and don't carry a balance?

 

[hiromizu]

What you do is borrow a few Gs from friends and family, set up a secure credit card, buy tons of stuff with the secure card then pay the bills on time with the borrowed money as you send them your IOUs in the form of very high quality junk bonds. Check your credit report and FICO score a few months later and if everything looks good, tell your friends and family that you'll promise to pay them back with much greater interest if they would lend you some more money. Let them know that you've also signed them all up for financial magazines using the borrowed money as one of the lenders was interested and plus you get a bonus kickback from the publisher for every new subscriber. When you can't do this anymore, tell them at least you've tried and that the effort was worth it and better than the alternatives.

 

[boomhower]

Alright, I'll check out Chase.

I took a math class that was based around statistics and credit. Correct me if I'm wrong but does it work like this?

Say I make all my everyday purchases with my card and have the cash to pay it off; do I still have to pay interest if I pay it off on time and don't carry a balance?

Varies from card to card but for decent cards no, you have a grace period to pay it of without an interest charge.

 

[nick1985]

pay ur bills