Eli5: how people initially start building credit.

1.03K viewsEconomicsOther

It’s weird to me. I recently applied for a bunch of rentals and my lack of credit has been the main thing holding me back. I have resolved to get a secured credit card but like how tf do people usually build credit anyway? I got denied by several other credit cards.

I also tried to apply for a loan earlier last year for a tow behind camper and even with 10k down on a 16k camper they said no. It’s like they can’t comprehend what I mean when I said I don’t have a credit score…it’s not a bad credit score….it’s that I have literally zero history. I’ve paid for everything in full including my car and the travel trailer that I ended up buying and yet I’m punished for it.

Anyways, how do most people get their name in the system? Is it always with a secured credit card?

In: Economics

20 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

Look at nerdwallet.com for low-credit cards. Get a few. Just use one, and request credit limit increases regularly. If your initial limit is low, pay it off when it gets to 25% to keep utilization low. The two biggest factors in your credit score are not missing payments, and having a low utilization rate. So if you have a lot of credit but you’re only using 10% of it vs 90%, you’ll have a better score.

You are viewing 1 out of 20 answers, click here to view all answers.