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
> 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.
This is the weird part. Very few people pony up a lot of cash like this for items. The ones that do tend to make very large down payments and for many kinds of loans that can substitute for bad credit.
I hate saying what “most people” do. I’ll tell you what I did. Predatory credit card people set up shop at a Pizza Hut in my college town. You got a free pizza if you signed up. So I signed up.
Then I started using the credit card. I wasn’t great with it. I got into a little bit of debt, but I didn’t drown. Suddenly I had a credit history. Dad co-signed with me on the first apartment, that let us use his better credit. But we were also dealing with a small landlord instead of a corporate property manager, so that person was more trusting of the idea that if I turned out unreliable my dad would make the payments *and* teach me a lesson. I also had student loans I was paying back.
I think most people fall into that kind of category, they either:
* Have so much money their wealth is collateral for loans, and those loans establish a history.
* Get a parent/spouse/friend to co-sign so they can use that person’s credit history.
* Start with a credit card or some other form of easy-to-get credit.
They want to see that you’ve been in debt before but did not fail to meet your obligations. If you haven’t been in debt before they get real antsy. If all you’ve ever done is pay cash for things they want you to put up collateral in lieu of having a history.
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