whats the best way to build up good credit fast

[nonglossjason]

Im looking at renting a apartment soon but i dont have any credit history other than my cellphone. What do you guys recomend? Obviously get a credit card(just ordered discover) and either use it and pay it off every month or keep a revolving credit?

 

[FrankenStang]

Yeah, believe it or not, it's harder to rent an apartment that to buy a house or car. LMAO

Have a friend with good credit be your roomate? Have your parents co-sign?

My personal fav -----> buy a car.

Keep your credit card and cellularized telephone paid up.

 

[90]

what i did was, i was used to having a Debit card from my bank, i would spend my money that was direct deposited into it.. So when i got my Credit card, i was already used to how much to spend... every 2 weeks i would completely pay it off.. never spend more then you can afford. always pay it off in full. looks better trust me. ive only had my credit card for 2 1/2 years i started with a 500 limit, and now its 3k.. i never asked to up the limit either they just do it all the time. now im sitting on all togeather 10k in credit limit, i have 3 cards now. when i applyed for the loan for my car they didnt want to give it to me cuz of my age, the lady at my bank almost lost her job fighting for me. i had a 724 credit score(mind you i am 22) , and i was working at the time. im now in the sevenfourty somthings.. i can recomend is that you keep your self from spending more then you have. unless you absolutly need to.. always pay the card off in full, it help to have online banking mailing in payments sucks, you never know when their going to get it. it also helps to get some stores in the mall, and apply for their cards buy a few shirts pay it off.. like myself i have a kaye diomond jewlers card and bought my g/f somthing everyonce in a while... but it should work out for you.. good luck

 

[Graydon5oh]

what i did is my mom works for a female clothing store so she got me a credit card from them and i let my sister charge stuff on it and made sure she made the payment every month i also had a credit card that i used for small things and would pay it off every month

 

[Ozz]

Obtain a loan and use it to pay itself off? The interest will suck to pay but consider the idea behind it is to help build good credit; it's worth it in the end. Probably not the best idea but certainly isn't the worst.

 

[88Stang331]

I did something similar to that of 90 mustang. I got a credit card through a credit union with a limit of 500 dollars, because i figured that if worse came to worse i could still pay it off at the end of the month. To date i have only paid roughly 20 dollars in interest in the 3 years i've had the card. Also i have a car loan and a cell phone that i take care of regularly. I also make double payments on the car. I am also 22, i wonder what my credit score is...hrmm

 

[vikingpower]

I got a Visa Classic credit card thru the credit union where I have my accounts and loans a few years ago, started at a limit of $500 and interest rate of 12%. No fees or anything which is good and the interest rate is locked, also very important. Now after paying it off several times a year since I've had it my limit is now $2000 and the interest rate is 7.9%. I would highly recommend something similar for you, save a ton of money in interest over the life of your card

 

[tunedin302]

Believe it or not, as for credit cards it is better to have them open and not have any charges on them. For example, assume you have two credit cards (each have a credit limit of $1000) one with 500 balance and the other with 0. In this example you have $500 of debt over a $2000 credit line. Using the credit score companies theories, you are at 25% of your potential debt allowed. Now, if you close one of those credit cards then you will be left with a $500 debt on a $1000 limit. Therefore, you are at 50% of your allowed credit limit. The higher your % of debt the lower your credit score. Moral is, pay off your credit cards but leave them open to increase your credit score.

 

[tunedin302]

i wonder what my credit score is...hrmm

https://qspace.iplace.com/cobrands/850/home12.asp?sc=6588CS01

 

[Ozz]

Tunedin, what if you opened up like 10 CC accounts and just had, say, a few hundred bucks on one and left everything else untouched. Would that help a lot?

 

[Modular2v]

im 22, have paid off 2 cars and 3 open credit car accounts....my credit rating is 754 and i was recently approved for a 140,000 loan on a house. Cars seem to help credit out alot, banks and creditors really like seeing accounts that have lasted longer than 3 years!

 

[Turkey Sammich]

I ended up gettinga student visa and went into a local jewler that happened to report each month. So I opened upan accout to help put good hits on my rating.

 

[Modular2v]

Tunedin, what if you opened up like 10 CC accounts and just had, say, a few hundred bucks on one and left everything else untouched. Would that help a lot?

if they are not being used they will not help! In fact, if you are not using a credit card account, you need to CLOSE It!

 

[tunedin302]

Tunedin, what if you opened up like 10 CC accounts and just had, say, a few hundred bucks on one and left everything else untouched. Would that help a lot?

Not necessarily. Your credit score also takes into account your income to debt ratio. So, if you have 100K available balance (with only $300 actual balance) and only make 30K then that is going to work against you. The rationale is that no one will give you a loan because they fear you will just go out after the issue of the loan and rack up the remaining credit card balances.

Instead, for credit purposes, it is best to have a credit card, loan, etc, for a reasonable duration of time, making timely payments - definately above the minimum payments for credit cards. The mistake a lot of people make is to close a card as soon as it is paid off. As stated above this can work against you if credit score is the main concern. Instead, carry a "0" balance for sometime and then close a majority of the remaining cards when ALL of the debt from ALL of the cards are paid off.

Just so you know that this is an accepted and recommended practice:
http://www.bottomlinesecrets.com/blpnet/article.html?article_id=39613

 

[5.0 con-vert]

Believe it or not, as for credit cards it is better to have them open and not have any charges on them. For example, assume you have two credit cards (each have a credit limit of $1000) one with 500 balance and the other with 0. In this example you have $500 of debt over a $2000 credit line. Using the credit score companies theories, you are at 25% of your potential debt allowed. Now, if you close one of those credit cards then you will be left with a $500 debt on a $1000 limit. Therefore, you are at 50% of your allowed credit limit. The higher your % of debt the lower your credit score. Moral is, pay off your credit cards but leave them open to increase your credit score.

I do this same thing. I paid off one card that had like a 10300 dollar limit on it. It sits in the safe...empty. The other two cards that I have have the same limits but I suck and haven't paid them off yet. That way the balances on the others is offset a bit. I am 26 and my score is around 700. Not too bad, but not excellent. My biggest problem was that I had alot of unsecured debt. If you invest in something that has value to the load office that gave you the money, like a house, you are able to gain more credit.

 

[TheUser]

I recommend all of you go to yahoo finance and read some of the articles (at least the ones about credit) by Suze Orman. She's awesome.

What mansonozz suggested (get a loan and pay it back w/ the loan amount) is something I've read about and some experts recommend doing that (as long as you don't spend the borrowed money...put it in a savings account).

Also, TunedIn is right on...if you have a credit card open for a long period of time, you don't want to close it (according to Suze Orman) because it has your history on it. That being said, I closed one of mine that I had open for 5 years and my credit score is still good. The thing about the ratios is true - they use the ratio of available credit to used credit. Just because you have a credit limit of 10k does not mean you have to use it. I believe most recommend you don't go over 50% of your total limit.

When buying a house, they use a couple formulas regarding your income and monthly payments to decide how big of a loan you can afford, so your income and loans (school, car, credit cards, etc) play a large role along with your credit score/history. When buying a car, they're not nearly as strict w/ the ratio's.

If you're going to get a credit card and pay the payments off every month (as you should), then don't worry about getting a low APR, get a credit card w/ low/no annual fees. Usually there's a trade off: Low annual fees & higher APR or Lower APR and higher annual fees. If you pay the card off, you don't pay interest, so you don't care about lower APR. If you plan to carry a balance, go for the lower APR, which will usually mean higher annual fees.

Personally, I'm 22 (23 next week) and I got my first credit card when I was 16 (my mom has excellent credit, so they offered me one). I've always bought a lot of stuff on credit cards instead of using cash, BUT it's stuff I was going to buy anyway - don't just go spend to be "helping your credit." I buy my gas on credit card, most of the stuff from wal-mart, autozone, and of course the net and then try to pay it off ASAP. You can pay more than once a month, too. If you can only afford the minimum one week, pay it so that it's in on time, but pay more the next week to keep your interest down. However, always try to pay it in full by the due date each month (obviously) to avoid interest.

Last year, I got a $4000 personal loan to put w/ my other money to buy my truck. When she ran my credit score, it came back as 780. 780 is really good, especially for being 22, so I must be doing something right

Also, be sure and pay your other bills on time (phone, etc).

Sorry for the book

 

[Ozz]

Might as well throw my "this is what I did" into the mix

Currently 25, 0 debt, own the Stang (paid off the 4yr bank loan in 2 yrs), I own another car, high savings account, a couple credit cards that I keep ~$100-200 on every now and then, and have been doing that since I turned 18 and got my first credit card. Pay all my bills on time, etc., etc. THe usual stuff and just common sense with a little mind for numbers

Last time I checked my credit report (a couple years ago) I was pretty high, but no idea what the number was. I just remember everything was good.

Whatever you do, don't use credit cards in place of a LACK OF MONEY and try to catch up later. It probably won't work.

My girl has been watching Suzie Orman lately and has learned a lot, so I'd have to say that's a good idea to learn from there too!

 

[Foxfan88]

take out small loans to buy car parts and make sure u pay them back. You can have fun toying with the car and establish credit

 

[RsStanG1987]

Obtain a loan and use it to pay itself off? The interest will suck to pay but consider the idea behind it is to help build good credit; it's worth it in the end. Probably not the best idea but certainly isn't the worst.

Sad thing is it actually works..

 

[Roland69]

I got a $500 CC and just buy stuff off ebay like tools and car parts....and sometimes tools for friends. I spend about $200-$300 then pay it all off as soon as I get the bill or sooner. I have done this for about 8 months now and never had any intrest yet.

If I havent used the card for about a month I will fill my truck with gas and and pay it off...