starting my credit?

[NI_YON_Zenki]

I'm telling all of you. Don't try to go out, buy shit. and think you're going to hold on that job you have now, paying for it all. Cause you're stil young' youngin' so try to get all those parts you want off yah parents, and not your's, until' you REALLY need too use that plastic. Real Talk.

[Yoshi]

Originally Posted by NI_YON_Zenki

I'm telling all of you. Don't try to go out, buy shit. and think you're going to hold on that job you have now, paying for it all. Cause you're stil young' youngin' so try to get all those parts you want off yah parents, and not your's, until' you REALLY need too use that plastic. Real Talk.

...and how old are you exactly?
How can you expect people to take you seriously when your grammar looks like it came from someone who dropped out of jr. high? I'm not trying to knock you, but you really can't expect people to take whole "condescending-voice-of-experience" thing to heart when it's difficult to even translate your post to english.

[crioten]

how can you get your fico score? also, will it look like an inquiry?

whats considered enough of a fico score (usually) to get a car loan?

whats the normal fico score of a 19 yr old or a 21 yr old?

[Yoshi]

you can get your FICO from any number of places, just google "free credit report". It's (edit: I said "not", that was a type-o, sorry!) NOW the law that you can get 1 free credit report per year.

Score? now that's something else entirely. Age really has no bearing, as least not compared to other factors, it's not like insurance. Your income, revolving debt (credit cards, loans etc, but NOT student loans... that's considered "good" debt... kinda like "good" cholesterol hahaha), and equities (stocks/bonds/cars/property), and all the history connected therein are the largest factors.

60 days late on your electric bill? They know.
Paid $200 on your visa, even tho your min. payment was $50? They know.
FICO is a big cumulative score of your financial responsibility, and thus it's possible to have a score of 780 and be 18 if you're parents died and left you the house, their cars, and no real debt.

for most people tho, it's a slow process of building credit, and somethiing like 80% of people under 25 get themselves over their head in debt. Hell, my brother in law is 32 and he's declared bankruptcy twice just so he wouldn't have to pay his bills, sure his credit is fuct for the next 8 years, but he got away with not paying something like 40k in consumer debt alone *shrug*.

I was in that 80% when I was younger, but if I could go back I'd do this:
save save save! get a big wad of cash... now... ready for this? apply for a visa with a decent intro APR, they're polly screw you on your first card, so don't expect to get better than 17% after whatever intro offer they throw at u. Ready? Max that fucker out....well not completely, leave yourself some breathing room, say 15% when the first bill comes, triple your minimum payment... but NEVER let your debt exceed your cash on hand. Do this for several months and I'll bet even $ they even offer u a higher max, take it but don't use it for god sakes... you're just trying to build credit. As long as u have a balance and constant activity (buying AND paying off) it looks good to them, they're making $ off you right? what's not to like It's important NOT to pay off the whole balance (unless you have an american express, in which case, u don't have a choice)... what you're showing is budgetting responsiblity, or at least that's what they think. This concludes building your credit - beginner level 1a :P hahaha

[WanganRunner]

There's a lot of bad advice circulating around in this thread.....

Firstly, it does NOT help your credit to charge lots of stuff and then pay it all off at the end of the month. What helps your credit is CARRYING A BALANCE, because only by carrying a balance and making regular payments can you demonstrate to the credit companies that you're capable of steadily paying down debt and offering them a consistent income stream, which is what they want.

Secondly, do NOT go around closing out credit cards. Don't wantonly transfer balances either, I mean, if you HAVE to, then do it, but it's always better to try and ask your current credit company for a better rate. When you close a card out, all the credit history behind it disappears, which is TERRIBLE for your credit. You want to leave those cards open. I'll be totally paying off my Bank of America Visa this month, leaving only my Chase Mastercard, but I won't close the Visa, because it has 2 years of valuable credit history on it.

NOTE: Yoshi is also giving very good advice, listen to him.

[crioten]

student loans dont help your credit score? weird...

i dont have the best responsibility when it comes to using credit cards, but i ALWAYS make sure to pay the minimum on them... now ill start paying 3 times the bare minimum.

another question: will a loan with a co sign (say on a car) help your credit? will it hurt your parrents? or kinda do nothing? lol

[sr240mike]

Start off with www.Annualcreditreport.com and check your credit report with the big 3 companies. You are given one free credit report form each company annually. If everything looks good you can order your FICO score from any of the 3, or all 3 for around $20. I just got mine yesterday and have a 755. Pretty good. Then I called all my credit card companies and told them that since I have made all my payments I deserve to have my interest rates dropped and my limit raised. Every single company agreed by dropping my rates almost 4 points, and raised my limits. READ THE MONEY BOOK FOR THE YOUNG FABULOUS AND BROKE it will help you out greatly with credit and paying off debt.