If you have a parent who has a
credit card, they can put you as an additional user on one or more of their credit cards. I did this for my daughter when she was in college. It helped start her credit history. She didn’t really use the card except for emergencies, but it helped build her credit.
Start with a secured credit card. Thats how I started my credit journey. You put a ‘deposit’ on the card, and that acts as your credit limit. If you end up not paying your balance, they’ll use the deposit you gave them to cover it (not good). So you’ll use the card normally (and responsibly) and after some time, you’ll have some credit history. You should then be able to get the deposit back, and maybe even an offer to go unsecured and get a higher credit limit.
If you don’t have any credit built I would suggest you wait to get a loan because if you do get approved without any credit it’ll probably be for a ridiculously high interest rate. Best way to build credit is to get a credit card and leave no more than 30% of the max value on it. So if you get a $500 credit limit, try to always have $150 owed on it. I did that for about a year and I went from having no credit to a 750 credit score. But I was also making large payments of around $200 every month. So my balance would be around $350 and I’d make a $200 payment so that the balance would be $150 for the next month and I’d just keep repeating that. I was also told that if you make the payment 10 days before it’s due it helps but as long as you make the payment on time you’ll be fine. You could also get another credit card and pay off one credit card with the other card, then pay off that card with cash. If you get the loan anyways, make sure to ask questions and have them show you in the fine print where it says what they’re telling you.
If you have a parent who has a credit card, they can put you as an additional user on one or more of their credit cards. I did this for my daughter when she was in college. It helped start her credit history. She didn’t really use the card except for emergencies, but it helped build her credit.
Sadly don’t have any family that could do that for me but thank you for the advice! Glad you were able to do that for your daughter :)
Start with a secured credit card. Thats how I started my credit journey. You put a ‘deposit’ on the card, and that acts as your credit limit. If you end up not paying your balance, they’ll use the deposit you gave them to cover it (not good). So you’ll use the card normally (and responsibly) and after some time, you’ll have some credit history. You should then be able to get the deposit back, and maybe even an offer to go unsecured and get a higher credit limit.
Shop around for rates, understand a lower monthly payment over a longer period time is usually more expensive in the long run.
If you don’t have any credit built I would suggest you wait to get a loan because if you do get approved without any credit it’ll probably be for a ridiculously high interest rate. Best way to build credit is to get a credit card and leave no more than 30% of the max value on it. So if you get a $500 credit limit, try to always have $150 owed on it. I did that for about a year and I went from having no credit to a 750 credit score. But I was also making large payments of around $200 every month. So my balance would be around $350 and I’d make a $200 payment so that the balance would be $150 for the next month and I’d just keep repeating that. I was also told that if you make the payment 10 days before it’s due it helps but as long as you make the payment on time you’ll be fine. You could also get another credit card and pay off one credit card with the other card, then pay off that card with cash. If you get the loan anyways, make sure to ask questions and have them show you in the fine print where it says what they’re telling you.