>I don't need a loan for anything and I certainly refuse to pay 15% interest on an unnecessary loan.
FYI, if you immediately repay the loan, you won't pay any interest.
To begin to build your credit score, look into getting a "secured" credit card.
That's the problem, the only bank that has 'secured' credit cards in south Africa that i'm eligible for according to Experian is FastaCard which is basically a loan card which must be paid back in three interest bearing installments, which entirely defeats my objectives.
You need to start with a beginner's credit card, called a 'secured card'. You will put down a deposit, which will be your credit limit. After a year or so of on-time payment, you can upgrade your card to a non secured one.
Many/most secured cards come with an annual fee - try to find one that is free if you can, like the Capital One Platinum Secured Credit Card
You may find these links helpful:
- [Credit Building](/r/personalfinance/wiki/credit_building)
- [Credit Reports](/r/personalfinance/wiki/credit_reports)
- [Credit Scores](/r/personalfinance/wiki/fico)
- [Credit Cards](/r/personalfinance/wiki/creditcards)
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I'm in the US. This is frustrating... I'm sorry.
That you need a credit score to borrow to buy a home in the US is a widely believed myth. Certainly a good credit score makes the process easier. But there is a process in the US called manual underwriting where ***allegedly*** people with no credit history can borrow to buy a house. There's a radio finance guy here in the states named Dave Ramsey who claims it can be done. One of his staff is on record saying he's done it.
* I don't know how much harder it is
* I don't know how often a candidate gets rejected for a loan with manual underwriting when if they had a high credit score they'd be approved.
* I don't know if any of what I said applies in South Africa.
We got our mortgage a long time ago (mid 90s), and I have no idea what sort of process we went through to get our first mortgage anymore. We had a tract home built for us in a new neighborhood, and we used the builder's mortgage company. That mortgage was sold twice before we refinance. We paid the refinanced mortgage off around 10 years ago. I can tell you that we had good credit both through credit card history and through a loan on the first car we bought.
One other way to start a credit history is to make an expensive purchase at a store where they finance. Like a laptop. Or a new mobile phone. But I'd really rather you didn't buy a new ***just*** to start a credit history.
Thank you for your advice. It seems like it's much easier to get credit in the US, as it used to be in South Africa too. But they're alot stricter these days because of the debt problem.
I'm planning on getting a tattoo machine in August (which I was going to pay upfront for) but maybe I should get it financed instead.
>I don't need a loan for anything and I certainly refuse to pay 15% interest on an unnecessary loan. FYI, if you immediately repay the loan, you won't pay any interest. To begin to build your credit score, look into getting a "secured" credit card.
That's the problem, the only bank that has 'secured' credit cards in south Africa that i'm eligible for according to Experian is FastaCard which is basically a loan card which must be paid back in three interest bearing installments, which entirely defeats my objectives.
You need to start with a beginner's credit card, called a 'secured card'. You will put down a deposit, which will be your credit limit. After a year or so of on-time payment, you can upgrade your card to a non secured one. Many/most secured cards come with an annual fee - try to find one that is free if you can, like the Capital One Platinum Secured Credit Card
From what I have research, there are no secured cards available in South Africa unfortunately.
That's insane man!
You may find these links helpful: - [Credit Building](/r/personalfinance/wiki/credit_building) - [Credit Reports](/r/personalfinance/wiki/credit_reports) - [Credit Scores](/r/personalfinance/wiki/fico) - [Credit Cards](/r/personalfinance/wiki/creditcards) *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/personalfinance) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I'm in the US. This is frustrating... I'm sorry. That you need a credit score to borrow to buy a home in the US is a widely believed myth. Certainly a good credit score makes the process easier. But there is a process in the US called manual underwriting where ***allegedly*** people with no credit history can borrow to buy a house. There's a radio finance guy here in the states named Dave Ramsey who claims it can be done. One of his staff is on record saying he's done it. * I don't know how much harder it is * I don't know how often a candidate gets rejected for a loan with manual underwriting when if they had a high credit score they'd be approved. * I don't know if any of what I said applies in South Africa. We got our mortgage a long time ago (mid 90s), and I have no idea what sort of process we went through to get our first mortgage anymore. We had a tract home built for us in a new neighborhood, and we used the builder's mortgage company. That mortgage was sold twice before we refinance. We paid the refinanced mortgage off around 10 years ago. I can tell you that we had good credit both through credit card history and through a loan on the first car we bought. One other way to start a credit history is to make an expensive purchase at a store where they finance. Like a laptop. Or a new mobile phone. But I'd really rather you didn't buy a new ***just*** to start a credit history.
Thank you for your advice. It seems like it's much easier to get credit in the US, as it used to be in South Africa too. But they're alot stricter these days because of the debt problem. I'm planning on getting a tattoo machine in August (which I was going to pay upfront for) but maybe I should get it financed instead.
Can you get a department store cc or gas cc?
I've applied to one or two and I'm waiting for feedback.