building up a credit

Hi fka22,

One important thing that I would like to mention is that applying for loans will lower your credit score, because inquiries are put onto your credit file. These inquiries take about 5 points each off your credit score. Think about it, if you apply for 4 loans, that is 20 points off your credit score!! They do not come off for 2 years. If you have a lot of inquiries, lenders see that as a negative. I have heard that inquiries made on the same day only count as one against you, and also inquiries from the same company within a small time period only count as one. So please be careful applying for too many accounts.

You might want to look into getting a secured credit card so that you can start building a positive credit history. Many banks provide these, as well as credit card companies.

~Mary

Nice input Mary. You are right about inquiries. Credit checks run by prospective creditors with your consent will reduce your score and these inquiries stay in credit file for 2 years generally.

Fka, concentrate on building up a good credit first. I understand that you are in a financial need. But the companies that will agree to work with you at this point might ask for some collateral. In that case you risk the chance of losing your property.

Building up credit is a never-ending process. Since you are quite young and your credit history is not so long, you can start it right now. Build up some good habits, follow some decorum and you will be able to lift your score in the coming days. See this thread for more info-

http://forums.debtcc.com/forums/credit-check.html

Also Mary has a good point here. A secured card could be helpful to raise your score. You have to be regular with your payment because credit scoring model is highly influenced by on-time payments. Keep us posted.

If you are a student and you don't have any negative items (unpaid, overdue bills, etc.), you should have no problem getting a regular, unsecured credit card. These are usually freely available on college campuses. Just be sure to read the fine print and get the advice of someone knowledgeable about applying for the right card. Be sure not to run up your balance and get into debt. Put normal things on it that you would buy anyway, and pay the balance off every month. This should help your credit. If you cannot get an unsecured card, then look into getting a secured card with your bank. Hope this helps.

Rising student debt is a headache nowadays. And most of the students face the debt problem due to unplanned use of credit cards. Credit cards companies stall in the college campuses with various offers on purchasing credit cards. It is really tough for students to control the temptation of plastic money. The age is of experiments after all, whether it is $ex or credit cards, you have to be careful.

Credit card management is an important thing. Few good suggestions have been mentioned by dmj above, like not revolving the balance, keeping a close eye on the credit limit etc. And before doing business with some company do some research and check if it is a legit one. Do let us know if you need any more information.