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New hire college student, limited credit history, some questions.

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Anonymous
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New hire college student, limited credit history, some questions.

Hello, I just turned 19 and got hired for my first job as a Business Customer Service Representative for a major cellphone carrier in the U.S. I'm on my second year of college and receive a scholarship to cover my tuition(no loans).

 

When I got hired I started thinking about my future and how my creditscore would impact it. Since I have limited credit history my father co-signed a Discover student card for me 2 months ago(500CL). I've been keeping the balance at a 30% of the CL and making a bit more than the minimum payments.

 

I'm also almost aproved my second student card which is a Visa (Most of the places that I go don't take discover so its hard for me to keep a balance on it). Just waiting on the lenders approval this week after they receive my paystubs/employment verification.

 

Today I went to open a checking account with Penfed and they told me I had to wait because there was a "Block" on my credit report? I'm assuming this is due to my limited credit history so I'm wondering if someone has been in this situation before? Any tips/products/services for building a healthy credit report? They told me to deposit money on my share account and to take a loan from it in order to build credit.

 

I'm a really laid back person and consider myself mature when it comes to spending so I can handle myself well, I really want a healthy credit in order to purchase a car for myself in the next years or maybe buy myself a nice small apartment.

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coldnmn
Mega Contributor

Re: New hire college student, limited credit history, some questions.

Welcome to the forum. To create a credit file it takes 6 months of credit reporting to the credit bureaus. Pay your current cards on time and if possible keep utilization from 1% to 9% on one card at statement closing. By doing this your credit file will look attractive to lenders within a year. Good Luck with your credit journey.

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Anonymous
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Re: New hire college student, limited credit history, some questions.

Thanks for the reply and welcome, For my next Discover statement the balance will be much lower since I plan to spread my savings on both cards.

 

Also by October I plan to take my PenFed share account loan(borrow from myself) since the rep assured me it would help my overall score. I guess I still have a couple of months before my score generates but I was a bit scared since my employer said" We're delaying your application since there is a block on your credit file" I told them that I did not have any previous credit experience and they called me the next day with the job offer letter. It would have sucked to not get higher due to severe credit score issues. 

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