No Score - getting 6 month old credit line?

[Anonymous]

OK peeps.  Need some help. 

I have been avoiding credit because of some 'trouble' I got into when I was younger.  I haven't pulled my reports in a while.  Turns out I am getting ready to buy a business and when the loan officer pulled my credit it came up no score.  

I did a little reading on here and one thing I saw again and again was that you needed a 6 month old credit line reporting.  

Well- last time I pulled my credit I had old cards reporting open since I was 18 yrs old.  Granted I haven't used them, but they were still showing open.  SOoooo...can someone explain this thing about a 6 month old credit line?  Is it that they need to actively report that I'm paying 30/60/90 days or whatever?  If that's the case, IF they still show open (i'll pull my own tomorrow, will be signing up for the credit monitoring for the 3 reporting agencies), do you think I should call them and explain I have an open line of credit and would like a replacement card? Then go charge something? lol 

I just REALLY REALLY REALLY don't/can't wait 6 months to go to closing on this business!!!!!  Any input would be EXTREMELY HELPFUL!

Thanks....

[Anonymous]

You need something in your file. If it's been many years (say 7+) then bad things have fallen off and no credit means you will need to build. You may just need to be patient, apply for a small credit card and have a utilization showing between 1-9% and no more. For new credit it's especially crucial to keep the utilization low but you do need to show it's being used as well.

Within two years of course your score will go up dramatically and add other accounts to establish better history and score on FICO.