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18 year old trying to build credit!

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Anonymous
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18 year old trying to build credit!

Hi Guys!

 

I am writing to you because I turned 18 this year and since then I have been trying to build my credit as best as I can. Let me give you a little background: I am a full time student and I work part-time making about $38,500 a year. Since then I was approved for a car loan for about $18,750 about 4 months ago. Also, I was able to get the Journey CC from Capiltal one with a $300 cl about 5 months ago and just recently I was approved for the NFCU CashRewards with a $500 cl this month. Both of these credit cards are on my own name. I have been trying to do the best I can to stay under a 30% utilization and also to never carry a balance. I recently signed up'd with credit karma and credit sesame which have been of great help. I found it starnge that when I logged on credit karma I got a CS of 672, but when I logged on to credit sesame and myfico.com it said that I did not have a credit score. Do you guys know why this happened? Finally, what do you think I should do next? I am interested in the citi forward and the discover more cc for students and my goal is to get an amex green by the time I'm 21. I am not sure if I should just lay off apps for a while or keep going. What do you guys think? All advices will be very much appreciated!!! Thanks

Message 1 of 53
52 REPLIES 52
snowsurf7
Established Member

Re: 18 year old trying to build credit!

Welcome to the forums Smiley Happy! Anyway im still quite new here but ill try to help the best I can.

 

You're questions seem to be about the scores that you are receiving from Credit Karma and Credit Sesame so lets start there. Credit Karma uses a TransUnion to calculate you're transrisk and vantage score. Credit Sesame uses a proprietary Experian model I believe. To be honest these scores do not mean much at all to most lenders with the exception of Chase which uses the vantage score for some loans.

 

As far as why you have a score on CK  and not CS that's simply due to the use of TransUnion vs Experian. I have found that TransUnion was the first to ever report a score of anysort to me even with limited data. So it may just be that they dont require as much as Experian to calculate a score.

 

As far as you're FICO score there is a minimum of 6 months of history before a score can be calculated so that would be why you currently have no score for them.

 

Also I would like to add that you should consider yourself lucky with the approval of NFCU considering they denied me and made me go secured which kind of ticked me off. I am also a student but don't make as much as you (about 18,000/year)  but I also have no car loan or student loans to pay what so ever. 

 

Hope that helps!

Discover IT, BofA Cash Rewards, Citi Forward, AMEX Green, CapitalOne Cash Rewards, Chase Freedom, Wal-Mart Store
Message 2 of 53
GOALIS850
Established Member

Re: 18 year old trying to build credit!

Hey SnowSurf7!

 

Sorry this is me 850GOALL for some odd reason when I logged back into myfico.com it made me choose another log in name :/ Anyways thanks for all the info! I just found it extremely weird that I did not have a credit score with equifax or experian! So, are you saying that after 6 months they will gove me a score? Also, yeah I had to fight for that NFCU approval! lol anyways do you think I should garden for the time being or try my luck with other credit cards? Thanks for all your help so far!

Message 3 of 53
nuggets321
Frequent Contributor

Re: 18 year old trying to build credit!

850GOALL - You are off to a very good start and I agree with the other poster that you were fortunate to have landed NCFU. Some words of advice : Remember it is a marathon and not a sprint ( build your accounts slowly and over a period with ontime payments) You not having a FICO score yet tells me that you have enough accounts for at least 12 mos. (We call in gardening around here, like plants growing) Dont be in too big of a rush (cuz its not gonna happen overnight).. and listen to most of the advice on this forum. There is a wealth of info available, but I will warn you , don't let it consumer you (actually happens to me from time to time) Enjoy good credit and all that it can bring to you, but live life ... Welcome to the boards Smiley Happy  oh yeah , and DONT EVER BE LATE with a payment .. EVER ! mow your grandmas lawn , collect aluminum cans, pick up that extra shift that your co-worker called in sick on, etc...just DONT EVER BE LATE !

TU-721 (MortgagePull) EQ- 697(MortgagePull ) EXP 693(MortgagePull) FWEB 24,2015
My Wallet : Dicover More 35,500 CL -Amex Zync NPSL -WellsFargoRewards4800 - -CapOne 3000CL -GEMBWalMart 5000CL - Zales 4000CL-Kays 2900--Macys 5000CL /SSFCU 5000CL / CitiBank Diamond Pref 15000CL - CHASE Freedom 13500CL -Lowes 10,000 CL - BBuyStoreCard 10,000CL Sears Store Card (Citi) 3000 - Firestone CFNB 1400 Toyota Financial $35,000 Auto -2200DiscountTire(GECRB) Citi TY Preferred 8100CL - Chase Slate$4000-BofA15000-ToyotaRewardsVisa$10,700 -BofA$8500 AMEX BCE 9,500
Message 4 of 53
snowsurf7
Established Member

Re: 18 year old trying to build credit!

I think it would definitely be a good thing to garden. You have a good mix of TL's with revolving accounts and you're car loan so I foresee you having a good score starting out. Remember this though just because you have a 750 score for example does not mean you are absolutely going to be approved for everything because you're file will still be thin just like mine. So yes I would definitely invite you to join me and others who are currently in the garden !

Discover IT, BofA Cash Rewards, Citi Forward, AMEX Green, CapitalOne Cash Rewards, Chase Freedom, Wal-Mart Store
Message 5 of 53
Wolf3
Senior Contributor

Re: 18 year old trying to build credit!


@Anonymous wrote:

Hi Guys!

 

I am writing to you because I turned 18 this year and since then I have been trying to build my credit as best as I can. Let me give you a little background: I am a full time student and I work part-time making about $38,500 a year. Since then I was approved for a car loan for about $18,750 about 4 months ago. Also, I was able to get the Journey CC from Capiltal one with a $300 cl about 5 months ago and just recently I was approved for the NFCU CashRewards with a $500 cl this month. Both of these credit cards are on my own name. I have been trying to do the best I can to stay under a 30% utilization and also to never carry a balance. I recently signed up'd with credit karma and credit sesame which have been of great help. I found it starnge that when I logged on credit karma I got a CS of 672, but when I logged on to credit sesame and myfico.com it said that I did not have a credit score. Do you guys know why this happened? Finally, what do you think I should do next? I am interested in the citi forward and the discover more cc for students and my goal is to get an amex green by the time I'm 21. I am not sure if I should just lay off apps for a while or keep going. What do you guys think? All advices will be very much appreciated!!! Thanks


IMO, you have done well and I don't see any reason to add another CC at this time.   I think you should wait until you have over 12 mos CC history before you consider adding another CC.  

Message 6 of 53
GOALIS850
Established Member

Re: 18 year old trying to build credit!

Thank you all for all the help!!!! There were many things that I did not know about all this credit information! Alright waiting a year sounds like a lot, but I will have to do it in order to get what I want. Last questions: what do you guys think that I will need in order to get approved for an amex green or gold in maybe a year or two? Will it be attainable at that age? Or maybe do you guys recommend the Chase Freedom, Amex BCP, Forward, More or the Gold Amex Delta??? Which do you think would be the best for me in the near future? 

 

Message 7 of 53
daybreakgonesXe
Valued Contributor

Re: 18 year old trying to build credit!

If you really want to go for the amex charge cards, just perfect payment and low utilization is all you need! The longer you wait the better your score but i think after a year you'll be good to go!
Message 8 of 53
daybreakgonesXe
Valued Contributor

Re: 18 year old trying to build credit!

Also i highly recommend thr Chase Freedom! I started building credit at 18 as well and you can look at my sig! Im 3 months shy of my 21st birthday and im done acquiring cards for a good long time! Also have a student loan in my name in addition to the cards
Message 9 of 53
GOALIS850
Established Member

Re: 18 year old trying to build credit!

Do you think they are worth getting? And in reality do you think in 2 years when I'm 20 I can get a green or a gold Amex if I keep everything paid and have low utilization?
Message 10 of 53
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