20 year old building credit

[blacheg]

Hey guys!

College student here looking for some ways on building credit faster.

My question is, what is it that I can do to expand my credit history? Looking at various websites & apps, and checking my score periodically, while everything is great on my breakdown, it seems as though my account(s)' credit age & account mix are killing my overall score. The longest account being almost 23 mo. old and my youngest, at 3 months old. All of which are made up of 3 credit cards as shown in my sig, as well as 1 auto loan.

I should note that I also have 1 auto loan under my name and has been since I was 18 (first car I financed), never had a late payment, and still have that car today.

I dont' have any sort of student loans or wish to have any since I pay for my classes out of pocket and with a partial scholarship. Does this affect in some sort of way because I don't have any?

My TU score is currently a 634 with a EQ of 645. And the reason why it's so low is because my debt usage has been fairly high on my Discover IT card. ($1500 CL, $1000 used). So i'm currently paying that down. But before that drop, i was at solid 700

Any help is more than appreciated!

Gus,

[Appleman]

Welocme to the myFICO forums!

Age of accounts will improve with time. It is recommended that you do not go on an app spree with your short but solid sounding history. Your file may be sensitive to new inquiries and accounts.

Utilization is a big factor. Most advice would have you have only one card report a balance that is below 10%. For the Discover IT card you would want it to report less than $150. That does not mean you cannot use all the cards, just pay them down prior to the statement generating. Many of us pay our cards as soon as we use them.

Always PIF is another great tip. I was once a young college student and was not nearly as responsible as you sound with credit.

Is you car paid off? If so, not having a variety of credit can keep a store down. 

If you have not started using a budget I would strongly recommend that you find a program that works for you. This will allow you to avoid generating new debt, especially credit card debt. You are in a great spot not having student loan debt, congrats. Personally, I like YNAB, check out YNAB.com and the quick videos that cover the philosophy.

What is your current goal with your credit? That will help other forum members tailor their advice to your goals.

Good luck.

[chevyman]

When was your age I used store cards they help or even a low limit credit card