Building Credit as a Student without any loans

[Anonymous]

Hello,

I am really here looking for smoeone to discredit my family who believes that the only way to get credit young is to pay off student loans. However, I am in a fortunate misfortune where I do not have any student loans. So.. other than my card, how can I build credit?

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Hello,

I am really here looking for smoeone to discredit my family who believes that the only way to get credit young is to pay off student loans. However, I am in a fortunate misfortune where I do not have any student loans. So.. other than my card, how can I build credit?

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I didn't have student loans but built credit. Your first step is getting secured cards.  CAP 1 and BOA have very good starter cards.  Once you have them for 6 months, you should be able to now have a FICO and must have establish some payment history.

Then apply for Discover and Amex as they like thin profiles to go from there....   

[Callandra]

If you are a student, look at student cards (Discover, Cap1's Journey, etc.) ! I wish I had...I went to college but never had student loans either. Didn't care until about two years ago when I started my credit journey. 

Student loans are good in the way that they add a "mix" to your types of credit (installment loan vs. revolving) but if you don't have them, it's not the end of the world (plus SL can be like mortgages...you have them for 30 years...).