6 months minimum. Scores can be bought from MyFICO.com and Equifax.com only that I know of. Don't waste your money if you had less than 6 months of reporting credit. You most likely won't have a score. There are many credit places to pull your scores daily like NationalCity.com credit monitoring or TrueCredit.com.
Here is a good link to daily monitoring services,
http://ficoforums.myfico.com/fico/board/message?board.id=ficoscoring&message.id=5457#M5457
I use 3 different monitoring services. lol. ScoreWatch for score updates and IdentityProtect / TC for daily changes.
My best advice I would give you is Apply Apply Apply. Your score will drop for the first year with applying, but since your average age is basically 0 this will give you the biggest boost after 12 months. Don't expect things to happen fast. You need history and history is slow.
The secured card is good. Try and get a Discover, Amex, Bank of America 99/500 or unsecured, Cap1 unsecured or Citi. Sometimes they issue unsecured to students or young people. Try and get no fee credit cards as soon as possible and keep them forever. 3 will do fine to start. Keep balances very low and pif.
1 loan couldn't hurt either, but don't pay it off right away. History is what you want.
Your scores will be around 680 probably. It's going to take a while. Never be late! Pay 2 weeks early but not too early. With out a bunch of accounts you pretty much get the usual starter score. The game gets exciting after 12 and 24 months from when you started your credit file. That's when you see the results of all your hard work. You can get a big jump start right now. If only I knew then what I know now my score would be probably 20 points higher.
The advantage you have now is age. You can add accounts with out lowering your average age. In a few years this will be the opposite, new accounts will lower your age. Can't get lower than 0. Might as well go with it now.
Don't take on responsibility you might not be able to handle. It will stay on your CR for 7 years if you are 31 days late on a credit account.
So go at your own pace, but if you can get a minimum of 3 credit cards in my opinion will help you more.
Message Edited by ilovepizza on 01-23-2008 11:30 PM
Here is a good link to daily monitoring services,
http://ficoforums.myfico.com/fico/board/message?board.id=ficoscoring&message.id=5457#M5457
I use 3 different monitoring services. lol. ScoreWatch for score updates and IdentityProtect / TC for daily changes.
My best advice I would give you is Apply Apply Apply. Your score will drop for the first year with applying, but since your average age is basically 0 this will give you the biggest boost after 12 months. Don't expect things to happen fast. You need history and history is slow.
The secured card is good. Try and get a Discover, Amex, Bank of America 99/500 or unsecured, Cap1 unsecured or Citi. Sometimes they issue unsecured to students or young people. Try and get no fee credit cards as soon as possible and keep them forever. 3 will do fine to start. Keep balances very low and pif.
1 loan couldn't hurt either, but don't pay it off right away. History is what you want.
Your scores will be around 680 probably. It's going to take a while. Never be late! Pay 2 weeks early but not too early. With out a bunch of accounts you pretty much get the usual starter score. The game gets exciting after 12 and 24 months from when you started your credit file. That's when you see the results of all your hard work. You can get a big jump start right now. If only I knew then what I know now my score would be probably 20 points higher.
The advantage you have now is age. You can add accounts with out lowering your average age. In a few years this will be the opposite, new accounts will lower your age. Can't get lower than 0. Might as well go with it now.
Don't take on responsibility you might not be able to handle. It will stay on your CR for 7 years if you are 31 days late on a credit account.So go at your own pace, but if you can get a minimum of 3 credit cards in my opinion will help you more.
Message Edited by ilovepizza on 01-23-2008 11:30 PM
Some banks report activity used or not used.
Not using it will not hurt your score. Just may not help your score as much.
Job or no job, it's remembering to pay the bill on time that counts.
You will need 3 cards, 1 is ok, 3 is better, 2 is not so great. lol Odd I know.
Not using it will not hurt your score. Just may not help your score as much.
Job or no job, it's remembering to pay the bill on time that counts.
You will need 3 cards, 1 is ok, 3 is better, 2 is not so great. lol Odd I know.