How to establish or maintaining a good score?
If you're trying to build credit from scratch, there are a few ways to get started. The first, and most common, is to open a credit card. That can help you establish an official line of credit and begin building a good credit history, which is reported to the three credit bureaus.
If you're just getting started, you may not be allowed to open a new card on your own, in which case you could, with permission, use someone else's. This process is called credit card "piggybacking" and involves becoming an authorized user on someone else's card: The primary cardholder agrees to add you as a secondary user so you can reap the benefits of good credit.
The card's payment history then becomes part of your own credit report, NerdWallet explains: "So, even if you were 19 years old and couldn't qualify for credit on your own, you could have a credit card."
This method is useful if your goal is to gain experience using plastic, or if you lack enough credit history for a specific goal. It isn't intended to dispel or rehabilitate poor credit.
Another option: Getting a junior credit card, which is intended to teach young adults and children good credit habits by allowing them to use a card connected to an adult's account.
Any misstep on behalf on the junior cardholder is reflected on the adult's account, though. And charge-offs, late payments and debts sent to a collection agency remain listed for seven years.
If you don't have a credit card and you aren't connected with anyone else's, another way to establish credit is to have an installment loan, though taking out a loan isn't generally recommended unless you actually need one. You may already have one, anyway: Many student loans are installment loans. That's why it's important to pay them on time or to look into alternative solutions if you can't.
If you're just getting started, you may not be allowed to open a new card on your own, in which case you could, with permission, use someone else's. This process is called credit card "piggybacking" and involves becoming an authorized user on someone else's card: The primary cardholder agrees to add you as a secondary user so you can reap the benefits of good credit.
The card's payment history then becomes part of your own credit report, NerdWallet explains: "So, even if you were 19 years old and couldn't qualify for credit on your own, you could have a credit card."
This method is useful if your goal is to gain experience using plastic, or if you lack enough credit history for a specific goal. It isn't intended to dispel or rehabilitate poor credit.
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Another option: Getting a junior credit card, which is intended to teach young adults and children good credit habits by allowing them to use a card connected to an adult's account.
Any misstep on behalf on the junior cardholder is reflected on the adult's account, though. And charge-offs, late payments and debts sent to a collection agency remain listed for seven years.
If you don't have a credit card and you aren't connected with anyone else's, another way to establish credit is to have an installment loan, though taking out a loan isn't generally recommended unless you actually need one. You may already have one, anyway: Many student loans are installment loans. That's why it's important to pay them on time or to look into alternative solutions if you can't.
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