If you are wondering how to build credit at 18, it can be a surprisingly easy process if you know what you are doing. Follow the instructions in this article, and you can quickly move to the point where you can purchase just about anything you want, but just remember you will also have to pay it off sooner rather than later if you want to keep your good credit score, lest you find you have to repair your credit at a later date.
Can I Build My Credit Quickly?
In order to build credit at 18 in a relatively quick fashion is easy, much easier in fact than rebuilding your credit, which is also, surprisingly, quite simple with these same steps. Building a new credit score tends to be easier, though it does require some self-control at the same time. It is always better to build up a good credit score and keep it than it is to try to repair your credit at a later point in life.
There are many cash advance loans that will report your payments to the big three credit reporting agencies. These can help, but may be best reserved for a more restricted use. However, they should not be discounted, especially if you are going through a financial emergency and need to find cash fast, or sometimes, even if you have credit card debt that can be paid off before it begins accruing interest charges.
How Do I Build My Credit at 18 Faster?
If you don’t have any credit, and want to build your credit faster, you need to be careful, but select a secured credit card company based on certain, important factors.
- Make sure the secured credit card company reports to the big three credit reporting agencies
- Make sure there is a zero percent interest rate if the bills are paid on time
- Try to ensure you have a savings account in the same bank that issues the secured credit cards, or better still, a checking and saving account
- Make sure that your employment status is relatively safe for at least a year, preferably two
How To Build Credit At 18
If you really want to learn how to build credit at 18, when you get your new secured credit card, don’t go out on a spending spree. Pay any of the bills you can with your new credit card and leave the money in your savings account so it increases your daily balance.
While the financial gains from the interest rates on a savings account will be minimal, it will show that you have been able to maintain a positive balance and savings. All this at the same time you are continuing to pay your debts or credit card bills on time will reflect very well on your credit report. That is the first trick for learning how to build credit at 18.
How To Build Credit Paying My Bills at 18
At the end of the month, instead of paying all of your bills individually with cash or checks, you will have to make only one payment to the credit card company. If you can max out the limit on your credit card and pay your bill in full every month, the credit card company will not be making any money from you.
Eventually, they will get tired of not earning anything, and try to tempt you to spend more by increasing your credit limit. Do not be fooled as this does not mean you have more free money. This only means that you can pay even more bills, purchase gas and groceries, and make other purchases with your credit card, keeping the money in the bank still, til the end of the month.
Rinse and repeat.
If you can keep up this process for a year, or perhaps a little more, you should begin receiving offers from other credit card companies. Get a second credit card by all means, ideally one that does not require a secured account to guarantee payment. You now have the choice to split your bills between the two credit cards, or to max out your credit cards paying bills with a different card every month.
Just remember to pay off the credit card bills in full at the end of every month so that you do not begin accruing very expensive interest charges that can quickly deplete all of the gains you have made building your credit at 18 years old.
How Can I Get Loans To Help Build My Credit at 18?
There will still be financial emergencies in your life, even if you are working to make everything right. There may even be occasions when you cannot pay your full credit card bill at the end of the month. Yes, that will mean that you have to pay what are usually outrageous interest rates until you get the balance paid off completely.
However, this also will be reflected in your credit report. In short, it is not going to help you while you are learning how to build your credit score at 18 or at any other time in your life.
You now have two options that are worth thinking about.
- You can try to find a cash advance loan that does report to the credit reporting agencies,
- or you can find an instant cash loan that will not report to the credit bureaus.
If you have budgeted your income and you know you can pay off both, consider finding an instant cash loan online that will report to the credit reporting agencies. If you are not sure whether or not you will be able to pay all of your bills, maybe the cash advance loans that do not require a credit check will be the best option.
Use the cash advance loans to pay off the credit card debt. Even in the event that your instant cash loan will cost a little more, it may not be reflected on your credit report, and will still help you build your credit faster whether you are 18 or 81.
How Long Will It Take To Build My Credit At 18?
Very few people have perfect credit scores, though there are some that do. Surprisingly enough, that does not always mean that they still have the means to go out and buy whatever they want. You will know that your credit is good enough when you can go out and do the things you want to do, without having to worry about whether or not you can pay the bills at the end of the month.
In short, virtually nobody ever has a credit score that is good enough, no matter what their financial situation may be. However, you can build credit at 18 and even repair your credit later if need be, to the extent you need to in order to return to something of a normal life, even after the economic turmoil of the last couple of years.
