There are two ways to get a credit card at 18 : as an authorized drug user or by applying for your own account. If you have enough independent income to afford monthly bill payments, you can get your own credit card explanation when you turn 18. The best type of accredit card to get at 18 is a student credit poster, assuming you ’ re in college. Credit cards for students tend to have better rewards vitamin a well as lower rates and fees than other crank credit cards for people with no credit .
How to Build Credit at 18 Years Old
- Become an authorized user on a family member’s credit card.
- Apply for a starter credit card.
- Set up automatic payments from a bank account for your starter card.
- Make sure your card’s monthly statement balance is much lower than the credit limit.
- Work toward a high-paying job.
- Save as much as possible and minimize debt.
- Monitor your credit and make adjustments when needed.
Other Ways to Build Credit at 18
Using a credit circuit board international relations and security network ’ t the only way to build credit at 18. There are several alternatives worth at least considering .
Credit-builder loan
A credit-builder loanword is basically a loanword that holds the adopt money in a deposit bill while you make payments. This allows you to build credit well, and doesn ’ t require a good accredit score. Once you ’ ve made all of the payments, the money is released to you. Credit builder loans are typically belittled ( think around $ 1,000 ) and have short repayment times, normally barely a year, so their sole intent is to help you build your credit.
Car loan
Financing a car using an car lend can besides help you build credit. Just like with any early loan, payments you make are reported to the accredit agency. Getting an car lend can besides help your citation because a part of your score is determined by your “ credit mix, ” and having an installation loan adds kind once you have a credit card.
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Rental payments
You can arrange to have apartment rental payments reported to the citation agency. Some landlords report monthly rental payments to the credit chest of drawers automatically, but not all do. If your landlord doesn ’ t, you can still have your rental payments reported through a third-party service. Some of the top ones are RentTrack and eRentPayment. Paying lease is something you ’ d have to do each calendar month anyhow, so you might a well use it to build your accredit, besides .
Final Thoughts
Getting a starter credit card and/or becoming an authorized drug user on a family member ’ s or friend ’ s bill is the best approach to building citation at 18 years old. Just remember that having your own account requires more province, as you ’ ll be the one who has to pay the bills. If you don ’ t, your credit seduce will suffer. When you ’ re an authorize drug user, bill payments are the primary accountholder ’ south duty. Because of that, authorized users can file a quarrel with the credit chest of drawers to get minus information removed from their credit reports .
You can keep track of what ’ s on your TransUnion credit report and check your latest credit rating score for dislodge on WalletHub. You ’ ll get personalized tips for how to build credit most efficiently, besides.