08/16/2022
When you’re starting fresh with no credit history at all, here are
a few ways to get a good start on establishing good credit:
1. Pay your bills on time, especially mortgage or rent payments.
Apart from extreme circumstances like bankruptcy or tax liens,
nothing has as big of an impact on your credit history as late
payments.
2. Establish credit early. Having clean, active charge accounts
established many years ago will boost your score. If you are
averse to credit, on principle, consider setting up automatic
monthly payments for, say, utilities and phone on a credit card
account and locking the card away where it's not a temptation.
3. Don't max out available credit on credit card accounts.
Lenders won't be impressed. Instead, they are much more likely
to assume that you have trouble managing your finances.
Beyond one or two credit cards, it starts to get complicated.
4. Don't apply for too much credit in a short amount of time.
Multiple requests for your credit history (not including requests
by you to check your file) will reduce your score. If you are
hunting around for good loan rates, assume that every time you
give your Social Security number to a lender or credit card
company, they will order a credit history.
5. Be neat and consistent when filling out credit
applications. This will ensure that all your good deeds get
recorded in a single file, as opposed to multiple files or, worse,
someone else's file. Watch out for inconsistencies in use of "Jr."
and "Sr."
6. Check your credit history for errors, especially if you will
soon be requesting a time-dependent loan, like a mortgage.