Title is TLDR. I’m 24m, living in the US, and have never gotten a credit card. Back in 2022, I had to get a payday loan, and paid it on time, finished it 3 months early. For some reason that, as well as 3 years of phone payments, doesn’t get reported. I went to a car dealership on Monday, and they told me that with no credit history, I wouldn’t be able to get my monthly payment as low as I had hoped, so I backed out. I got CreditKarma to check for recommended credit cards, and noticed that the dealership did 4 separate hard check on my credit, all through TransUnion. After pulling a full report, it told me my credit score is a whole 4. I have no collections, no accounts open, no public records. There’s a separate section of CreditKarma that says I don’t have a score yet, but the report says I do. What do I even do?? Am I going to be stuck on secured cards for years trying to get it up?
With no credit history, my credit score is a 4. What??
byu/Thedinotoo inpersonalfinance
Posted by Thedinotoo
3 Comments
A 4 is better than what your credit score effectively is, which is 0.
You need credit history if you want to build your credit. You can start with small expenses on a credit card you pay the statement balance on every billing cycle.
That weird “4” isn’t a real FICO score, just how they display a thin file.
Get 1 no-fee starter credit card. Make small purchases on it that you know you’ll pay off in full each month.
Start building your credit then you’ll be in decent auto-loan territory within a year or so.
Once you have a secured card, you will build a baseline credit pretty fast. Pay bills, and then pay off card. Then you’ll get a car loan, and that will build it, and then something else…etc