Building your credit score in college and after that – Knowing the importance of good credit
If you’re a college student, among all the other responsibilities lies the biggest responsibility of maintaining a good credit score as without this you will probably face too many hurdles in your future financial life. You go to an insurance company, a landlord for an apartment, a lender to get a new line of credit and even at a workplace, no one will transact with you in any way if you have a poor credit score. Since you’re on the threshold of starting your career, it is vital for you to maintain a good score and if you’re someone who is not aware of the ways in which you can enhance your score, here are some tips, designed especially for a college student who is eager to boost his credit score.
- Immediately get a credit card: Does this sound contradictory to what you have read among the credit repair tips? Well, credit cards are touted for their credit-destroying power but little do the consumers know that if you can use a credit card in a responsible manner, it can easily help you boost your credit score. Credit scores aren’t meant for the individuals as they’re designed as a metric for the bank to see how much of a credit risk you are. Irrespective of what you’ve heard, if you wish to build good credit, you should immediately get a credit card. If the bank doesn’t have any idea of what kind of a risk you are, how will it lend you credit? You may start off with a secured credit card as this will help you establish positive credit history.
- Reap benefits from someone else’s card: Here the idea is to find someone who has stellar credit rating and ask him/her to add you on his card so that you can become a joint credit card holder along with him. This is actually too easy and all it takes is to ask the account owner to fill out a form to the issuing credit card company. Once you’re added, this credit report will start appearing on your credit record as if you’ve had it since the day the card was opened. You have to maintain timely payments so that you can easily boost your score.
- Don’t close the lines of credit: Banks usually take into account the age of each of your cards while considering your credit score and therefore you have to be sure about the fact that you don’t close down new lines of credit the moment you’re unable to make payments over it. Don’t do this as this will rather harm your credit score than make any kind of improvements.
So, when you’re in college and you’re eager to get a hold on your credit score, you can easily follow the above mentioned steps. Instead of getting help of an expert, it is certainly better to help yourself boost your score.