even more difficult having no credit than if you had damaged credit. This is
because even if you have made some mistakes in the past as long as you have all
of your bills current and nothing showing late on your credit than you have a
chance of being approved for certain types of loans. While if you have absolutely
no credit at all lenders do not have anything to base your ability to pay your bills
on. In my experience in working with a bank I have learned that there are only
two good options as far as ways to start to establish some type of credit history if
you have none at all. I’m sure that if you search long enough you may find a credit
card company willing to approve you for an unsecured credit card with no credit.
This is usually not a good idea because most usually start you out with a $2-300
credit limit and charge you $2-300 in start up costs. Then they have monthly and
annual fees so even if you don’t use the card you are at risk of going over your
credit limit if you only make your minimum payments each month.
The first option to consider would be a secured credit card. Although these
will not help you out in a rut they are a good way to start to build a good credit
history. Most people don’t like these because it’s kind of like borrowing your own
money but it is very effective. Not every loan or credit card you have will show on
all three of your credit reports. Most secured credit card programs make sure that
your payments are reports to all of the credit bureaus to ensure you are
establishing your credit. Secured credit cards will often have some kind of small
monthly or annual fees but nothing like those of most unsecured credit cards.
Your second option would be to check with local car dealerships who
specialize in working with people that have no or bad credit. These places will
usually be more than happy to work with you but you should always consider more than just one dealer to make sure you are not being completely ripped off.
Shop around and do some research before going out. If you go to a dealer looking
for specific years and models of vehicles than you can find out how much they worth so you know that you are not paying too much for your car.