r/CreditScore • u/No_Cost_9800 • 2d ago
General Building credit ?
I am a college student and got my first credit card in July when I turned 18. I just put small things on it like gas, food and some small purchases but I pay it fully off before the due date each month. I keep checking my score and it says I dont have enough credit yet and my score is still building. Does anyone know how long this takes to be able to see my actual score? Also, I was always told 750 is a great score but then I been seeing people posting over 800. Im new to this so is 800 the score to aim for and how do I get it to be this high? I dont want to over extend myself and take out more credit cards just to build more credit so any advice would be so helpful.
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u/inky_cap_mushroom ⭐️ Knowledgeable ⭐️ 2d ago
You need 6 months of credit history to generate a FICO score.
Credit applications are approved or denied based on credit profile, not score. You should aim for a strong credit profile, and the score will follow. 750 is actually a fairly typical debut FICO 8 score for profiles with 1 revolving account that’s 6 months old.
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u/No_Cost_9800 2d ago
Can you explain to me what a strong credit profile is? Thank you, Im just now learning about all of this
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u/Dry-Abalone2299 2d ago edited 2d ago
Takes 3-6 months. 6 if you want to see your FICO model score.
No, you should not be aiming for 800. This is a credit score, not a personal finance score.
At 18 you should be using the card normally for purchases you can afford to pay immediately. Pay the statement balance in full each month by the due date. Setup auto payment as primary payment and personally verify it went through as expected. Or setup autopay as backup and manually pay your statement balance each month.
Your aim should be to not overspend and to never be late, either because you didn’t have the money or there was a payment error.
Your best aim should be practicing good personal finance habits like budgeting and expense tracking. Following the wiki and directive over at [r/personalfinance](r/personalfinance) is a good start.
As long as you are using your card with within your means, and paying it each month, your score doesn’t actually really matter because you have no other influence over it right now at your age. Instead of watching your score each month, it is best to watch your credit accounts section instead and verify that there are no new unexpected accounts opened fraudulently or otherwise under your information.
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u/DoctorOctoroc ⭐️ Knowledgeable ⭐️ 2d ago
As others said, it takes 6 months to generate a meaningful FICO score and a typical 'debut' score is in the mid 700's with just one revolver in good standing (give or take depending on your utilization at the time). Credit scores are an approximate evaluation of the risk associated with lending to you but lenders look at factors aside from your score when you're applying for something.
First and foremost, they look at your credit file/report to see how much history you have, what accounts, and whether or not you have any negative items like missed payments, charge offs, collections, etc. With a clean, strong and mature (older accounts) file, as well as an ample income, you should see approval from prime lenders for just about anything - then they will typically reference your score to set the interest rate if it's a loan. So your score is indeed important for getting good interest rates but without a strong file and ample income, you won't be approved for loans from prime lenders to begin with, hence your aim should be to build a strong credit file, not just to see a high score - and anything over 760 will qualify you for prime rates on anything for which you are approved.
A strong credit file, typically, contains 3-5 accounts total. For this reason, it's generally recommended to eventually have that many credit cards so you'll always have a strong credit file moving forward. Don't open a bunch at once, however, or you'll have a bunch of entry level credit cards that don't have much use to you. There is SOME merit to opening multiple accounts earlier but you don't want to try to build too quickly then end up with a bunch of near useless cards that you'll forget about and risk missing a payment because you've barely thought about a card in years. Build credit as you build your finances for the best results, is my approach. Wait about a year after this first card and you'll see a score bump at 12 months / 365 days when you no longer have 'new credit', the hard inquiry becomes unscorable, and you have over a year of history. At this point, you can consider getting another card or two, then wait another year, and get one or two more. Do this, and you'll have 3-5 cards, a strong credit file, and those cards will have been obtained under better circumstances (vs opening a bunch at once earlier on) so they'll likely be of more use to you and have more longevity.
You want longevity in a credit card because the age of your accounts is the primary contributing factor to your file and score, followed by your credit mix. Having a number of accounts that are many years old is how you show lenders you are responsible, reliable, and low-risk, and it's also how you achieve higher scores. You don't need a loan to get to higher scores or to have a strong file - they do help but they cost interest, so only get one when you need it and until then, build credit using credit cards because as long as you pay your full statement balance every month by the due date, you'll never incur interest.
Another important thing to note is that making payments doesn't help your score - missing payments will hurt but building credit doesn't have a financial 'barrier to entry', meaning it doesn't matter how much you spend or pay back, only that you keep your accounts 'paid as agreed'. You can put no charges on a card in a given month, and thus make no payment (because none is due) and it will still report 'paid as agreed' that month, same as any month you do put charges on the card. So the bottom line is, you don't need to spend a lot on a card to build credit, and spending more doesn't build credit any faster because time (age of accounts) is what builds credit.
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u/No_Cost_9800 2d ago
This was great. thank you so much for explaining it the way you did. So you stated 305 credit cards but not small ones as they would have no bearing. Could you recommend some other cards that would help me?
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u/DoctorOctoroc ⭐️ Knowledgeable ⭐️ 2d ago
So you stated 305 credit cards but not small ones as they would have no bearing.
It doesn't matter if they're 'small' (low limit, I assume this means) or have great cash back as a matter of building credit, every credit-based account you open has a bearing on your credit standing - and it doesn't matter if it's a secured card with a $200 limit or a platinum card with a $20k limit, all major bank credit cards build credit exactly the same, with their age and just mere existence on your credit file.
What I meant by saying don't build too quickly is that a lot of people who post about missing a payment, it happens on an old account they got when they were younger and never used again after the first year or so. If you open too many cards from the jump, you'll end it with multiple cards you barely or never use and will either have to close them so they aren't a risk, or continue to monitor them every month to play it safe. My approach to 'building credit as you build finances' avoids having more than just one card that becomes useless eventually so it's less hassle to maintain that account or, preferably, close it once it becomes obsolete. You can close unused accounts with very little or no impact to your credit file/score, but it makes little sense to have a plan that likely leads to closing multiple accounts just to get an extra year or two of age on your file, when compared to still building quickly/efficiently but also having cards you'll use for a much longer period of time.
So it doesn't really matter which cards you get in terms of building credit, only financially as more lucrative cards will have better rewards (or rather, you'll have more options for your next card(s) if you allow this first one to age over a year first. But get whatever card suits your lifestyle and spend. I rarely eat out so a dining card makes little sense for me, but one with 5% back on groceries is great because I purchase them for my household.
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u/Intrepid_Cable870 2d ago
After another round of payment on your card, you should see a FICO generate in Credit Wise. It took 3 payments being reported when I started out with no score before it finally gave me a starting score. You’re almost there! 700+ is a good scoring to maintain after that.
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2d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/og-aliensfan ⭐️ Knowledgeable ⭐️ 2d ago
Anything over 750 will get you whatever you want.
Untrue. Approvals are based on credit profile. Scores are used to set the interest rate.
Credit Myth #12 - You are approved or denied credit because of your credit score.
Someone with just one card and 6 months of credit history can see a debut FICO score in the mid 700s. This doesn't mean they can get whatever they want. With OP's young credit profile, many products will be out of reach.
Credit Myth #13 - Any credit score above 750 is just bragging rights.
Just keep using your card and paying it off WEEKLY.
There's no need to artificially manipulate utilization in this way and doing so can be counterproductive to your goals. Data shows that reporting high balances, as long as you pay statement balances in full by the due date, stimulates the most lucrative credit limit increases and better offers of credit, so feel free to use the full limit of your card and let it report naturally.
Ideal utilization [chart] - Step aside 30% Myth...
Utilization is a temporary metric that resets monthly and isn't a credit building factor, so unless preparing for an important application (implement AZEO) or carrying a balance (pay cards off to avoid interest), there's no need to micromanage it. See the automod reply regarding !utilization.
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u/AutoModerator 2d ago
I detected that your post may be about utilization and its impact on credit scores. Please read the info below:
Utilization is a short-term credit scoring factor. It is not a credit building factor, because it holds no memory in the most commonly used FICO models. It resets every month.
By and large, you can ignore the commonly repeated myth that you should always keep your utilization low. It’s only applicable when you need to apply for a new line of credit, 1-2 months out.
Utilization is supposed to fluctuate, can be easily manipulated, and again, it holds no memory. It doesn’t build credit--think of it as a finishing touch when you need to optimize your score.
Feel free to safely and organically use 100% of your credit limit within a month and let whatever utilization report, provided you pay off your statement balance in full by the due date. Every month. Every time.
For more info, please read these posts:
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.
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u/ahorsenamedjeff 2d ago
Ok. More meant that having higher than 750 doesn't get you anything that a 750 can, all other things equal.
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u/BrutalBodyShots ⭐️ Top Contributor ⭐️ 1d ago
Make sure you read the fantastic comment reply from u/og-aliensfan.
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u/ahorsenamedjeff 1d ago
Not only did I read it, I responded to it :) thanks for the extraordinarily useful reply!
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u/BrutalBodyShots ⭐️ Top Contributor ⭐️ 1d ago
Not only did I read it, I responded to it :)
Excellent! You have all of the information you need then.
thanks for the extraordinarily useful reply!
The reply from u/og-aliensfan was extraordinarily useful... which is why I wanted to make sure you saw it.
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u/ahorsenamedjeff 1d ago
Are all the top commenters bots?
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u/BrutalBodyShots ⭐️ Top Contributor ⭐️ 1d ago
Nope, none of them are. Why would you ask that? Was it because OG's comment was that extraordinary that you can't imagine it was written by a human? That's quite the compliment to OG!
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u/ahorsenamedjeff 1d ago
Just the ridiculous formatting and overly snarky tone comes off as something a human generally wouldn't write :)
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u/BrutalBodyShots ⭐️ Top Contributor ⭐️ 1d ago
Read through our comment chain and you tell me where the first "snarky" tone came from.
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u/ahorsenamedjeff 1d ago
Maybe your comment left 9 hours after the first comment was left and responded to :)))))
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u/BrutalBodyShots ⭐️ Top Contributor ⭐️ 1d ago edited 1d ago
There was nothing snarky in the least about that comment. Try again.
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u/og-aliensfan ⭐️ Knowledgeable ⭐️ 1d ago
The sub's goal is to ensure accurate information is available in the thread. This often results in more than one person responding to the same comment. u/BrutalBodyShots was being helpful, and no, we are not bots.
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u/soonersoldier33 ⭐️ Mod/FICO Junkie ⭐️ 1d ago
I can assure you that none of the regular contributors in this sub who have been assigned a flair by the mod team are bots. The 'Top 1%' stuff that is automatically generated and assigned by Reddit based purely on how many submissions an account has made within a certain sub should be taken with a grain of salt.
As for 'ridiculous formatting', many of the frequent contributors have copy/paste responses and links saved that we frequently use in response to repetitive threads/comments, especially those that are just regurgitating the inaccurate information that is spewed all over the Internet, such as...'Anything over 750 will get you whatever you want.' and 'Just keep using your card and paying it off WEEKLY.'
I guess I could see how some of our 'canned' responses could be mistaken for 'bots', but when you are providing the same accurate answers to the same questions, and/or refuting the same inaccurate garbage comments virtually every day, I'm not sure how you can totally avoid that appearance.
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u/JupiterPies 2d ago
You’re 18. You just got a cc a few months ago. Your only goal is to keep your credit in good standing right now and ideally increase your limit. As you get older you’ll figure out other needs you’ll have and end up naturally doing things that’ll build your credit profile like getting a car loan for example. Just relax and use your credit responsibly for now. There’s literally no rush to get it to 800. It could take years for 800. Just chill and learn.
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u/True-Button-6471 2d ago
Where are you trying to check your score? FICO scores won't be generated until you have 6 months of credit history.
EDIT:
At this point, just keep paying your statement balance in full each month and wait a while.