Educate yourself now and enjoy a more secure financial future. As a young adult, in most cases, the initial step to building credit will be to obtain a credit card that reports to all three national credit bureaus, Equifax, TransUnion, and Experian. This can be a major step for your financial future because it is a valuable tool that creates many benefits for you later on. Meaning better FICO credit scores, lending power, and having a more established credit profile early on.
Why is credit important? You begin to establish a credit profile through reporting information that builds credit history. By doing this and managing these specific accounts correctly, it will lead to a higher, positive credit score.
How to be credit-wise! Responsible use with your credit card can help build a good credit score as well as achieve independence and financial freedom. It also will make it easier to reach your short-term and long-term goals like renting a place to live, being approved for an auto loan and buying a vehicle, or better yet, being approved for a mortgage and buying a home!
What is a FICO credit score? FICO is a widely used calculation based on multiple factors concerning your credit history and current reporting accounts. Essentially a mathematical algorithm to evaluate risk based on the information reporting within our credit report by each separate reporting agency. A low score indicates poor credit history which equates to a higher risk. A high score indicates a good credit history which can easily offer many advantages, like better interest rates on loans or credit cards, higher credit limits, and approval for higher valued loan options like auto and mortgage, as well as business lending opportunities! Also when looking to be approved for renting, having a high score indicates the landlord can trust you to pay your rent on time each month.
Stay on top of your credit! It is your legal right to pull a credit report once a year for no cost.
www.annualcreditreport.com is a great resource and I would recommend pulling a report once every 4 months, essentially pulling one report from each credit bureau at the 4-month mark, so you are able to monitor your credit more frequently at no cost.
