Tips for beginners:

Here are my thoughts: First thing you need to know is that age is deceptively taunted as only being worth 15% of a profile, yet it seems to have a much bigger effect. You see, AoOA determines in part which scorecard you will be on, so that has a pretty big effect I would opine. Scorecard dictates your minimum and maximum scores and the signal strength (weighting) of each metric (scoring factor). So which scorecard you’re on is pretty important wouldn’t you think? First you got clean and dirty, never have a delinquency so you stay clean. Trust me dirty hurts. 2d segmentation point involves your number of accounts and is referred to as thick or thin. We don’t know the exact number but have at least 6 accounts and you’ll be thick and you don’t have to worry about it, it’s better for many reasons. Next, you have young and mature: at 2 and 3 years you become mature on the old & new scores. Mature is better. Last you have ‘no new account’ and ‘new account.’ The mortgage scores have a 18 month timeframe; for 8/9 we call it ‘no new revolver’ and ‘new revolver’ & it has a 12 month timeframe. Having no new accounts for that timeframe is better. So the best scorecard is clean/thick/mature/no new (account/revolver), depending on version. Consequently, it’s important to obtain your first revolver and first loan at your. earliest convenience. The reason is these are, imo, very important scoring factors: AoORA (age of oldest revolving account) especially and AoOIA (age of oldest installment account) more so for your AU Industry Option, but still used. As your profile ages, your score increases, so it benefits you to get your first revolver and installment account at your earliest convenience And since AoORA is weighted much more heavily, it is certainly much more important. You will earn a higher score, more quickly, if your first account is a revolver. Another thing newbies frequently ask is: how many accounts should I get? Well there is no perfect answer to this, but it seems fico wants to see at least a variety of 6 ‘paid as agreed’ accounts (imo, 5 BCs & a loan). Plus like I said you want to make sure you’re thick! My personal recommendation is 5 to 7 keeper bankcards (and if you want to optimize Score 8/9, also have at least one loan <9.5% B/L). Keep in mind, you are under the too few bankcard penalty until you have at least 3 bankcards. Remember, I said keeper cards. That means no AFs, no predatory lenders, if you’re a beginner and you have no credit, that is better than having bad credit, believe it or not. You will likely be able to get a secured card & a SSL/CreditBuilder loan through a credit union to start your journey, but it may not happen at the first one you may have to try several. Don’t do the bullshit Fingerhut, CreditOne, Merrick or none of that bullshit! If not, maybe someone will open a joint account with you. Many credit unions also offer CreditBuilder Loans, and the amount doesn’t matter because the algorithm pays attention to percentages mostly, so a $500 loan or a $500 card is just as good as one 10 times as large (for the purpose). Or maybe someone will make you an authorized user on a card. They actually do not even have to give you the card, if they are concerned. But you would only want to be added to a card that had low utilization and perfect payment history. But if they make you an authorized user, you would benefit from that age and payment history on the mortgage scores. If your last name and address are the same, you may benefit on the newer scores as well. If you’re just starting out and you don’t have a CR (Credit Report) you will not generate a score until you have at least one tradeline at least 6 months of age AND one tradeline that has updated within the last 6 months. They are not mutually exclusive and can be the same tradeline. My last piece of advice for now: if you are brand new to credit, make it your business to go find 3 credit cards, preferably banks that will issue you a secured credit card $200 - whatever you want to deposit as your CL usually. And a $500 credit builder loan. Once you’ve handled the accounts responsibly, they will typically unsecure them and give you your money back. For some issuers, this is going to happen in as little as 7 months, Some may take longer but if you’re just starting out, a year or two will flyby. I am a proponent of the thick start method, which means one grabs many accounts very close together in the beginning to establish a solid age buffer for future credit endeavors. For example, I’d prefer you got 3, waited 12 months, & grabbed 3 more. Getting 1 every few months is stupid, & keeps your score suppressed due to the new revolvers. Don’t believe people that tell you to get a card every 3, 6 or 9 months. It’s bad advice and it keeps your score suppressed. I’m going to tell you the truth when it’s good and when it’s bad. Whatever day of the month you open up your card, the algorithm will always treat it as if opened the first of that month. So when they turn 12 months old, go get 3 more cards. Then you will have 6 cards and a loan at 12 months credit history. At that point you stop, take a break, freeze your credit, let it age and allow the score to build up another year. If you follow this advice and don’t open up any more accounts than directed or any more inquiries, at 24 months, your Version 8/9 scores will be nice but will be best from 30 to 35 months. At 36 months you will be reassigned to mature scorecard and lose ~20 points. Your mortgage scores are reassigned to a mature profile at 24 months and suffer a ~20 point loss then, however, if you follow the outline, at 30 months you will be on a thick/mature/no new account scorecard on the mortgage scores.