Being 18 nobody wants to give me anything either, belivee me I know how that is, but I'm just trying to do everything I can right now to build up my credit so when I do want to get a car loan or a home loan or something in like 5 years or so, the credit will be there and I won't have a problem. I rent a house with 4 other roommates, and all the utilites are in my name (roomates just give me the $ when the bills come and I pay them), my student loans are in my name, and I've been trying to get a credit card as well so I can just buy all my normal stuff (gas, food, etc...) on it and pay it off every month to build my credit, I just haven't gotten approved for one yet.

My advice to you, is to try to build your credit as much as you can with little things, and just don't get loans right now. Buy everything with cash. You seem to have 2 cars that are pretty nice to me. I'd drive those since they both function perfectly fine, and then a few years down the road, when your credit allows and you have saved up some $, buy a newer, nicer car, pay for some of it with the money you have saved, and finance the rest of it, thats what I plan on doing.

Shawn

The more credit apps you put in, the worse it will be. Your rating goes down with each credit inquiry.

Owning both cars outright and paying cash for them is quite a relief. Save up and do it right.

i dont buy anything i dont have the money for, hell i havent even set up any kind of payment plan with the snap-on guy, i just buy what i have the money for, my parents had to declare bancruptcy once, made me paranoid of credit cards and loans

Everyone tells me that having loans helps build credit. :?

I have the same basic questions. I checked my credit score online and found that I have 3 accounts in good standing, and 0 accounts in bad standing. It did not give a definate score though. (aren't the possible scores between 300 & 700?) I'm currently trying to get my car loan in my name only after having my dad as the primary and me as a co-signer for a year. I owe 9,300 on my car and it'* currently worth almost 13,000.

Your best bet is to get a co-signer that can help you get that car.. after you've had the loan for a little while, try and get another loan to pay off that loan, and have it only in your name. Things that help your credit are having NO maxed out credit cards, a low balance on credit cards, long-established bank accounts, job stability, etc etc.

read more here:
http://money.howstuffworks.com/credit-score1.htm

Guys, credit is not that hard to get. I've got a 760 Equifax score with only two years of work. Never spend more than you have and always pay early.

Good advice. But again I'll say to avoid utilizing credit (which I like to call "debt it") and going into debt whenever possible. Who cares about your credit score, you'll be getting ripped off in interest (compared to saving money for awhile and buying a car outright) by some institution that only wants your money and doesn't care about you in the slightest... despite what the bank commercials would have you believe.

Dan, you HAVE a number score to your credit rating... but if you ran your credit report through one of the free online resources available now, your score just doesn't show up. You'll have to pay extra to see it, which isn't worth it IMO. Whenever you apply for a car/home loan and the lender runs your credit report, they can often see your score and will tell you what it is if you ask nicely. The range of possible scores depends on the credit agency (Equifax, Trans Union, and Experian are the Big 3)... they're all a little different. I know my scores are all around 800, but I've never had a late payment or unpaid account in my life. Anything over 760 or so should qualify you for just about any loan out there.

I have a loan for my Bonneville, never missed a payment.
I also have a Mastercard and I am only 18, i did not need a cosigner for my MC, my transmission went on there, which, is paid off now.
Simple as that.

Unfortunately, it'* not always possible to avoid credit debt. Just be very careful with it. I am just now finally pretty much out of the hole I dug myself when I was younger.

It does. You just have to get rid of the loans before trying to use your credit.

Shawn