How Do I Build Credit As A Recent High School Grad? – Episode #38

To build credit as a high school grad, start with opening a bank account, get a checking account and a savings account. Most banks offer nice hybrid products. Next, apply for a secured credit card. Once you have a bank account, a secured credit card and then a personal installment loan from your bank or credit union will help establish credit. This last step isn’t mandatory, and you can build credit without it, but this is a great way to establish credit more quickly. You are adding a credit account to your credit file, and this one is an installment account, so now you have mixture of credit.

Some experts like the authorized user approach to building credit over getting a secured credit card. The FICO ‘08 model does allow this even though Fair Isaac considered blocking it at one point. I like getting a secured credit card instead as I think it does a better of building responsible behavior.