Dear Dr. Don,
I recently was married. I don't have any credit cards but I do have a Visa debit card attached to my checking account. I guess it's time to get a credit card but I have no credit score.
How can I build a good score? I have always dealt with cash. I can't even get approved for a Macy's card with my lack of credit history.
I didn't think about needing credit one day, so I didn't worry about building a credit history. Can you help me?
-- Habil History
Dear Habil,
Congratulations on your recent marriage. Building a credit history will be a big help when buying a car or securing a mortgage.
A secured credit card is a good way to build that credit history. With a secured card, you put money on deposit with the card provider and you are issued a credit card with a limit equal to the money on deposit.
The benefit of a secured card is that the account's payment history is reported to the credit bureaus. You'll want to confirm with the card provider that the payment history is reported to the three major credit bureaus: Equifax, Experian and TransUnion.
Check out the listing of secured credit cards using Bankrate's "Credit card rates for bad credit" search feature. Look for the secured card listings and not the prepaid or debit cards.
The Bankrate feature "Bad credit doesn't mean no credit" provides a good overview of your options in building credit. Don't be put off by the "bad credit" term. Just read it as "no credit" in your situation.
If your bride has credit, you could ask her to add you as an authorized user to her credit accounts. The credit-scoring models once again use the payment history of authorized users to compute a credit score as explained in the Bankrate feature "FICO 08 will score authorized user accounts."