# Buying a car to establish credit?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-a-car-to-establish-credit/517931>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [November 17, 2009, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-a-car-to-establish-credit/517931 "2009-11-17T17:33:16Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Gus\_Gusterson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/85f322/32.png) [@Gus\_Gusterson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gus_Gusterson)\
**Post date:** [November 19, 2009, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-a-car-to-establish-credit/517931/21 "2009-11-19T15:07:30Z")

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> [@Markxxx](#):
>
> If she’s just looking to get credit and a good rating, Gasoline Cards are the best first step. This is followed by department store credit cards like JC Penny, Walmart and Sears etc.
> 
> Once you start this for a few months, then she can get a Visa or MasterCard. The trick is once you get that, you have to buy a large purchase, between $500 and $1,000 and pay it off over a few months. Paying it all off at once, makes financial sense (avoid interest) but it fails to show you can pay on time and plan.

You can skip straight to the Visa card (if you have income you’ll be able to get one, even if it has a low limit initially). Then use it and pay it off every month. Your credit report will show that your account is current and that you pay on time. That’s what builds your credit rating. There’s no need to throw away money on interest.

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**Author:** ![Add99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/977dab/32.png) [@Add99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Add99)\
**Post date:** [November 19, 2009, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-a-car-to-establish-credit/517931/22 "2009-11-19T22:36:13Z")

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My wife had life insurance and I ended up with 100k in the bank doing nothing. The house next door had been for sale for 6 months, so I bought it to rent it out. It was a spur of the moment decision without much planning. (And the landlord game is lame by the way.)

Silly me, I had 90k to put down on a 180k house, no debts, never checked my credit score. It was zero. I had no debts in the previous two years. Debit card, that’s no help. Credit card, that’s in the name of my company. Cars, trucks, all paid for.

The mortgage guy told me to gather my bills, electricity, cable, etc. That’s what got me the loan, along with statements saying I paid on time.

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