B4 • Friday, January 14, 2022
THE GARDEN ISLAND
thegardenisland.com
Now is the time to build your credit
MILLENNIAL MONEY COLIN BERESFORD
S
ooner than you may realize, your credit score will start to matter. A solid credit score can be the difference between qualifying for an apartment or a low-interest car loan or missing out. So to have credit ready when you need it, the time to start building a good and lengthy credit history is now. There’s more than one way to build credit, and it could be as simple as reporting your ongoing bill payments to the major credit bureaus. But keep in mind: Building credit takes diligence, particularly since missing payments can hurt your score for years to come. What Is Credit And Why Does It Matter? Your credit score is a number that typically ranges between 300 and 850 and is calculated based on how reliably you’ve paid past debts, such as credit card bills. Lenders use your credit score to predict how likely you will repay debt. Your credit score helps determine the loans you can receive, the interest you’ll be charged, the credit cards you can qualify for and the properties you can rent. An employer can even check your credit history. Having a good credit score can save
certified financial planner in Arvada, Colorado. Becoming an authorized user will also impact your credit utilization rate, or the amount of money you owe to lenders divided by the total credit available to you, which can help your credit score. If you have your own income , you can apply for a credit card when you’re 18 years old; otherwise, you have to wait until you are 21. A secured credit card is typically the best credit card to start with. A cash deposit backs these cards, and since the credit card company can take that deposit if you miss payments, people with short CHARLES KRUPA / ASSOCIATED PRESS or poor credit histories can qualify. Condominium units are offered for sale in the Dorchester neighborhood, Aug. The deposit you have to 18, 2021, in Boston. Building credit from scratch when you’re young can feel make for a secured credit overwhelming; it’s no wonder that nearly 40% of Americans between the ages of card could be a burden, and 20 and 24 have no credit history or too insufficient of a credit history to have a if that’s the case, an alternascore, according to the Consumer Finance and Protection Bureau. tive card might be better for you money later on, mainly by establishing good habits early on.” you. These cards use income through lower interest rates with managing debt, such as and bank account informaCredit Cards –– And when you secure a loan. not taking on more debt tion to determine your credAlternative Cards If you’re starting with no than you can afford, says itworthiness rather than credit history, you aren’t Credit cards can be a great your credit score. Brittany Mollica, a certified alone. In the U.S., nearly 40% financial planner based in tool to establish credit, but Monthly Bills of people between the ages they can also damage your Chapel Hill, North Carolina. of 20 and 24 have little to no Missing payments will dam- score if you take on more If you live independently, credit history to generate a debt than you can handle. payments for rent, utilities age your score and can bescore, according to the Con- come a burden when you If a parent or another and phone bills can all be retrusted person in your life need to borrow money in sumer Financial Protection ported to credit bureaus. So has a high credit limit and a paying those bills can build the future. Bureau. Unfortunately, the “Getting in good habits of long history of making same is true for roughly 20% your credit if they’re on time timely payments, you could and you have them realways paying your bills is of the population. become an authorized user Building your credit might really important,” Mollica ported. on their account and benefit says. “You don’t want to seem overwhelming if you Unlike credit card payhaven’t thought about it be- have to be climbing out of a from their good credit. This ments, these payments aris one of the easiest ways to en’t reported automatically hole of all sorts of credit fore, but there are many lengthen your credit history, and can require a third-party strategies to employ, even if card debt that you’ve piled says Blaine Thiederman, a up, especially starting out you’re just beginning. Start service, such as Experian
US average long-term mortgage rates jump; 30-year now 3.45% ASSOCIATED PRESS SILVER SPRING, Md. — Average long-term U.S. mortgage rates jumped again this past week, reaching their highest level since March 2020, just as the coronavirus pandemic was breaking in the U.S. Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac reported Thursday that the average rate on the benchmark 30-year home loan rose to 3.45% this week from 3.22% last week. It was at 3.5% in late March of 2020 when the pandemic was just starting. A year ago, the 30-year rate stood at 2.79%. The average rate on 15-year, fixed-rate mortgages, popular among those refinancing their homes, rose to 2.62% from 2.43% last week. “This was driven by the prospect of a faster than expected tightening of monetary policy in response to continued inflation exacerbated by uncertainty in labor and supply chains,” said Sam Khater, Freddie Mac’s chief economist. “The rise in mortgage rates so far this year has not yet affected purchase demand, but given the fast pace of home price growth, it will likely dampen demand in the near future.” Available housing has been in short supply since long before the pandemic started, and prices have risen close to 20% in the past year. Higher mortgage rates could make it even harder for homebuyers to secure a new home. Mortgage rates have been expected to rise this year after the Federal Reserve announced last month that it would begin dialing back its monthly bond purchases to slow accelerating inflation.
Boost or UltraFICO, to make the credit bureaus aware of your payments. Remember, these services sometimes require a fee and reporting your bill payments may not always impact your credit score; instead, they may just appear on your credit report. Loans Making regular payments on loans can also help you build your credit. And even if you don’t have any credit history, some loans are available. Credit-builder loans rely on income rather than credit for approval. If you’re approved, the loan sits in a bank account and becomes available once you pay it off. Your monthly payments are reported to the major credit bureaus. Student loans are another loan you can use to build your credit when you’re just starting. Federal student loans don’t require credit to qualify, while most private student loans do . Paying off your loans will help you grow your credit history, and you can get started while you’re still in school by making interest-only payments. ••• This column was provided to The Associated Press by the personal finance website NerdWallet. Colin Beresford is a writer at NerdWallet. Email: cberesford@nerdwallet.com. Twitter: @Colin_ beresford.
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