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How to Establish Credit in the US

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One of the most common issues international grad students face when they start grad school in the United States is how to establish credit. The US credit system draws its data only from debts incurred in the US, so whatever credit you had in your home country won’t transfer. Although your options for establishing credit are limited when you first arrive in the US, if you take the right steps, you will build credit quickly.

It’s important to note that in the US your credit is all about debt. The chief reason you want to have good credit is so that you will receive favorable lending terms on any future debt you want to take out. (A secondary reason is that potential landlords and employers sometimes check your credit score to verify your trustworthiness or check for conflicts of interest.) To have good credit, you have to have previously demonstrated that you can manage your debt well. Counterintuitively, having a lot of money to your name or paying your non-debt bills (rent, utilities) on time does not positively affect your credit score. Therefore, to establish your credit for the first time, you have to take out a form of debt, even if that is totally unnecessary for your finances.

What is a credit report and credit score?

A credit report is a list of all the financially-related accounts you have used in the past seven years. There are many different institutions that track this data, but the three main ones are Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. Your credit report will include data on these accounts, such as how long they have been open, how much outstanding debt you have, and whether you have made any late payments.

A credit score is a number from 300 to 850 that summarizes how ‘credit-worthy’ you are. Another way to say that is how risky it would be for an institution to lend to you. Similarly to the credit report, each credit bureau will calculate its own credit score for you, but they will all be similar as they draw from the same data. A credit score above 750 is considered quite good.

FICO credit score range
Image by CafeCredit under CC 2.0

Lenders will look at your FICO credit score, but your attention should be on the accuracy of your credit reports. You can order one free credit report from each bureau once per year through annualcreditreport.com. Once per year (ideally on a 4-month rotation), you should order your credit report from each bureau and check its accuracy. Report any mistakes back to the bureau, and of course if you catch any identity theft, take steps to ameliorate that.

Further reading: “I Want a Credit Card, But I’m Scared”, Don’t Buy the Pro- and Anti-Credit Card Hype

How is my credit score calculated?

While the exact formula each credit bureau uses to calculate your credit score is proprietary, the components are widely recognized at a general level: payment history (35%), amounts owed (30%), length of credit history (15%), account mix (10%), and new credit (10%).

FICO credit score breakdown
source

The way to optimize your credit score is to:

  • make every single payment on time
  • pay down your outstanding debt
  • keep your debt utilization ratio (the percentage of your credit limit that you actually use – both for individual credit cards and all your accounts together) below 30%
  • keep your oldest accounts open (e.g., your first regular credit card)
  • let time pass (to lengthen your credit history!)

In rare situations, taking out a new, un-needed installment loan for the purpose of increasing your credit score might be a reasonable strategy, but you should conduct heavy-duty research that option before taking such a step (i.e., don’t let a bank representative/salesperson talk you into it).

While applying for new debt will have a small, short-term negative effect on your credit score, you should probably only consciously avoid taking out new debt for this reason in the months leading up to applying for a large loan such as a mortgage.

Further reading: Building Credit as an International Student

How can I establish credit for the first time in the US?

Step 1: Sign up for a secured credit card.

A secured credit card operates similarly to a regular credit card, but the lender holds an asset of equal value to the line of credit extended to you. You give the lender an amount of money (e.g., $500), and that amount is the limit of what you can borrow at a time. Use the secured credit card for purchases, then pay it off on time and in full the way you would a regular credit card (or be charged interest, which only harms you). After several months of using the secured credit card properly, you should have a high enough credit score to qualify for a regular credit card.

Be selective about which secured credit card you sign up for. Community banks and credit unions usually offer better products and customer service than national chain banks. Also examine the annual fee on the card and the interest rate (if there is any possibility of you not paying off the card in full every cycle) to minimize your out-of-pocket costs.

Further reading: What Is a Secured Credit Card? How Is It Different from an Unsecured Card?

Step 2: Close your secured credit card and open a regular credit card.

You can ask your lender to upgrade your secured credit card to a regular credit card, or apply for a new regular credit card and, once approved, close your secured credit card. When you upgrade or close your secured credit card account, your deposit will be refunded (assuming you had no balance due).

Continue to use your credit card perfectly, paying off the balance in full before the due date every month. Keep your utilization ratio low. You will probably have a low credit limit on this first card, so if necessary you can pay off the balance multiple times per month.

You should plan to keep your first credit card open for at least seven years, so choose one without an annual fee, even if it doesn’t offer the most lucrative rewards program.

Further reading: How International Student and Immigrant Workers Can Get a Credit Card

Step 3: Take out an installment loan (e.g., auto loan) or open additional credit cards.

This last step is optional, but helpful for building credit faster. After using your credit card perfectly for several months or a year, your credit score should be increasing gradually. At this point, you are eligible for debt with better lending terms than before.

If you want to buy a car, it should be possible to get an auto loan if you can’t pay for the car outright. If you do take out an auto loan and make payments on time, it will continue to improve your credit score. Similarly, if you open more credit card accounts, your credit score will temporarily dip, but your utilization ratio should also become lower to raise your credit in the long term.

But keep in mind why you are trying to build credit in the first place, and don’t harm yourself (e.g., by paying interest on an unnecessary loan or getting in over your head with credit cards) just for the sake of improving your credit score.

How do I build credit over time?

The best ways to build your credit after you first establish credit in the US are to:

1) Continue to pay all your bills on time and in full.

2) Allow time to pass, which will more firmly establish your track record as a responsible borrower and lengthen your credit history.

3) Pay down outstanding installment loans (though not necessarily off completely) and keep your credit utilization ratio low. (It is a myth that you have to carry a balance from month to month on your credit card for it to improve your credit score; in fact, this strategy will depress it.)

International students are not the only graduate students without credit; some domestic students who have avoided student loans and credit cards face the same issue. Just keep in mind your ultimate goal that motivates your desire to establish credit (e.g., qualify for a lease, borrow money for a car at a good interest rate), and don’t take unnecessarily extreme steps with your borrowing simply to achieve a high score. Making on-time payments, holding on to minimal amounts of debt, and time are the best boosters to your credit score.

Perfect Use of a Credit Card

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Graduate students have a pretty good handle on financial literacy topics like credit cards. In fact, 85% of graduate students have a credit card (Council of Graduate Schools’ Financial Education). But it’s one thing to understand how credit cards work and another to actually practice perfect credit card usage.

When I signed up for my first credit card after college, I thought of it as a form of an emergency fund. While I never ended up carrying a balance, on a couple occasions I used it to push paying for an expense from one month to the next. I thought I was being responsible by choosing a credit card with a relatively low interest rate (only 10%!) in case I did ever carry a balance.

With a lot more financial savvy and years of experience under my belt now, I can appreciate both the benefits and dangers of credit cards. If you follow the rules of perfect usage, credit cards can serve you well and benefit your life in small ways. But if you deviate from perfect usage, credit cards can bite – and it could be a tiny nip or a scarring chomp. The downside potential is definitely larger than the upside potential, so you must toe the line carefully!

Further reading: Don’t Buy into the Pro- or Anti-Credit Card Hype

Here’s how to use a credit card perfectly so it never bites you.

Have a credit card

It is a good idea to have a credit card as (when used perfectly) it will benefit your credit report and score. If you have never had any debt, opening a credit card will generate a credit report and score for you. (Make sure your first credit card is one you can keep open indefinitely, as it will establish the beginning of your credit history.) If you already have a credit score due to installment debt, such as student loans or a car loan, adding a revolving debt like a credit card will increase your score.

Further reading: Reader Request: Credit Scores and Credit Reports; “I Want a Credit Card, But I’m Scared”

The main reason to have a high credit score is to obtain favorable terms when you take out new debt, such as a mortgage. (The time to be concerned about maximizing your credit score is when you’re approaching taking out new debt, but other than that it’s not a big concern.) Some landlords also check credit scores, so a good score can be beneficial to a renter.

Further reading: 7 Ways to Improve Your Credit Score

If you have ever failed to make payments on a debt or have carried a credit card balance, don’t use a credit card. Give yourself time (at least a year) to ingrain good financial habits using only a debit card before returning to credit.

Never pay interest or fees

Your credit card should never cost you any money. Perfect use of a credit card means that you never carry a balance or pay any kind of fee (with one possible exception).

Pay off the entire balance by the due date

To avoid ever paying interest on your credit card, you must pay off the balance in full by the due date.

42% of graduate students with credit cards carry a balance on their credit cards, and 9% only make the minimum payment (Council of Graduate Schools’ Financial Education)! These students are paying a ridiculously high interest rate (15% on average) on this debt, which in many cases could be avoided entirely by better money management practices. With credit card debt, compound interest works against you with amazing ferocity.

Make it an unbreakable rule to always pay off your entire credit card balance before the due date; it’s a slippery slope from allowing a balance to carry over in one month to being saddled with thousands or tens of thousands of dollars in credit card debt that just keeps growing. The average American household with credit card debt has a balance of $16,425. Having this rule in place will force you to get creative about ways to cut your spending or earn extra money before the deadline.

A great way to make sure that you never miss a payment and incur a late fee or interest charges is to set up your card to auto-pay the entire balance before the due date. Just make sure that you always have enough money in your checking account to cover your credit card bill or you risk getting slapped with a fee by your bank instead.

Don’t Spend Ahead of Your Income

To use your credit card(s) perfectly, though, you have to go a step further. It’s not quite enough to pay off your credit cards when they are due. If you get sloppy with this practice, your spending can actually get ahead of your earning by 1-2 months, which can really put you in a bind if an emergency occurs.

To use a credit card perfectly, treat it like a debit card: only spend money that you already have in the bank, not money you expect to receive before the bill is due. That means that you will earn money, then get paid, then spend the money. To keep your credit card bill in sync with your budget, pay it off in full at the end of every month/budgeting period. You could even pay it off a couple times each month to keep your utilization ratio low.

Further reading: Living on Time with Your Credit Cards

Gain Benefits and Rewards… But Don’t Go Crazy

All the points above are about avoiding the downsides of credit cards, but now we get to the fun part – the upsides!

Credit cards are safer than debit cards for fraud protection, and they also often confer benefits in the small print like rental car insurance.

Further reading: Credit Card vs. Debit Card: Which Is Safer Online?; Renting a Car? Know Whether Your Card Adds Insurance

But the really big draw is the rewards. When you have a good credit score, you will be eligible for all kinds of rewards credit cards. These rewards come in the form of a signup bonus (usually after meeting a minimum spending requirement), ongoing rewards based on your spending, or both. Credit card rewards are actually one of the top ways my husband and I ‘saved’ money while we were in grad school, even though we rarely spent enough to meet minimum spending requirements.

Signing up for credit cards for the bonuses and strategically using certain cards for certain purchases to rack up points is a great way to score some free money or free travel. But you can’t get so caught up in the bonuses that you overspend or deviate from perfect use.

Credit card companies use rewards to prey on your psychology. The rewards make spending feel even better than it normally does, so you’re more likely to spend lots of money on their particular card. In that way, the company gets the transaction fees from the merchant plus a greater chance that you will overspend, not be able to pay off your balance, and end up paying interest.

Further reading: Think about It: Why Would the Credit Card Company Give You Cash Back?

If you want to go after credit card rewards, great. Just put in place strict boundaries such as a budget to constrain your spending, the habit of paying off your card every month, and autopay. If you juggle multiple cards at once, consider signing up for account aggregating software like Mint or You Need a Budget to help you keep track.

I said earlier that you should never pay a fee for a credit card. The one exception is a fee for a rewards credit card when you are dead certain that you will gain more in rewards than you are paying in an annual fee. If you’re at all unsure about the ROI of the fee, don’t get the card. A credit card with a fee should also not be the first credit card you open (or probably your first rewards card, either) as you should feel free to close it whenever paying the fee no longer makes sense. If that is your oldest credit card, your credit might take a small hit upon its closure.

If you’re going to use a credit card, use it perfectly. Credit card fees and interest are too detrimental to your financial health to play around with! Just treat your credit card like a debit card and you’ll be fine.