I agree with those saying to get a credit card – find one, such as capital one, who offer low limit cards, starting at 250 dollars, to college students. You will pay some fees, but pay the card on time for 6 months (put simple recurring bills such as groceries on it and pay it off in full each month) and after the 6 months ask to be switched to a no, or low fee card. I would also apply for a small signature loan with a credit union, and a small deferred interest federally subsidized student loan if possible. This will build additional credit history and cost you nothing as the government pays the interest and payments until you are out of school. Drop it in your savings account and reap the rewards of some free conservative investment collateral. The reason you should try for these 3 items is that it shows diversity of credit in both amount and type, which highers your score – especially since in the long run your score is based off of the length of history of credit also, and you will have all three types established for a long time.

To clear up some myths – Things like cell phones (as another answerer suggested) and utilities do NOTHING to help your credit! The only time one of these types of accounts would be listed on one of the major credit bureaus would be if you failed to pay it. Positive payment histories are NOT reported.

Also, you very well can find a small signature loan, especially at a credit union.

YOUR BEST MOST SIMPLE ANSWER…get a cell phone with a 2 year agreement under your name for payments. that’s how i’m starting to get my credit without a card!

Take a small loan and repay it on time.

Kinda like another answer….but a really easy way is to take cash that you have on hand and open a “secured” credit card through your bank. Let it sit there. You’ll gain points on your credit report for opening that line of credit. Also, to build your credit after that, make sure that if you use that card, that you don’t use more than 50% of what you have on the card so your rating doesn’t drop. You will then also be able to open an account with a store, but i wouldn’t recommend getting trapped into using store cards since their interest rates are ridiculously high. Another option is Capital One, they have a credit card for people with no credit, you might want to look into that as well. Good luck!

Just because you get a credit card doesn’t mean you’ll get into “heavy debt”. If you use it wisely and only charge what you can afford, you’ll be fine. A credit card is probably the best way to start building your credit. But you could also get a small personal loan from your bank – which will also create debt.

There’s actually quite a few credit cards designed specifically to help people establish or improve their credit. Although you’ll pay higher interest rates and additional fees with one of these offers, they’ll help you build your credit score over time. Eventually, with regular on-time payments, you’ll be able to qualify for better offers with lower fees and less interest. But for now, these are the types of offers you’ll qualify for:

Hope this helps. GOOD LUCK!