Credit Scores
Building Your Credit
If you don't have a credit history, or have a credit score that is under 700, you aren't quite ready to start booking with points yet. You will need to either establish a history, or take some time to improve your score, before you start applying for travel cards. A score of 750 will put you in an even better situation.
Be patient! Depending on your situation, it may take a while before you're able to open your first travel card, but rest assured there will still be great offers available when you're ready.
Since my number one rule of earning travel points is that you must have a good credit score, most of my information and resources are targeted toward those whose score is already at or above 750 and who are ready to get started.
Establishing Your Credit
If you don't have any credit, there are a few ways to get established.
Steps to Establish Your Credit
Apply for a Credit Card
Start with a no-fee card like a Discover it® card. Without any credit history, you may need to get a secured credit card (one that functions like a traditional card, but you deposit money to open the account). Whichever card you start with, keep it open indefinitely to help your length of credit history.
Become an Authorized User
Have a family member add you to a card in good standing that they've held for a long time. They don't even have to give you access — that card's payment history will be added to your credit file and help generate a FICO score.
Use Experian Boost
Get credit for on-time payments for things like cell phone bills, utilities, and streaming services that wouldn't normally count toward your credit history.
Use a Rent Reporting Service
Build a history of on-time payments for rent. Several services can report your rent payments to the credit bureaus.
Improving Your Credit Score
Study your credit report to figure out why your credit score is low in the first place. Have you missed payments? Have you opened too many new lines of credit recently, or closed older accounts? Are you using more than 30 percent of the credit available to you?
Figure out what's wrong and take action to fix it. Then, when your score is in the excellent range, revisit this course to learn how to get started booking with points.
Opening Your First Card
If you don't have any credit history, it's going to be hard to get approved for travel cards. It will take some time to establish a credit history.
The good news is that now that you know a bit more about credit scores and how they're calculated, you know what you need to do in order to keep your credit score high!
Your first credit card should be a no-fee card that you will keep open indefinitely. This is the card that will help build the length of credit history portion of your credit report, so you aren't looking for anything fancy. You don't want to tie yourself to having a card with a fee indefinitely.
A good starter card is one of the Discover it® cards. There are several Discover it® cards, including a secured card, a student card, and a cash back card. These cards have no fee and don't require a credit score to be approved.
Lesson Summary
If you're just starting out with credit or your score is under 700, you'll need to build your credit before applying for travel cards. A score of 750+ puts you in an excellent position.
To establish credit, you can apply for a starter card (secured or unsecured), become an authorized user on a family member's card, use Experian Boost to get credit for bills like utilities and streaming, or use a rent reporting service.
A no-fee starter card like a Discover it® card is a great first step — keep it open indefinitely to build your length of credit history. Once your score is in the excellent range, you'll be ready to start opening travel cards.
