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Comment by artificialLimbs | Hacker News Reader

If I only pay my bills on time does my credit score go up in the US? Asking because I don't know, but if that is the case, not sure why you can call it 'hoop jumping'.

I don't care for the credit companies, they're total scum. But I'm not sure how to do anything better.

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Afaict, your credit score will likely be lower if you haven't had a credit card open for a long time, run your balances too close to the limit (available credit) on those cards, or don't use them at all. My understanding is that your bills, depending on their type, may not even bother reporting to the credit agencies, or only report when they believe you have failed to pay; reliable ones seem to be big loans like mortgages, student or auto loans, and then credit cards. Rent, utilities, etc haven't seemed to affect my credit positively (or if they do they haven't been noticeable compared to the first category)

When I graduated, rented, and paid all my student loans off early and did not have a credit card my credit score actually went down significantly until I opened credit cards and used them regularly.

Average age of accounts is a pretty big factor in credit scores. Every bank will probably have its own proprietary rules for deciding when to offer credit, but the credit reporting agencies who generate a number use fairly well known criteria. Amount of credit, number of accounts, payment history, percentage of credit used, age of accounts, diversity of types of accounts.

Yep, that's all that's required for it, no hoops to jump through. The only catch is if you don't have any debt, you can't build credit, but it's pretty simple to get a credit card and pay it off every month.

Try to build credit with a secured credit card and on a minimum wage. Decide which bills you have to pay late this pay period. After years of this, you’ll be lucky if you can convert to an unsecured credit card, let alone maintain your (low) credit score, let alone improve it.

Most folks in US can’t even afford a $400 emergency expense. Good luck doing even that when your credit is maxed out and your car breaks down so you can’t work.

Why would I work for years at minimum wage? That doesn't seem like a good aim.

>> Most folks in US can’t even afford a $400 emergency expense.

It looks like they can, and fortunately the number of people in poverty continues to decline: https://policyadvice.net/insurance/insights/average-american...

Seems like you’re not able to empathize with others. Way to completely miss the point.

I was under the impression we were discussing facts here, and not feelings.

We are discussing facts, not just your own personal circumstance. The fact that you are not in these situations does not discount the experiences of others to the contrary.

If they're credit bills, yes. If they're just phone, power, rent, etc, not unless you've specifically set them up to go to the credit reporting companies.

Some corporate landlords report all rental accounts, some only report if you default.

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