how about no credit?

[sea dream]

my parents live outside of the States, i'm a U.S. citizen but i don't have much in the way of credit. I spent most of my school years except undergrad in a foreign country where credit is not nearly as important to day to day life as in the States, so I didn't know that establishing credit was so important. (my mother has never had a credit card in her life.) i didn't take out any loans in UG as i had a hefty scholarship as well as need-based aid. i paid the comcast bill last year. Really, other than that i don't think i've done anything that accumulates credit. i paid for everything out of my bank account with a debit card. i realize now that this is just stupid for living in the United States, but seeing as it's a little late to fix (not in the States at this time either, won't be until i start law school), what happens now? I need a cosigner (heaven knows how i'm going to find that. would they allow my father to cosign even if he lives outside of the States? Sorry if that's a stupid question.)? i can't get loans outside of government loans? My interest rates will suck the soul out of my body?

i hadn't even been thinking about this problem until i visited this board and noticed all the worried people with bad credit.

[Yale College Inferno]

Something I read on a credit forum is that if you get added as an authorized user to someone else's existing account, that account goes onto your credit report, and if it has been open long enough and is in good standing then your credit score goes up as if it was one of your cards.

Now, after reading too many horror stories of people whose friends have gotten them in trouble by misusing credit in their name, this authorized-user idea is something I would recommend that people only do with friends they REALLY trust. And maybe as added the security, the real cardholder should keep/cut up the additional card that the credit card company sends for the authorized user. This way, the authorized user is prevented from actually using the credit card, but he/she still gets to "freeride" on the good credit from the account. Of course, the trust really has to be mutual, because the authorized user's credit rating could actually go DOWN if, for example, the main cardholder starts missing payments or revolving large balances.

[sea dream]

Thank you - I just saw this reply. It's an idea but one I'd want to be careful with.. I kind of went through the same deal by getitng a friend to apply for a cell phone plan for me. afterwards i got screwed pretty big by T-Mobile (once i finally get out of the contract i will never use t-mobile again.. they've done everything from mis-charges, to fixing a problem, then a month later claiming that the problem was never fixed and they can't help me and don't know wtf i'm talking about- after i raised a ruckus, a different manager was like strange.. someone DID start fixing the problem for you a month ago (AS PROMISED!) but for some reason he didn't finish.. maybe he got called away and forgot. and because of this mistake the previous manager claimed i was lying and bitched me out.. never again i swear) but i've paid everything each month, of course, and the pressure is infinitely worse because it's not in my name or my credit rating. i'm not really very knowledgeable about how all the credit stuff works but I'll be glad to start actually accumulating credit of my own.

[Yale College Inferno]

Wow, the T-Mobile events are pretty unfortunate and surprising to me. I've used T-Mo for 3 years now, never with any problems except that they're so expensive, but so is every other major wireless carrier.