N/A credit score.

[nofire]

Yeah, your best option at this point is to get it manually underwritten.

As for the credit thing, I opened 2 cards a couple of years ago to do just that. I pay for everything with my rewards card and pay it off every month so I carry no balance. It's the same as cash that way, I get the rewards from the card, and I get to get a high credit score out of it.

 

[R.D.P.]

For those in this thread that are confused. Yes - if you work it right you can take advantage of credit card offers and actually MAKE money in the form of rewards. Of course you will have to invest a little time. But why would the big banks do this?? Because for every person that actually works their system and makes money off them, there are thousands that took that same offer and have ended up carrying revolving debt on that card and are now paying them that monthly interest that is their life blood.

Credit scores are a game, but if you need credit you have to play. My credit score is actually really down because of this myself. I haven't had any debt other than my mortgage or a single open card in probably 5 years and it's killing my score. I'm going to have to open a card or two. I don't anticipate ever needing credit for anything again, but better to be safe I guess.

To the OP - you're kind of screwed in the short term honestly. Hate to say it. As others have said - you likely aren't going to be able to establish any sort of score in less than a year at least.

 

[RES0574]

If you own and are purchasing items through a business, I do not understand how you have not obtained a credit score through those transactions. Do you use CCs for your business procurement? I own a small business (7 employees), and all of my guys' expenses are placed on company issued CCs that are essentially backed by my credit. We are out of town roughly 24 days of the month, so flights, lodging, meals, etc are all placed on CCs. The monthly balances are paid off every month, so it does benefit my personal credit score. I also opened a line of credit with my bank to support cash flow if ARs were late by more than 90 days. Most of my client base is offshore support services, and that market is struggling, so I have to work with the clients on 90 or 120+ for their AP. Using, then returning within 30 days, any credit I have has raised my score up tremendously. It definitely helps when I am financing company trucks, as I am able to obtain great rates.

 

[Grabber]

Credit doesn't mean debt. It can mean you're responsible and pay your bills on time.

My wife and I purchase using certain cards as they have offers for 5-7% cash back so knowing we have the money, charge it, then pay for it in full.

 

[limitedex]

I don't understand how people go through life without applying for any credit cards or installment loans before their first major purchase. Then expect they will have a great credit history and are shocked when they don't.
It doesn't matter how much money you make or have in the bank. A cash purchase doesn't get reported.
I've bought motorcycles I could have paid cash for, but instead I finance them and pay them off in a few months. Eat a $100 in interest and reap the benefits.

My thoughts exactly.

Sorry OP.

 

[limitedex]

Credit doesn't mean debt. It can mean you're responsible and pay your bills on time.

My wife and I purchase using certain cards as they have offers for 5-7% cash back so knowing we have the money, charge it, then pay for it in full.

Exactly! I literally MAKE MONEY using my credit card. THEN, on those rewards I redeem them for gift cards that they have special offers for. Example, "redeem $40 in rewards, get a $50 gift card..."

Holy smokes! You mean I got 5% cash back. Paid zero interest. And then got 20% more free on my gift card by redeeming my rewards???!!!

I'm not the only one out there that does this surely........

 

[ON D BIT]

Credit doesn't mean debt. It can mean you're responsible and pay your bills on time.

My wife and I purchase using certain cards as they have offers for 5-7% cash back so knowing we have the money, charge it, then pay for it in full.

Your credit or FICO score certainly does mean debt. Look at the ways credit score is calculated below.

• 35% of your score is based on your debt history.
• 30% is based on your debt level.
• 15% is based on the length of time you’ve been in debt.
• 10% is based on new debt.
• 10% is based on type of debt.

 

[Grabber]

Your credit or FICO score certainly does mean debt. Look at the ways credit score is calculated below.

• 35% of your score is based on your debt history.
• 30% is based on your debt level.
• 15% is based on the length of time you’ve been in debt.
• 10% is based on new debt.
• 10% is based on type of debt.

Yes, it can mean debt. We both have car loans and a mortgage.

However, speak to a lender about it. A HUGE impact on credit score is your payables. Not how much debt you have. Between the mortgage, our cars, we have over $200,000 in debt. By paying on time, early, never missing payments reflects greatly on your "credit".

I have several friends with tons of debt, but, their credit scores are complete shit. They miss payments, don't pay the full amount due or the minimums, etc. That matters.

Most of America has debt. Whether it be from living beyond means, to being poor unlike you and not able to buy houses for cash, it's still debt.

Getting something back from having that "debt" as you say, is a nice perk. My wife and I get back several hundred dollars a year because we use certain cards for day to day grocery shopping and filling up gas, and there are no annual fees with these credit cards and we pay them off right away. At the end of it, we can cash in, get $50-$100 gift cards to checks mailed to us.

 

[Torch10th]

Your credit or FICO score certainly does mean debt. Look at the ways credit score is calculated below.

• 35% of your score is based on your debt history.
• 30% is based on your debt level.
• 15% is based on the length of time you’ve been in debt.
• 10% is based on new debt.
• 10% is based on type of debt.

Your figures are not wrong for a typical score, however you need to replace debt with credit. No where do the credit agencies list these figures as debt.

You can build a great credit score without incurring a dime of interest. You are looking at this from an "if you put it on a card it's debt circumstance." It's not debt if you have the money for it and pay off the card before the interest cycle hits. Even your own figures suggest that being the case, because the 30% based on debt level impacts you more the LESS debt you have.

If you choose not to play that game, that's your choice, but don't preach gospel to people that is blatantly inaccurate simply because you don't like it.

http://ficoscore.com/education/

No where does anything say you have to be in debt to gain a good credit score. Credit is simply liquidity offered to you on the premise that you will pay it back should you use it. If you place 10k on a card and take 10 years to pay it off, that's debt. Putting 10k on a card and paying it off before the end of the month is not debt, it's just using a different payment facility for money you already have.

 

[coposrv]

I don't understand how people go through life without applying for any credit cards or installment loans before their first major purchase. Then expect they will have a great credit history and are shocked when they don't.
It doesn't matter how much money you make or have in the bank. A cash purchase doesn't get reported.
I've bought motorcycles I could have paid cash for, but instead I finance them and pay them off in a few months. Eat a $100 in interest and reap the benefits.

I didn't expect to have a GREAT score.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[coposrv]

If you own and are purchasing items through a business, I do not understand how you have not obtained a credit score through those transactions. Do you use CCs for your business procurement?

Because when I need things I pay for them. No business CC. I'm a small electrical contracting business. I have materials/ fixture packages, wire orders either sent to job sites or picked up in person. Large commercial fixture packages are generally purchased by the developer and I take a percentage to track/handle them. Any given month I'm only out of pocket on average 10k or so. So self financing the business has been relatively painless. I really have no other business expenses, A fuel account at an oil company, workman's comp, gen liability and insurance on the trucks all handled by my local insurance company. I write a check at the beginning of the year and then again when the insurance audit takes place. I have a few preferred contractor accounts through supply houses though, Balance due in full every month. It's worked for me for a few years. Ive always just tried to save a lot of money, Avoiding taking unnecessary debts etc. If I didn't have the money I haven't bought it. I didn't set out when I was younger to build a credit score I just tried to save and be prudent with my purchases.

 

[Torch10th]

That's a good way to be. A lot of people, me included have gotten in trouble with credit utilization. The problem you're finding out is that now you don't have any paper trail or proof that you're a good candidate to loan money to, now that you need it.

It's kind of like knowledge in this day and age. You can gain a lot of knowledge and talent on your own, but many employers want to see that piece of paper that says you got your knowledge from an accredited source. It's proof of accomplishment.

We can debate the merits and the ethics behind that until the cows come home, but the fact is that the world we currently live in wants that burden of proof. It's stupid I agree, but see where not playing that game has put you?

You're in a situation now where you want to purchase a home but have zero credit. You can't build credit overnight, so that leaves you just two basic options.

1. Find a bank that will underwrite your circumstances manually. You're likely going to pay extra for this and may see a higher interest rate offered as a result.
2. Put your wife solely on the property and attempt to use your income to show supplemental funds for her. That's always some tricky business there and while it may help, going this route will probably result in your buying power being reduced only to what your wife takes home herself, reducing the amount of home you can "afford."

This is a specific reason why going the route of never utilizing a CC or any type of other credit can have very negative consequences. Like I said, you don't have to spend a dime in interest to get a good credit score, but man even if you had a crap score below 600, you'd at least be able to co-sign with your wife and show your income easily.

 

[ON D BIT]

Your figures are not wrong for a typical score, however you need to replace debt with credit. No where do the credit agencies list these figures as debt.

You can build a great credit score without incurring a dime of interest. You are looking at this from an "if you put it on a card it's debt circumstance." It's not debt if you have the money for it and pay off the card before the interest cycle hits. Even your own figures suggest that being the case, because the 30% based on debt level impacts you more the LESS debt you have.

If you choose not to play that game, that's your choice, but don't preach gospel to people that is blatantly inaccurate simply because you don't like it.

http://ficoscore.com/education/

No where does anything say you have to be in debt to gain a good credit score. Credit is simply liquidity offered to you on the premise that you will pay it back should you use it. If you place 10k on a card and take 10 years to pay it off, that's debt. Putting 10k on a card and paying it off before the end of the month is not debt, it's just using a different payment facility for money you already have.

You can not have a credit score with no debt. Can not be done. All a credit score is is effective you are at paying debt.

Yes you can have debt without paying a penalty(late fees or interest). 99.99 do not. In fact they pay out tens of billions in profits to banks every quarter.
BofA had 21.64 billion in income 3rd quarter in 16!

Fact is if you have debt you will pay more for purchases than if you paid cash. The banking profits prove it.

 

[Torch10th]

I'm sorry, but that's your personal view of how it works. There's a difference between perception in almost every case. You are also basing all of your personal view on the fact that you believe all forms of credit to be inherently bad. That's simply not always the case.

Here's how it works and is reported.
1. You have a Visa card with a 5000 limit
2. You put $30.00 on your card for a tank of fuel bringing your limit down to 4970
3. You pay that $30.00 before your statement date on or around the 25th
4. Because you paid this off prior to statement date, you did not incur interest
5. CC company reports at the end of the month 0% utilization and on-time pay

In this situation you are building credit by doing nothing but making an extra payment for your card purchases. This extra payment only happens once for all payments on the card before the statement date and can be setup as an auto-draft.

If you've chosen a no fee card this cost you $0.00 and maybe a minute or two of your time. For that fee you get fraud and purchase protections, build a credit score that keeps you out of situations like the OP's, possible percentage returns on purchases, lower insurance rates, reduced or removed setup fees for utilities etc.

I know you don't like that game and that's fine, it's your prerogative. I agree it is a game and it's stupid, but if you don't play the game, you make sacrifices in other ways, like the OP is doing now. If you want to call it debt for your own rationale, that's fine, but if the OP had been doing that all along, he'd still not have paid a dime to a bank and he wouldn't be posting here wondering how the heck he's going to get the mortgage he needs on a house purchase.

 

[Buckwheat 1]

Because when I need things I pay for them. No business CC. I'm a small electrical contracting business. I have materials/ fixture packages, wire orders either sent to job sites or picked up in person. Large commercial fixture packages are generally purchased by the developer and I take a percentage to track/handle them. Any given month I'm only out of pocket on average 10k or so. So self financing the business has been relatively painless. I really have no other business expenses, A fuel account at an oil company, workman's comp, gen liability and insurance on the trucks all handled by my local insurance company. I write a check at the beginning of the year and then again when the insurance audit takes place. I have a few preferred contractor accounts through supply houses though, Balance due in full every month. It's worked for me for a few years. Ive always just tried to save a lot of money, Avoiding taking unnecessary debts etc. If I didn't have the money I haven't bought it. I didn't set out when I was younger to build a credit score I just tried to save and be prudent with my purchases.

I am a small electrical contractor also. I do the same thing as you except I have one card I use daily for gas and other businesse stuff. I pay it in full every month. My score stays between 760 and 800.

 

[13COBRA]

You can most definitely have a score with out any current debt.

 

[AustinSN]

You can not have a credit score with no debt. Can not be done. All a credit score is is effective you are at paying debt.

Yes you can have debt without paying a penalty(late fees or interest). 99.99 do not. In fact they pay out tens of billions in profits to banks every quarter.
BofA had 21.64 billion in income 3rd quarter in 16!

Fact is if you have debt you will pay more for purchases than if you paid cash. The banking profits prove it.

I was super against credit cards for a long time, the only loans I had were my mortgage and my car payment. After 5 years or so on my longest loan (mortgage), my credit score was in the mid 600s, and I have never missed a payment. It's been 2 years now that I picked up a credit card, which I pay a whopping $0.00 annually and in interest (I've never not paid off the card), and now my credit score is a 761 and climbing.

Also, the credit card pays me points, right now I think I have $180 in points, which I spend to pay down my balance every now and then.

I have less debt now than I did 2 years ago, and they are paying me for it.

 

[BigFatMatt]

Don't be stressed dude, it's way easier than you probably think after reading all these responses.

It sounds like your wife is pretty responsible with her credit cards. If so, then you're good! All you need to do is get her to add you as an authorized user on her already existing credit cards.

The great part is once you get added as an authorized user, all of her past credit experience essentially becomes yours. If she's done good and paid her bills on time, you'll pretty much instantly have good credit and you'll be able to buy that house. Within a few days you'll be able to pull your credit report and get your score.

Remember though if your wife defaults it will affect your credit. Here's an article from credit karma about it.

https://www.creditkarma.com/article/how-being-an-authorized-user-affects-credit

 

[Buckwheat 1]

That's the reason I use the card. Plus I got tired of running around with 5k in cash in my pocket. $1700 for swiping the card. The credit bump is free.

 

[13COBRA]

That's just after a 14 months... I put everything on my credit card then pay it off monthly. My average credit card bill for the past 14 months has bee $7,200.