@Retired_EngineerSome of this credit report stuff is so irritating. My incredibly responsible parents, only carried over a CC balance 1 month their whole lives, due to oversight during a crisis. They had zero debt, no mortgage and their car insurance was increased because their credit score went down because they had so few credit references.Â
@MarT: You should work with your parents and get a current credit report. A bad incident can stay on your credit record for up to 7 years. You can appeal one bad issue and they may clear it from their report and Score. You would need to do that at all three reporting agencies. However, if they are like me, I only have my credit card so that's my only credit reference, even though I've had an impeccable record up until I payed off my house. My daughter was going to consolidate two of her student loans earlier this year and the credit company would not let me be her cosigner since my credit references/Score were so low.I knew building a credit history was important back in college. I bought Debbie's engagement ring on credit and made sure I paid promptly each month. Then in my third year of college, I got a pre-approved credit card offer from Amoco. (Us old-timers remember when each oil company had their own credit card). I kept that Amoco card for a long time and used it but made sure I paid it off each month. A few years after I graduated from college, I had a credit card from each major oil company, a Sears CC, a VISA, a Master-Card, and some other individual business credit cards. My wallet was about 2" thick! As just about everybody started accepting VISA, I closed all the other accounts.
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