When I turned 18, I moved out on my own. I was always told that I needed good credit just in case I ever needed to use credit. I took that advice and tried to open a personal loan near my home. My thought was that to build credit, I had to get credit, so I applied for a small loan. And I was turned down for having nothing on my credit report.
I was so confused. I asked the lady how I could get something on my credit report if I could not get credit. It seemed crazy to me, and after talks with many people, I learned that most finance companies would rather loan to those with a history of not paying their debts than to those with no credit history. I stewed for days over what I thought was a twisted policy.
After work one night, I decided to stroll through the local mall and ran across a beautiful necklace that I wanted. I asked if there was a layaway plan. The saleswoman told me that they had layaway but suggested I sign up for store credit instead. I applied, got approved, purchased the necklace, and made the monthly payments until I paid it off. It was a small credit and not the type of debt I had planned to take on, but I was able to build my financial future on that $100 store credit.