Earlier this week I did a post on ways that having good credit can help you save a good bit of money. Since then, I’ve received some questions from people about credit. One of the main problems people are facing is that they simply don’t know how to establish credit. Below, I’m going to go over some ways that you can establish credit, so you can start building your credit up. With proper management, you’ll be able to not only establish credit, but you’ll be able to establish good credit and maintain it. That way, you save the most money.

Ask a Family Member or Friend to be an Authorized User on their Credit Card

Now, I know this is something a bit out of the ordinary and it’s a tough question to ask someone, but you have to obtain credit somehow. Take a step back and ask yourself which family members and friends you have that are financially stable and are trustworthy. Once you have someone picked out, you should ask them if you can be added as an authorized user on their account.

Of course, this is a big question and you may get rejected, but it’s worth a shot. Just explain to them that you’re trying to establish credit and that you don’t even want to make purchases on their account. Tell them that you don’t even want a credit card or any of their info. This is one of the easiest ways to start building credit.

Have Someone Co-Sign a Loan For You

Now, this one is going to be really tough, because there’s a lot of risk involved for the person that co-signs for you. If you would happen to stop paying on the loan, your co-signer would be responsible for the remaining balance, so most people won’t co-sign for other people. If you know someone that has good credit, you could ask them to do this for you and agree that you will stand by your word.

Sign up for a Credit Card

This one is going to be a little bit tough, because not many credit card companies are going to risk giving someone with no established credit a credit card. However, companies like CapitalOne are usually willing to take the risk. Starting off, however, you’ll probably be on a very strict credit line and you will also have high interest rates. This is good, because you won’t be able to rack up a ton of debt, but it’s also bad, because you’ll pay high interest rates. If you’re going to get a credit card, you should pay off the balance every single month, so you can avoid interest charges.

Get a Store Credit Card

It’s much easier to get a credit card at a store than it is to get a general credit card from someone like Discover. I would highly suggest that you don’t get a store credit card to splurge on things you don’t need. Instead, you could get a store credit card for a place like Walmart and use it for things you were already going to purchase that month, like groceries.