Ask HN: How can a college student build credit?

Re:Ask HN: How can a college student build credit? by tjr on Monday June 30, 2014 @01:14PM (#7966201)

It's been some years, so I don't recall exactly, but this is probably correct. Nevertheless, the point remains: my inadequate credit score mucked with my options here.

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Re:Ask HN: How can a college student build credit? by joelmbell on Monday June 30, 2014 @04:36PM (#7967539)

Your inadequate credit score prevented you from being able to get a form of debt. Nobody is arguing thats not true.

And yes, cell phone subsidies are a form of debt because you are paying back the price of the phone built into the 2 year contract. If you buy the phone upfront then you can go month to month without needing to be tied into a contract.

So my point is consistent, if you plan on living debt free, the FICO score is being given way to much attention.

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Re:Ask HN: How can a college student build credit? by tjr on Monday June 30, 2014 @06:01PM (#7968005)

This all makes sense. Regrettably, the Verizon salesman did not explain it to me this way, and presented it as a penalty due to my low credit score. It seemed believable, too, because it wasn't that interesting of a phone. This was in circa 2002; $100 seemed like a decent price for the phone I was trying to buy -- $600 did not.

Oh well. Thanks for your comment!

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