As soon as you turn 18 you can become eligible to apply for a credit card. If you are denied because of your age, marital status, racial background, sex, religion, national origin, or any other discriminatory factors, it is important to insist on your rights. It is the job of any financial institution to disclose why you were denied for credit.  In most cases this is a result of a lack of credit history. 

 
Having a solid understanding about credit and how it affects your rating is critical. This will affect all financial decisions throughout your adult life. Check your credit report regularly to verify its correctness. If any error occurs, make sure to report it to the three major credit reporting agencies as soon as possible.

Info Found on Your Credit Report

All credit lines and loans will be listed on your credit report. As a result, this document can be a source of benefits or problems depending on how you behave financially. Some of the data you can expect to see include:

• Promptness of Payment for Loans
• List of Credit Cards Accounts and Balances
• Auto Loans, Student Loans, and Mortgages
• Financial Behavior Regarding Rent & Utilities
• Total Outstanding Balance
• Amount of Credit Available

Protecting Personal Data

Identity theft and credit reports are closely intertwined. For example, when a fraudster gets access to your credit report, it is almost assured that you’ll have problems. This is because the report will contain sensitive personal and financial information. To ensure your protection, never give out your address, phone number, and credit card number through the internet or phone unless absolutely necessary. 

Legitimate websites can be trusted. However, there are a lot of phishing scams (fake websites that are designed to look like the original for the purpose of misleading users and stealing their personal information) that you need to be aware of. With that being said, you should be careful in verifying the security of the web page. This can be done by checking the URL; anything that starts with “https://” is located in a secure server while “http://” is a public one. Also, the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) certificate is an indication that the webpage you’re visiting is secure. The best free online credit report companies will always use secure urls. 

Avoid using your credit card number as a means of identification or verification. You will have to use it to pay for the service, but you should NEVER have to use it as a means of identification.  Once a fraudster gets a hold of this information, they can obtain credit and make purchases under your name.