What Is Your Credit Score With Nothing on the Credit Report?

A credit score is a numerical representation of your credit worthiness based on the information in your credit report. There is more than one type of credit score, and knowing your score will help you better judge what kind of credit is available to you. If you have never used credit in the past, however, you will likely have no credit score at all.

Credit Report

Everything you do as a user of credit, from loans to credit cards, gets recorded on your credit report. This report is maintained by three consumer credit agencies: Experian, TransUnion and Equifax. Each report details what you've done as a credit user, containing such information as your history of payments, number of accounts and the length of each. If you haven't used credit, you don't have anything on your report.

Credit Score

The same companies that collect your consumer credit information and include it in your credit report also use that information to create a credit score. The score lets creditors know if you are a safe or risky borrower. The score is based on your actions as a credit user, and if there is not enough data, the company cannot give you a score. If you haven't used credit before, you aren't likely to have a credit score, according to Experian.

Building Credit

Just because you don't have a credit history or a credit score doesn't mean that you will never be able to build credit. By obtaining any kind of loan, whether it is a car loan, credit card or student loan, you begin building a credit history. As you make payments on the loan, use your credit card or take other such actions, this gets included in your credit history and establishes your credit worthiness.

Improving Credit

If you want a good credit score, you have to prove to lenders that you are a responsible borrower. You do this by simple behaviors such as paying your bills on time, not opening too many new accounts at one time and limiting how much of your available credit you use on your credit cards. If you don't pay your bills on time or carry high balances on your credit cards, your credit score will suffer.