Yup, when building credit you gotta start small. I got a Sears card at 18 I believe, or 17. I worked my way up there... now I have credit cards with $25,000 credit limits! Not that i use them LOL buy yourself a condo if you can. most of the time its cheaper than rent, most mortgage companies will give a loan to anyone (just make sure you know YOU can handle it) and that builds up your credit the fastest! My ex had such bad credit when we bought our house we got rejected and had to plead HIS case... my credit was great so I was the primary on the house. When we split 2 years later and sold the house, his credit was near perfect in less than 2 years! Good luck sweetie!