Buyers ask me this occasionally — usually they have a kid or a younger sibling who’s just starting out and wants to know if they can get a credit card. The answer to “what credit score do you start with” is a bit unsatisfying: you don’t start with one at all.
You don’t start with a score — you start with nothing
Credit scores aren’t assigned at birth or at 18. You only get a score once you have enough credit activity for the scoring models to calculate one. FICO, which is what most lenders actually use, requires at least one account that’s been open for six months and at least one account reported to the bureaus within the last six months. VantageScore is a bit more lenient — it can generate a score from a single month of activity — but it’s not what most mortgage or auto lenders pull.
Until you hit that threshold, you’re “credit invisible.” That’s the technical term. It’s not a bad thing necessarily — it just means you haven’t left enough of a footprint yet.
What your first score actually looks like
Once you do have enough history to generate a score, where you land depends almost entirely on what’s in your file. I’ve seen people get a first FICO score as high as the low 700s — usually because someone added them as an authorized user on an old card with a large limit and a clean payment history. Other people open their first secured card, pay it for six months, and score somewhere in the 600–650 range. The 300 floor is theoretical; in practice, a brand-new file with no negative marks typically starts somewhere between 580 and 720 depending on the accounts in it.
The three things that matter most at the start are the same three things that matter later: payment history (never miss a payment), utilization (keep balances low relative to limits), and account age. The last one is the hard one — you can’t fake being older. Which is where tradelines come in.
The fastest way to build: authorized user tradelines
Adding a seasoned tradeline to a thin file can do more in a few weeks than years of “build it slowly” advice. When you’re added as an authorized user on someone’s credit card, that card’s full history — its age, limit, and payment record — shows up on your report as if it were your own. For someone with no credit history, the effect can be dramatic.
The key variables are the limit and the age of the card. A $20,000 card opened years ago will do more than a $3,000 card opened last year. Payment history matters too, obviously — you want a card with zero late payments. Utilization on the tradeline card itself should be low, ideally under 10%.
One thing I always tell buyers who are looking at Amex tradelines: since around 2015, Amex changed the way it reports authorized users. Instead of using the card’s original open date, it reports the date you were added as the open date. So a 15-year-old Amex card means nothing for your age of accounts — it looks like a brand-new card from the day you’re added. (I’ve had buyers pay elsewhere for an Amex tradeline expecting the age benefit and getting none of it. Worth knowing before you shop.)
The slower way: organic credit building
If tradelines aren’t in the budget, the baseline options still work — they’re just slower. A secured card (you deposit money as collateral, get a card with that as your limit) reports to the bureaus like any other credit card. A credit builder loan from a credit union or fintech does the same thing from the loan side of your file. Neither of these is fast — you’re looking at 12–24 months before they meaningfully move a FICO score — but they’re legitimate and they cost almost nothing.
The free version of the authorized user approach also exists: ask a family member or trusted friend with a good, old card to add you. If you can find someone willing, it works exactly the same way a paid tradeline does. The catch is finding the right person with the right card who’s willing to do it — most people with great 15-year-old cards also have a reasonable reluctance to hand out AU spots to anyone who asks.
What to avoid right out of the gate
A few things that trip up thin-file borrowers before they even get started: applying for too many cards at once (each application is a hard inquiry, and stacking 5 applications in a month is a visible pattern to lenders), opening accounts with high annual fees when you’re not sure you’ll use them, and anything involving a CPN — a “Credit Privacy Number.” Whatever it’s called, using a fabricated number on a credit application is federal fraud. It’s pitched to people with damaged or no credit as a workaround, and it isn’t one.
Starting from zero is actually the easiest place to start. No derogatory marks, no collections, no history working against you. The right few accounts — or one good tradeline — can move a thin file surprisingly fast.
If you’re looking for a place to start, I have tradelines for sale on this site along with a FAQ that covers the most common questions. Feel free to leave a question in the comments too.
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