I ran across mention of this website while skimming through a personal finance book at Barnes & Noble. I don’t remember the book title but as I recall, it was aimed primarily at African-American female readers. It seems that this is another consumer credit reporting agency, but unlike the Big Three they can potentially report on whether you pay ordinary bills on time, such as your rent, your utilities and your phone bill.

It’s free to set up your account and free to get reports but they may ask to verify that you are an account holder with any of these entities and that would cost you money. I don’t know how much because I haven’t tried them yet. Alternately, you could sign up for one of their partnered online billpay services in lieu of verification, which I guess costs less or nothing.

I’ve been putting off trying them out because it seems like I’m late paying utilities most months but they’re worth a shot to someone just starting out, especially if credit cards make you nervous.

A secured credit card.

Typically offered by your bank, you agree to “freeze” a portion of your savings equal to the limit on the card. Make purchases on the card and pay them off each month, and after a year it will roll over into a regular unsecured card and the bank will “unfreeze” the money from your savings account.

Also, if you have an apartment, or a car, get renters / car insurance. I think that helps as well.