Background- I am a college student that works aprox 30 hours a week at $13hr which has allowed me to save about $15,000 if you include high school and my freshman year. While I save a lot, I do spend a good chunk on entertainment with friends ,dates, and gas.
Problem?- I don't have a credit score, and cant seem to find a good credit card that will lend to me, and feel like I am missing out on the travel rewards that could be used for flying to see friends currently enrolled out of state. Both my siblings squandered my parents generous education package and walked away with cc debt and student loans, so my parents are quite fearful and have offered little help.
Proposed solution so far by my friend, "Get a car loan and make the payments," meh 98 Honda accord runs and drives great plus it has leather.
Have you tried online? Amazon, PayPal, and some of the other online shopping companies offer pretty manageable credit cards. You could also just try signing up with a favorite store, like Macy's. Definitely don't put a lot on these cards. I usually just use mine when I don't feel like entering my debit card number; it's never in excess of what I was planning to put on my card anyway, though. I pay the balance off early, if possible, like a few weeks after it gets put on. Sometimes I even pay excess so that I have a payment in reserve. Don't buy a car if you don't need it. They tried to get me to rent a car on a long-term lease, but that makes almost no sense to me. The only way I could see that working is if I could somehow use the car to make money, like with Uber or Lyft. Now, I'm probably going to have to do something along those lines, because my current car is costing me about as much in repairs as paying car payments, so it's not really worth keeping. If yours isn't in that condition, though, there's no need to get anything new. You really don't want the hassle of paying payments.
A low-interest student loan might provide you with the credit score boost you need, but be careful. Student loans can eat you alive if you use them like most students, including me, have done. Use common sense if you go this route. Borrow only what you can pay back. Use early payments on loans to boost your credit score. It will work. Before my loans went into forbearance my credit score was excellent. It's also pretty easy for students to get loans, regardless of financial need. Treat them like any other loan, pay your debts early, and you should see your credit score go up pretty high. Mine did. Don't do like I did, though. I borrowed more than I could pay back and borrowed higher interest loans than I should have, because I didn't do my research. I was also super-shy and didn't get a job during college. I wish I had it to do over again.