When will I have enough credit history to buy a car?

I recently moved to California, and I got my first bank account. However, I don't appear to have any credit, and I therefore can't use my nonexistant credit to buy a car, or pretty much anything else? The strange thing is, that I did have some sort of credit which allowed me to get a phone. Can anyone tell me when I will actually have some sort of credit available for buying a car?

You'll have enough credit when you have a credit history. To build a credit history takes time, and purchases made over time. If you get a credit card, spend money with it...but pay it off, always, fully, on time & spend only what you can afford.

Then, once you've been doing this for a bit, eventually, you can get more credit. The minimum you need is about six months worth of credit history to be able to get a credit score, which is what most companies require to do financing (say, so that you get the credit score you need to buy the car you're looking for...)

hth,

thedude.

You can probably get a loan without too much credit history. The interest rate will be higher though.