 TITLE: Why Do I Only Have a Credit Score With One Credit Bureau? CONTENT: Building a Credit Report With All the Credit Bureaus\n----------------------------------------------------\nOptimally, you'd like to have a well-established and scoreable credit report with all three of the credit reporting agencies, eliminating the concerns about qualifying for a credit score.\nIf you do not have a credit score with all three of the credit bureaus, then it's a good idea to rectify that by establishing credit that will appear on all of your credit reports. The first step in that process is applying for credit with lenders that report information to all of the credit bureaus. This will ensure that while you're managing your loan or credit card account, the history of that account will appear on all of your credit reports and will likely qualify you for all scores calculated by the FICO® and VantageScore models.\nIn addition to applying for credit with mainstream lenders and credit card issuers, you can also employ other strategies to help you build credit. These include:\n*   **Apply for a secured credit card.** With secured credit cards, you make a deposit with the financial institution and it, in turn, will issue you a credit card with a credit limit that is equal to or close to your deposit. Before opening a secured card, be sure to verify with the issuer that it reports to all three of the credit bureaus.\n*   **Get a credit-builder loan.** A credit-builder loan is exactly what it sounds like. Credit-builder loans are small-dollar loans with a short repayment period. The loans are reported to the credit bureaus and, thus, help you to establish a credit report.\n*   **Become an authorized user.** You can have your name added to an existing credit card account that belongs to another person, such as a parent or a spouse. Most of the time the card issuer will report the history of the account to your credit reports, thus helping you to build, rebuild or establish a credit report. You will not have any liability for the debt incurred on the card.\n*   **Get credit for utility and phone payments.** Experian Boost™† is a service that allows you to add your phone and utility accounts to your Experian credit report. These accounts are scoreable entries under the contemporary FICO® and VantageScore credit score models and can improve your Experian credit score instantly. END