Key Takeaway: If you don’t have a credit score, it’s probably because you don’t have enough recent activity in your credit reports. About 7 million Americans don’t have a credit score, according to a 2025 report from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, citing its most recent data. But there are a number of ways you can get a score in as little as one to six months.
You may not have a credit score if you haven’t used credit yet or if you’ve been paying for purchases only with cash for a while.
Having no credit score can be inconvenient because you’ll typically need a score to qualify for credit cards or loans. But you can generate a credit score using common tactics like reporting regular bill payments to the credit bureaus, opening a credit-builder account or secured card, or becoming an authorized user on someone else’s card.
- Why don’t I have a credit score if I have open accounts?
- How can I get a credit score?
- Is it bad to have no credit score?
- How long does it take to build credit?
- Next steps: What is a good credit score?
- FAQs about having no credit score
Why don’t I have a credit score if I have open accounts?
Even if you have open credit accounts, you may not have a credit score if there’s no recent activity on your accounts or if the businesses you opened the accounts with aren’t reporting them to the credit bureaus.
To get a credit score, you need to have credit activity from the last two years or the last six months, depending on the scoring model. If you opened a credit card or a credit line a few years ago but haven’t charged anything to them recently, the credit scoring companies may not be able to calculate a score for you.
Businesses that extend credit aren’t required to report accounts to the credit bureaus. If a lender isn’t reporting your account activity, or if it’s reporting payments to one bureau but not the others, that account might be missing from some or all of your credit reports. As a result, the credit scoring companies might not have enough information to calculate your scores.
Even if you don’t have credit scores yet, you may still have credit reports if accounts you’ve opened were reported to the bureaus at some point in the past.
What is a thin credit file?
A thin credit file is a summary of your financial history that lacks sufficient information to calculate a credit score for you.
If you have credit reports but they contain little data because you haven’t opened credit accounts or haven’t used credit recently, you might have a thin file. You could also have a thin file if you recently moved to the U.S. because credit history from another country may not appear on U.S. credit reports.
In some instances, a person may have a thin credit file if name or address changes have caused their credit history to be split between multiple credit reports.
Learn more: How to get a credit score as an immigrant
How can I get a credit score?
You can get a credit score with several tactics, including paying regular bills that get reported to credit bureaus or opening loans or credit cards with businesses that report your activity to the credit bureaus.
How to build credit with regular bill payments
Using a bill reporting service may be helpful for building credit. These services report your payments on bills like rent, utilities or cellphones. If you don’t have a long record of payments on loans or credit cards, bill reporting is an alternative way to strengthen your payment history. For example, Credit Spark™ from Credit Karma allows you to report up to five bills to TransUnion for free. The service also reports up to 18 months of previous on-time payments.
How to build credit as an authorized user on a credit card account
Another option to build credit is to become an authorized user on the credit card of someone you trust who makes on-time payments. There’s no credit check to be named as an authorized user, and you’ll benefit from the cardholder’s positive payment history without taking on any debt yourself.
Just make sure that the card reports account activity to the credit bureaus under the names of authorized users. Otherwise it won’t count toward your credit history.
Open a credit-builder account
You can also establish credit with a credit builder loan. The lender typically holds your loan funds in a locked savings account, and you make payments each month until you’ve paid up to the amount of the loan, plus any interest and fees. The lender reports those payments to the credit bureaus and releases your funds to you once you’ve paid the full amount.
Similar to a credit-builder loan, Credit Karma’s Credit Builder plan can help you build a track record of on-time payments. This plan allows you to contribute to a locked savings account until you reach $500, when your money is then transferred back to you. Each contribution is reported as a line of credit payment to the three major credit bureaus — Equifax, Experian and TransUnion — which can help you build a positive payment history.
Open a secured credit card
A secured credit card can help you build credit history — but to open an account you’ll need to make a deposit. That deposit typically serves as your credit limit, and as you use and make payments on the card, the card issuer reports your activity to the credit bureaus.
Just be sure to shop for a card carefully. Not all secured cards are equal. Some may charge annual fees or have other fees and costs.
Is it bad to have no credit score?
If you don’t have a credit score, you may encounter roadblocks to borrowing money, renting an apartment or finding affordable car insurance.
Lacking a credit score doesn’t mean you’ve done anything wrong. You may have no credit score because you simply haven’t used credit yet or because you’re new to the U.S.
Having no credit score is different from having poor credit. If you have no credit score, there is little or no information in your credit files. Having poor credit means that your credit reports contain negative information, such as missed payments or defaults.
And having no credit score is not the same as having a zero credit score. Credit scores from major scoring companies typically range from 300 to 850, so these scores are never zero.
How long does it take to build credit?
If you don’t yet have a credit score, it can take a year or more to build credit. However, you can generate your first credit score much faster than that.
You may be able to generate VantageScore credit scores, such as the VantageScore® 3.0 credit scores you see on Credit Karma, with just one month of credit history on one account, and you may be able to generate FICO® scores after six months of history on one account.
Moving your scores into the good-to-excellent credit score range often requires displaying good credit-building habits — like making consistent on-time payments — over the course of a year or longer.
How long it will take you to build credit, however, will also depend on what’s currently on your credit reports. Derogatory marks on your credit reports, such as late payments or accounts in collections, could make the process take longer.
Next steps: What is a good credit score?
A “good” credit score is a score in the 661 to 780 range under the VantageScore 3.0 model or in the 670 to 739 range for FICO® Score 8 and FICO® Score 9.
A good credit score is worth aiming for as you build credit over time. Regularly check your credit reports and scores to track your progress. Make sure to dispute any errors you find on your credit reports to keep your momentum going.
Credit Karma provides free credit monitoring, and you can check your VantageScore 3.0 scores and reports from TransUnion and Equifax for free as well.
FAQs about having no credit score
You generally need a credit score to borrow money because credit card issuers and lenders typically check your scores before approving cards or loans in your name. They also use your scores to decide what interest rates to charge.
A thin credit file is a record of your credit history that doesn’t contain enough information for a scoring company to determine your credit score. Possible reasons for a thin credit file include not having enough open credit accounts and not having any recent credit usage.
Immigrants in the U.S. can begin building credit by using a secured credit card or signing up for a bill payment reporting service that reports rent, utilities or cellphone payments to one or more of the credit bureaus. If someone with an established payment history adds you as an authorized user on a credit card, that can also contribute to strengthening your credit.
Paying all your bills on time each month and using no more than 30% of your available credit are some of the best ways to strengthen your credit profile. Consider using a bill reporting service so that payments like rent and utilities count toward your credit history, too.