[j_mo]

That's odd, I got a mortgage approved at 19yrs old, in the UK, with no credit usage/history whatsoever. I had a credit card but I'd held it for about 3 months at the time, and have never used it to this day.

Only since then have I actually had anything on my credit report (monthly broadband payment, phone contract, monthly car insurance payment because I didn't want to keep paying the whole 3k up front every year after moving out, etc) and despite that the score has remained unchanged.

[cjrp]

What was the loan to value though?

[j_mo]

100%

[cjrp]

Wait.. they loaned 100% of the property value to someone with not much of a credit history?

[j_mo]

Yes, a few banks now offer 95-100% LTV mortgages for first time buyers.

In our case, the bank required a savings account containing a 10% deposit in the name of a family member, which is returned to them with interest after 3 years (unless you fall into arrears). ~50% of that money was our own savings and the rest was from parents savings, which allowed us to get on the property ladder with ~1yr less saving and no cost to our families after the 3yr period.