If you have ever had a cell phone, utillity such as gas or electricity, home phone, rented an apartment or home, then you are establishing credit. When crediters pull up your credit bureau, it tells them on each of these accounts how many times you have been billed, how many times you have been 30 days late, 60 days late, etc. It tells them if it has been to collections. If you never paid. If you have tax leins. In short, they see alot of stuff. So when you do start establishing credit make sure you pay your bills and pay them on time or it will come back to bite you in the ass. If you want a credit card to buy stuff online, some banks will give you a pre paid credit card. It works like a phone card. You go to the bank and give them money and they put that balance on the card. Some people use these when shopping online because they fear getting thier credit card information stolen in cyberspace. So instead of getting a card with a $50,000 limit stolen online they use a prepaid card with $500 on it. Good luck.