Comment from James S
Time July 27, 2009 at 10:30 am

In six months from now you will have established nine months of on time payments on two separate credit lines. This should be enough to get a car loan that fits within your budget, provided you have a steady job and can put some money down on the car.
Good job on being proactive about building good credit at such a young age. It will continue to pay you dividends as your life changes and more opportunities arise.
The site below has lots of useful information on understanding credit and the ways you can improve it.

Comment from D J
Time July 27, 2009 at 3:30 pm

No. You need to build credit. I suggest you go to a credit union and see if you can join. You can start with a savings account and save for the car. Then borrow against the savings, leaving them in the credit union as a guarantee for the loan. You can do the same with a bank. A secured credit card is not that great for your credit