How do credit companies expect us to establish credit when they make it difficult for us to do so?

It is good that you are trying to get this in order while still young. I had to go about it in a very difficult way in my 30's because I had bad credit, then for many years no credit. To buy a house, I was able to use alternative credit (which simply was showing that we paid all of our bills on time for 2 years). After we bought the house, it was much easier to get credit and build up our credit scores. The last time I checked it was 805. This is from having a lot of debt, house payment, student loan, a couple of closed credit card accounts, a couple of open credit card accounts, and a home equity line of credit. The more debt you have, the better your score, as long as you don't run up to your limits. My daughter, who I can trust, was able to use us to co-sign (this is a great way for young people to start their credit in a good direction but your parents have to be able to trust you can pay your debt because their credit is on the line too). There is a simple quiz that www.myfico.com offers to estimate what your credit score is, even if you know your score, this little test will give you an idea of what the score is based on. 11% is a good rate, I would take it. I'm paying nearly 9% on my line of credit which is what I bought my car with.