Your First Credit Card Is The Beginning Of Your Financial Responsability

Credit-card issuers want you as a customer. Go ahead, respond to one of thise solicitation that comes in the mail (or compare deals online at www .creditcards.com). If the bank where you currently have a checking or savings account issues credit cards, be sure to apply there. Or apply for a retailer or local department store credit card. Such cards are exceptionally easier to get, and you can build up a good credit history in about 6 months to a year by making sure you pay your bill on time. Then apply again for a one of the more popular cards like MasterCard or Visa.

If you run into any problems with your application, apply for a secured card, which will require you to make a savings deposit equal to the credit line which is available when you apply.

After 6 months to about a year, the issuer should upgrade you to unsecured status. That way, you can qualify for a lower interest rate and a higher credit limit without ever adding money to the savings account. And there’s positive news for young people who haven’t established a long-term credit history. Fair Isaac, the company that created the relentless FICO credit score, has developed a new FICO Expansion score to determine the creditworthiness of people who have little or no information on file with the three major credit bureaus—Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. Instead of using credit-card history and mortgage payments to calculate the score, Fair Isaac picks up other data—for example, whether you pay your electric bill on time and maintain a clean checking account. So twentysomethings who pay rent on an apartment should have a better chance of getting credit on good terms.