I just got a secured card from my bank in the interest of getting my credit score out of the toilet. I put a $500 limit on it which I think will allow me to get what I want accomplished. I will be using it exclusively for bills and paying the balance off in full every month. My questions revolve mainly around credit reporting. I want to get the fastest return possible as far as credit score improvement goes.

What is the best percentage of available debt to be using? Is sub 30% good or should I try to use it a bit more? I understand I should pay only after the statement is issued so it reports right? Is it also good to let a small balance rollover every once in a while to make sure things are getting reported? If so, how much and how often? Are there any tips that can help me maximize my efforts using this method?

Thanks in advance! I only wish I knew about this place when I was getting out of High School!

Speaking from personal experience, never put more than 30% on the card ($150 if the limit is $500) and pay it off each month after you get the statement.

With one secured credit card, following that rule, I went from a 612 to a 756 in a little over a year. I deal with credit reports on a daily basis, and that is the single best way to get someone's scores up in the quickest amount of time.

Hope that helps.

This is some great info on raising credit scores with one credit card. Thanks a lot for the info, I will try this out as a means of raising my credit score. Are credit cards the fastest way to raise your credit score? Or can Pay Day Loans be helpful also? Which is better for raising your credit score quickly? Thanks in advance.

Good for you my friend. Just join this forum and want to share my views .

So who did you get the secured credit card from? Wells Fargo? What are the requirements for this account? Do they report to all 3 credit bureaus?

I'm trying to help my sister build credit.

I just got my deposit back from Wells Fargo, I started a secure credit card last year and have been up graded to a non secure visa card.

They do report to the credit bureaus.

That is awesome Fantasma! Was it hard to qualify? My wife will need to do this eventually too. She has no credit. I have great credit. Depending on how we end up buying a house it will be important for the wife to have established credit.

If she has no credit, you should be able to get one from your local bank (whoever you bank with). 5+ years ago, when I needed to rebuild my credit I was denied by the bank I banked with for 10+ years because their secured credit card was "for establishing credit, not rebuilding it".

I ended up going with Orchard Bank (was a division of HSBC) but they have recently been bought by Capital One, and no longer offer a Secured Credit. Capital One does, and that may be an option as well.

Normally there shouldn't be much to qualifying for one, as you have to give them a deposit, so if you don't pay, they take your deposit.

I don't think so; I have two a visa and a master card. The master card after three months they raised my balance.

Some places will let you do set up a "two for one" deal. Here's the idea:

You apply for a small personal loan ($500 to $1000) with a short payback, like one or two years. You then use those funds to open a secured credit card. If you talk to someone in the loan department they can usually use the same credit pull for both. This way, you have two accounts, one revolving and one installment.

This will cost you some money in interest, but it will give you a little credit mix to get yourself started. While credit mix isn't a huge part of your score, it helps. As your accounts age things will only get better. Keep your utilization below 30%, and if you want the best score, people with more time on their hands have figured that having one card reporting from 1-9% will give you the best results.

Someone above mentioned secured cards that "graduate". This is definitely something you want to look for. Not only do you get your funds back, but you get to keep the age of the account, which is good for the long term.