Using a Credit Card to Build Credit

17 November 2010 - Which Way To Pay

Using a Credit Card to Build Credit

A credit card can offer you one of the easiest ways to build up your credit history.

In most cases, you will not be approved for a credit card or loan if you do not have a good credit rating to begin with.  Yet there are a few products available even to those people whose credit scores are less-than-perfect.

Clearly, you should tread carefully when it comes to any form of borrowing if you already have debts – but do it right, and you could establish that much yearned-for credit rating.

If you already have a good history, you can still use a credit card to continue to build on it.  You can do this by opening one or two cards and charging a few items on them each month. 

Then pay the balance off by the due date, and for doing so you will earn yourself good credit.

Many credit cards for people with a bad credit history carry a special feature to allow the cardholder to improve their score.  This may involve the credit card firm sending information about your payment performance to all 3 main credit reporting agencies on a regular basis. 

This means you will need to do well and pay off your balance on time – or risk further damaging your rating.

Not sure what your credit rating looks like?  Sign up to receive access to your credit report, just look in the Credit Reports area of our site.