The New Year is almost here, but by the time you read this it might already be in full swing. That means that you really do need to hit the ground running. Time is the one thing that truly waits for no one.
If you’re worried about your credit, this is definitely a valid concern. There are very few things in life that aren’t affected by credit. If you want a car later or even the chance to own your own home, you will need to make sure that you are thinking about credit today. That means that you will want to make sure that you are building credit, not just paying things off and never dipping into the credit pool again. You really don’t build a good credit score this way at all, so it’s really important that you look into a tool that can really give you the better credit that you always wanted.
Secured credit cards are a great tool for people trying to start out their credit life right. They will require a small deposit, but from there you have the ability to use your credit card like normal. A lot of people assume that the money you deposit is going to be what you use in your day to day purchases. That’s not true at all. You will not even get your deposit money back until a set time determined by the issuer. For most credit card issuers this will be twelve months of on-time payments.
The best way to make sure that you are using secured credit cards to your advantage is to pay them off early. As long as you get your payment in before the due date, you’re good to go.
Make sure that you’re not maxing out the credit card in any way. This will only hurt your credit score, because it tells lenders that you’re not willing to be smart with your credit.
The more you can show lenders that you can handle credit, the more likely it is that you will get credit offers in the future.
Healing damaged credit with secured credit cards also makes sense. You just need to make sure that you get started today. Check out a few credit card offers that are secured while you’re looking around online — you won’t regret it at all!