ESTABLISHING OR REBUILDING CREDIT WITH A CREDIT CARD

A credit card is one of the best means of establishing or re-establishing credit. Whether you have recently experienced bankruptcy or are merely trying to establish a good credit history, a credit card displays that you can pay a bill in a timely manner. Two great credit cards for establishing or rebuilding credit are the Orchard Bank MasterCard^®and the Aspire Visa.

Here a few tips that will help you develop and maintain good credit through the use of a credit card:

Establish a monthly spending limit. More importantly, once this limit is set, make sure you abide to it.
Shop as cautiously with a credit card as you do with cash.
Try and pay your credit card bill in full, and on time every month so that you can keep finance charges to a minimum.
Stay away from making monthly credit card payments that you can not afford. If your balance is high, make a payment that fits your budget and avoid making additional charges on the card.
If you use your credit card to pay for everyday expenses (i.e. gas, groceries, etc.), make sure you pay your balance in full every month.
Never throw out any of your charge slips you receive from credit card use. You want to be able to compare these slips with your statements so that you can check for mistakes. If a mistake is present on any of your statements, call your credit card issuer immediately.

We also recommend examining the page 'Help Choosing the Right Card for Your Needs' before applying for a credit card.

Credit Card Basics:
- Pros and Cons of Credit Cards
- How Credit Card Issuers Make $$
- Shopping for a Good Interest Rate
- Credit Card Cash Advances
- Problems with ATM/Debit Cards
- Advantages with ATM/Debit Cards
- Credit Card Record Keeping
- Tracking Billing Errors
- What is a Billing Error?
- Fixing Billing Errors
- What is a Stop Payment?
- How to Prevent Identity Theft
- Pre-approval Credit Card Offers
- Safeguarding Receipts

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Why You Should Check Your Credit Before Applying
Establishing or Rebuilding Credit with a Credit Card
Help Choosing the Right Card for Your Needs
Credit Card Guide for Students