If you have credit cards, very simple--and all it takes is one.

Use it for at least one thing a month--something you have the money for, like one prescription a month or a utility bill, and set that money aside--don't spend it, then pay your credit card bill when it comes--immediately. You've got the money. That's a double bonus on the credit--you've paid both the utility company and the credit card's bank in full, on time.

Now, if you can't pay it in full, there's a new law that shows you how long it will take you to pay it off and how much it will ultimately cost you after fees and interest. ALWAYS PAY AT LEAST THE MINIMUM PAYMENT. That way, they know you're breathing and didn't just run up a bill you don't intend to pay. I got screwed for 7 years and then some--in college, they had credit card applications in the bags from the bookstore. (I think that's against the law now.) I had ONE card with a limit of only a few hundred dollars but by the time they kept adding fees, that was seemingly all I was paying each month.--the amount due wouldn't go down.

Now, well after paying each of them off (plus a utility), I've got four cards with a total available credit line of over 10% more than my most recent annual salary. One goes to the pharmacy, one is on file with the phone company for auto-bill, one is on file with electric & gas companies for auto-bill, etc...I just have to pay the credit card companies.

Now, for the future business advice: I work out of my house and for business, I only buy what is necessary . I have a PC, and even though I've found it online as low as $219, that cute little 8.9" Acer Aspire is going to have to wait until I see a little dough-re-mi. Which means that if I'm going to be typing this answer, I'm at my desk, not on the couch or in bed. I did spend money on an office chair--the chair I had got broken in a move. I bought a floor sample from an office supply chain, and it's perfect.

I never bought a fax machine or a printer, either, because I didn't need them. I'm in public relations, I'd just started consulting and literally in the middle of the night I started with a fax number from http://ringcentral.com ...and in five minutes, I was in business. The 7.95/mo (billed annually, or $95.40) I spend on that number , which can send out as well as receive, is less than I would have paid for a fax machine and paper, toner, ink, roller (they even have those anymore?)...and that one business now relies on it 100%.

I had plans for the toll-free number, which never panned out, but somehow just renewed it anyway at about $100.00/yr.

Now, the wi-fi network I needed--there's no other internet connection in my home office, so I had to wi-fi the PC to use my rocket-fast cable internet.

He can get a business phone number for free NOW one of two ways: either through http://google.com/voice or http://phonebooth.com . With Google you can even dial out from that number--just log into your voicemail on the phone.

Phonebooth allows up to 50 extensions on one number--and you set the extension numbers to whatever you want them to be--and with their "Find me-Follow Me" feature you can set it to ring a string of numbers then go to voicemail--or just go right to voicemail (Google Voice has a similar feature) If you try phonebooth, I suggest adding a user and playing with that account--don't mess up the admin account like I did and have to close it and start over.

Borrow $100 from the bank. Put it in savings. Draw interest. Repay the loan in two months.

You can build good credit by having credit cards which are paid on time. Try to never put more on a card than you can pay off at the end of the month, but most importantly just pay at least the minimum payment by the due date. Even one late payment can hurt your credit score.

I prefer to have just a few credit cards that I like to use regularly and pay off regularly. Try to keep the balance that you carry on your cards to be as low as possible. High amount of debt is also detrimental to your credit score.

I never close an account. Even if I never use the account, I keep it open just in case I would need it and also when I talked to my financial advisor, he said it's always better for the credit score to keep an account open. Closing the account may make it appear to creditors that you cannot pay your bill. I didn't quite understand that since you cannot close an account with a balance on it, but that was what I was told.

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apply for a credit card (low interest, no annual fee). use it sparingly at pay of full balance each month. Apply for unsecured personal loan from your bank. Even if loan is small; an "unsecured" is the best credit you can have from a credit scoring standpoint.

A Bad credit can make it very hard or even impossible for a person to do anything that has to do with money , such as buying a house, financing his or her education, and even getting a good job. A good credit history is very important and one should aim at retaining a good credit score and be responsible with whatever money he owes.
Here are some tips on how to have a good credit history:

* Always Borrow what you can pay back
It is always better to borrow only what you are sure you can pay back. When you do this at all times, you would realize that you would find it difficult to get into excessive debts and future creditors and lenders would see you as a responsible borrower and would always be willing to give you the money you ask for.

* Avoid Starting with more than one credit card
It is no news that many first-time credit card users love to have a lot of credit cards in their purses, especially within the first few years of acquiring credit. You should avoid this because, the higher the credit you have, the more you spend. Practice with just one card and see how far you go with it.

*Always pay off your balance on time and in full
The value of your credit score depends highly on the timeliness of your payments. If you pay up your balance in full and at the right time, you would fall into the good books of future lenders and creditors. This would increase your credit score and improve your credit history.

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I remember how I did it and it's worked out very well. The first step I took was to sign up for a secured credit card. Capital One offers a secured card, as do several other companies. Once you begin using that card and paying it off every month, you can try and get an unsecured credit card after several months to a year. I personally feel it's important to have cards from Visa, MasterCard *and* American Express, but that may not necessarily make a huge difference. If you can get an Amex Card later on though, I think it does say something positive about your credit and should be viewed kindly by banks.

One other tip is to get different types of cards. Once you have one or two general credit cards, it can be helpful to get a department store credit card or a line of credit. This shows that you use a variety of different types of credit products. This strategy has worked very well for me.

What was hard for me when I started out was to get someone to loan to me. It is generally easiest to start with department store credit. Get a Wal-Mart card or Victoria's Secret and pay it off every month in full. It's easy enough to do if you use the card to buy just one gallon of milk or something like that. After a year you will start to receive offers from Visa, Mastercard, Discover or Amex.

A small bank loan that you pay back right away is a good idea if your bank will loan to you. More and more the larger banks don't relate well to their customers and loans are harder to get.

If all else fails get a "secured" credit card, and pay it off every month in full. After a year of history with them you can close it for a normal credit card.

American express is relatively hard to get, so if you qualify, get it and don't use it.

After some history with that get a car loan or a mortgage. The important thing is to pay on time and not have outstanding debt.

Having tons of cards all maxed will establish a BAD credit history, something that ought to be avoided.

Forego extra credit cards and pay your BILLS! This one is not complex. Pay them and pay on-time. Don't get loans you know you can't pay back. There is nothing complex here.

The best way to build a healthy credit score is by having a good payment history. If you have a credit card or multiple, be sure that your monthly payments are on time. This shows lenders that you are responsible and you appear less risky in their eyes. Not only can one payment be a hindrance to your credit score, the late payment may also result in a late fee and an increase of the annual percentage rate on the card.

Another way to boost your credit score is by having a very low percentage of your credit card balance(s). I currently have a service called Privacy Guard which provides me with my credit scores each month and they recommend that using only 10-15% of your available credit will net positive results. Anything above 25% may appear that you’re taking on more debt than you can handle which decreases the chance that lenders will offer you a loan.

Please note there are a variety of ways of boosting your credit score but these were the first two that came to mind when I saw the question. Hope the information is helpful.

Building a good credit history is about being prompt and in communication.
What they don’t tell you is that keeping employed is the biggest key to building a good credit history.
My parents weren’t really that concerned with explaining how credit worked. They did what they did and I hadn’t a clue. And my credit was really good up until my divorce, then it went to hell in a hand basket.

I managed to make enough money over the years to pay my bills on time, a few times late because paychecks didn’t show up, but all in all before I was married I had a 900 credit rating.
Then I got married and he was a skinflint and I could not pay my small bills. Nothing major, mostly books. Little did I know that he had put all of the utilities in my name and while he said he was paying them, he wasn’t.
So there went my credit worthiness.
When I divorced him he was supposed to pay his bills and a few of the joint bills and he was supposed to allow me to pay mine. However he stole my identity and put his bills and a few credit cards, that I never applied for in his name, leaving me with the bill.

A few rules I found out through legal departments were:
Make sure you keep your identity a secret
Once a year get a credit report and make sure the debts on there are legitimately yours.
Pay your bills on time and if you cant CALL and talk to the company you owe money to. More than likely they will work with you.
If you cannot make a full payment, make an effort to pay something legitimate on your bills.
Don’t go into debt for more than you can afford.
If you current job is not working to make enough to pay your bills, contact either a debt settlement or consolidation company. Sure you will ruin your credit rating for a little while and get out of the hole. But you can work to get it back up.