[indelibo]

I'm a student and have been using a debit card for about 2 years. My first credit card came in today and I have a $700 credit limit. What is the best strategy to improve my credit score as fast as possible? Obviously, I should never run into credit card debt. But should I pay all my monthly balance at once at some specific time or should I pay immediately after each credit card purchase? How often and how much should I spend with my credit card each month? I am not a big money spender and my parents give me cash anyway. I can very easily not use my credit card at all but I'm guessing that I should use somewhere between 0 and 50% of the credit each month just to increase my credit score? So should I pay in full or pay a little bit more than the minimun payment? I have heard both are good, but for 2 different things: one, if you always pay in full you get an excelent statement on your credit report from banks, it will also improve your credit score or give you the best possible; two, if you dont pay in full your credit card limit is likely to increase as a convenience to the bank because they see possibly gain in money from you. I have also heard that it is good to have less than 50% of the total limit charged to the credit card at a time. But what if you have more? How badly will it affect you? or will it affect you at all?