All loans and credit cards have an affect on your credit score. Failure to use your credit cards responsibly will reduce your credit score and increase your interest costs.

A responsible use of credit is paying off your credit cards each month. Another example of using credit responsibly is using it when you need it only.

Responsibly pay your debt, or arrange repayment terms and hold to them.

The best way to establish credit is to use credit, then pay it off responsibly. You can apply for some credit cards which have no annual fees and a low interest rate. Being on time with payments also helps.

Your credit score relies most heavily on the most recent 12 months of activity. Therefore, the best strategy will be to continue using credit responsibly and demonstrate a history of credit worthiness.