On a first credit card, how long until my credit starts to be affected?

I got my first credit card a little over a month ago, and am very anxious to start building my credit score up.


I have already made my first payment, on time and in full, and my next statement should be arriving within a few days.


I have heard that you have a 3-payment-cycle "grace period", in which your payment habits do not affect your credit. Is this true? Or does your credit start being affected as soon as you make your first payment?|||Creditors report to the Credit Bureaus every month. Your credit will increase as long as you continue making timely payments and keep your balances under at least 50% of your credit limit (30% is a better goal but 50 is ok). Although creditors are not allowed to report a late payment until you are 30 days late, you should still pay on time to avoid APR increases or decreases in credit limit that could affect credit negatively as well.|||if you have no credit history or little history as soon as your credit card reports you could see a boost in your fico score a few points. then over the months with payments on-time and keeping your credit balance of your credit card below 35% of the limit you should see increases about every 6 months. you should open maybe 2 more account to get your credit score really moving. |||If you haven't needed a credit card up until people have been telling you that you need one, don't worry about it. You really don't 'need' one. The only reason that I got my credit card (aside to help with my credit score!) was for emergiencies-and that was at my family suggestion. I ended up applying for a card through my bank/federal credit union. They will be easier than any other place, especially if you have been with them for a while. Make sure you have NO annual fee. Aside from that, pick and choose.





http://hubpages.com/_yan/hub/How-to-Sele鈥?/a>|||It starts reporting immediately. There's not a 3-payment cycle grace period.





Also, you may already have a credit history -- have you ever paid a utility bill or a cell phone bill? Rented an apartment? Bought a refrigerator on time payments?