Pick right card to build credit history

It’s not always easy to get a credit card if you have little or no credit history. But it is possible.

You’ll likely have to get a card that is priced for higherrisk consumers. Cards in this credit category tend to have lower credit limits, high interest rates and even annual fees. You won’t get approved for cards requiring good credit.

Look for a card that reports to the three major credit bureaus, has no or low fees and a reasonable interest rate in case you carry a balance from one month to the next.

You won’t build a better credit history with one issuer over another, so focus more on the costs of the cards you’re comparing. Consider:

• Store or gas credit cards. These cards tend to have high interest rates and low credit limits but are easier to qualify for than generalpurpose credit cards. Unless they carry the logo of a card network such as Visa or MasterCard, however, these cards can only be used at that particular merchant or group of merchants.

• Secured credit cards. These cards require a cash deposit as collateral in case you default, but you can often graduate to an unsecured card after a given period and get your deposit refunded at that point. On the downside, secured credit cards come with an annual fee, and the deposit amount usually determines the credit limit. Some secured cards charge other upfront fees as well.

• Bad credit unsecured cards. These cards don’t require a deposit but they tend to charge high interest rates, annual fees and other upfront fees in some cases. Make sure to read the fine print.