If you were given a credit limit of $300+ and paid no deposit, you have a regular Fingerhut card.
With a regular FH card, which you likely have, you can pay it off (PIF) right away, if so desired. Doesn't matter to FH - do what works best for you. However, for anyone with FH Freshstart, it's very important to not PIF - pay the balance down to zero over about 6 months or so, and it should upgrade to regular.
Fingerhut is among the best cards out there for rebuilders that's reasonably priced, considering the large risks they're taking. Approving applicants with lots of baddies and FICO scores low as very high 400s / low 500s (mine were 507-513 with zero active credit lines, tons of baddies and charge offs; approved for $400 regular). Despite the losses, FH doesn't resort to annual fees, monthly fees, etc like most sub-prime non-store cards do (ie. Credit One, First Premier, Verve, etc). Fingerhut absorbs some of the risk by charging more for their products, but often the price difference, while certainly noticeable, generally isn't totally off the deep-end; use of coupon codes / promos greatly help when shopping FH.
Bottom line, as already pointed out, Fingerhut is among the best ways to start out; getting a score boost.
