Needless to say, I'm sort of impatient! I have a secured card, but I won't have a score for six months (right?).
I'm sure it varies, but what range do most people start in? In 6 months, where can I expect to be, assuming I've used my card on a monthly basis, kept it under 30%, and paid the balance in full each month?
Could I be in the fair (640) range? Or the good (680) range? Or are neither of those a possibility?
Thanks in advance 
Sydney
P.S. I've been reading here a bunch. If I use my one and only credit card, across all my accounts it will show that 100% of my lines have a balance. So... should I open another card? Is it possible to get a store card with no credit (like with the shopping cart trick)? I initially applied for the Capital 1 secured card because I bank with them, but I was denied because I had no history -- and I just turned 18, so not like that's out of the ordinary.
@tothephonebooth wrote:Needless to say, I'm sort of impatient! I have a secured card, but I won't have a score for six months (right?).
I'm sure it varies, but what range do most people start in? In 6 months, where can I expect to be, assuming I've used my card on a monthly basis, kept it under 30%, and paid the balance in full each month?
Could I be in the fair (640) range? Or the good (680) range? Or are neither of those a possibility?
Thanks in advance
Sydney
P.S. I've been reading here a bunch. If I use my one and only credit card, across all my accounts it will show that 100% of my lines have a balance. So... should I open another card? Is it possible to get a store card with no credit (like with the shopping cart trick)? I initially applied for the Capital 1 secured card because I bank with them, but I was denied because I had no history -- and I just turned 18, so not like that's out of the ordinary.
Actually, Sydney, you'll want to keep your card reporting at far less than 30%. The recommened level is < 8.99%. (When a person has multiple cards, this percent refers to one's total utilization -- you don't need to keep each card at an ultra-small U.)
This point and a suggested plan was laid out for you in another thread that you started on March 4:
http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/General-Credit-Topics/Just-Starting-Out-advice-wanted/td-p/4880796
The plan I personally recommended was in post #2 on that thread. There I dealt with your other question, which was whether you should get more cards. The answer is yes, though I suggested you wait until you had a true FICO score and had boosted it via the Alliant Share Sceure loan technique.
But yes, when you have exactly one card, there's no way to escape some kind of scoring penalty. You will either get penalized for having all of your cards at $0 or penalized for having all of your cards showing a positive balance. FICO likes it best when you have most of your cards at $0 but not all of them.
This "number of cards reporting $0 vs. positive" is, however, a subtle and far less important issue than keeping your reported util very low.
PS. Adding more cards will also help you with a factor called "total number of accounts." When your total number is extremely small (like 1-2 or maybe even 3) FICO classifies your profile as "thin" and places you in a scorecard that is limited in term of how high it can go. The plan I gave you would give you four accounts in 10 months.