Your First Card

*Information that has been added since original posting is enclosed by red asterisks.*

It's time to start building your credit. For whatever reason, you've never hard a cc before. Perhaps you've had a student loan get approved (likely because of your parents' signatures), which will definitely begin to affect your credit, but you need/want a cc now.

You can open a cc once you're 18 years old. Here are a few ways to get approved, either as an 18-year old fresh to the credit, or as a 44-year old who never opened a card:

1. Have a parent co-sign a card with you. This is different than just being added as an authorized user (AU) to your parent's account (despite getting a shiny card with your name on it). This is actually your card. They are just responsible to pay it if you don't, and their credit - which is hopefully good - factors into your approval. I have heard mixed rumors whether simply being added on as an AU to a parent's account will help your credit, so if any of you know more about that, please post in the comments!
2. Chase Freedom is known to be one of the easier cards to get approved for with little/no credit history. Definitely, not a guarantee, but it's a better bet than most cards. Freedom has no annual fee (AF), collects Chase Ultimate Rewards (UR) points on a 1 point/$1 spent ratio (like most cards do), but also has 5x points in rotating categories for each quarter of the year. For example, right now in January-March 2014, you get 5x points at gas stations, movie theaters and Starbucks.
3. Discover IT is known to be really easy to get approved for, as it's especially designed for students who have no credit history. It also comes with your TU FICO score on your monthly statement for free - one of the only ways to view your score for free (and on a consistent basis). I'm not even sure if it gives any rewards points, but either way, they aren't going to be too valuable.
4. Capital One is also known to approve basically anyone, but they will definitely pull your credit report from all 3 bureaus, which means an inquiry on all of your reports just for 1 card. Additionally, their point currency is almost valueless. I can't calculate for the exact difference, but the amount of points required for flight X will cost many times more than the same flight booked with other currencies, like UR.
5. *Secured credit cards work like debit cards in that there is a maximum you can spend before your account is depleted, but unlike debit cards, they do help build credit.*
6. Retail store cards (like GAP, Macy's, etc.) are also supposedly easier to get approved for as a first card. They definitely are not as valuable on your credit score, as I once heard a Chase rep explain to a rejected cc applicant that all they had on their report was a few store cards and that that wasn't enough for him to approve a "real" card.

That's a basic rundown of what card you should first apply for. If you get approved, use it for a few months - even just a couple of dollars a month - pay it on time, and you're credit should be strong enough to make your next move into the miles game!