Get a credit card with a high limit, keep the balance low and use the credit card to establish a credit history or boost a low credit score. Remember — the more available credit on a credit card, the better.

Having more than one credit account can boost your credit score. If possible, strive for at least three good accounts.

While on a shopping spree, you open credit-card accounts at several of your favorite department stores to snap up discounts of 10% or 15%. You’re saving a bundle, but you may be chipping away at your credit score.

Minimum FICO credit score requirements for store credit cards are different for approval from store to store. While credit card companies do not disclose their credit requirements, we can estimate credit requirements for a particular card based upon surveys of previous applicants’ experiences applying for the particular credit card.

CoreLogic and FICO partnered last year to offer lenders an alternative credit score for more predictive scoring, which includes data previously not used in credit scoring, from a borrowers cell phone bill, utilities, payday loan activity, to child support judgments, evictions, property tax liens, the status of homeowner’s association dues, whether or not a borrower is underwater on their current home, or whether a borrower owns other properties that credit agencies typically miss.