Having a “Good Mix of Credit” is basically ten percent of your FICO score – so what does that mean exactly? Contrary to popular belief, it does not mean that you should have an AMEX, Visa, MasterCard, and Discover Card. Instead it means that you should have different types of credit lines open to improve your credit score.

This holiday season, retailers may nudge you a little harder to sign up for their store credit cards. Perks could include discounts of 10% or more on your first purchase and introductory offers that allow you to delay payments, interest or both.

Part of rebuilding your credit is proving that you can pay your bills on time. If your bad credit episode left you without any credit cards, you’ll have to open new ones.

Just in case you’re not familiar with USAA, it’s a large financial services provider that’s been around since 1922. I’ve been looking at their credit cards and the USAA Secured Credit Cards really caught my eye.

As record numbers of Americans suffer from identity fraud while banks and merchants are getting hacked, the credit-card industry is providing a new security system for the cardholder. Retailers, banks and card companies are moving from magnetic strips on credit and debit cards to a chip and PIN card system, which is used in Europe.