lovegem - You''re going to get a lot of VERY different advice on a subject such as this. Everyone deals with this sort of thing differently.
But you need to be careful just applying for one after another. Do some research for which are the best cards for people with no credit history. My FI is older than me and had a lot of experience with how to deal with credit and how to be careful with it. His favorite site was
http://www.creditcards.com/ - we went on there when I was starting to build my credit. We searched under the "Little or No Credit History" field on the left. I chose the Capital One Standard Platinum Mastercard, applied, and was approved. I like it b/c it''s basic and has no annual fee - definitely something you''ll want to look for unless you''re ok with paying a fee every year.
As mentioned above, Capital One''s a pretty good one to start out with. But they are a pain to deal with, and they won''t give you a limit increase. At least, they haven''t for the time I''ve had it (other cards already have).
I used that for a while and paid it off to build a little credit. After about a year, I applied for a Blue card from American Express. FYI American Express is pretty darn hard to get. It''s not one you want to try for first. The Blue is easier than a typical Amex I think, but I don''t know that much about the extent of their cards. FI used to have the standard Amex, that you have to pay off the ENTIRE balance on every month, even if it''s $5, or $5,000. The Blue doesn''t work like that - you pay it off like a normal card.
The last card I got was a Chase Visa. Chase is an awesome company to work with. Now I''ve got a good range of cards, and I don''t plan to get any other cards.
I don''t think department store cards (Macy''s, Belk, etc) or even gas station cards are necessary. I guess if you wanted to you could get a gas card. It just makes more sense to me to have a card you can put anything on.
Lastly, different people use different things, but I use Equifax.com and pay $9.95 a month for Score Watch - you get 2 free Credit Reports with that. I only viewed one when I started it, so as long as I pay attention to what you do that involves credit after that, I can get updates any time my credit score changes through them. I still have another report left to view when I want. But I really like it because it shows me how putting larger balances or applying for a new card affects my credit score. And I know what I have if I ever apply for anything else.