 TITLE: How Can Cell Phone Bills Help Build Credit? CONTENT: Building Credit Beyond Cell Phone Bills\n---------------------------------------\nAs your cell phone payments work to your credit scoring advantage with Experian Boost, consider additional methods to hike up those numbers. Some effective start-up ways to build your credit are:\n**Open a secured credit card**. These cards work the same as unsecured credit cards, but to open a secured credit card, you offer a cash deposit which typically equals the credit line. Pay the bill on time and in full and the issuer will send all that fabulous activity to your credit reports.\n**Try a retail credit card**. Some department and big box scores have less restrictive credit requirements than major credit card companies, so getting an unsecured retail credit card and using it responsibly will push your scores upwards. Be sure to pay off your balances every month, as retail cards often carry high interest rates.\n**Have a creditworthy friend to cosign**. If you can find a trustworthy—and trusting—person who has a good credit rating to cosign on a loan with you if you need cash. Once you have the loan, make all payments on time every month. Take this responsibility seriously, since the co-signer will be on the hook for any payments you miss.\n**Ask to be an authorized user**. Almost all credit card issuers allow account owners to assign authorized users. If a friend or relative makes you one, you may charge with a card imprinted with your name, and the account should be listed on your credit reports. (Make sure this is the case, as card issuers don't always automatically add authorized users.) The owner makes the payments, not you, so if that person sends them on time (and doesn't get into deep debt), your scores will benefit.\n**Obtain a collateralized loan**. If you have a thin credit file but want to borrow money, look into secured loans. Because you pledge an asset that the lender can claim if you default, the lender takes less risk, making some of these loans easier to qualify for than their unsecured cousins. END