 TITLE: 6 Ways to Build Credit Before College CONTENT: 5\\. Don't Spend More Than You Can Afford\n----------------------------------------\nThe next most important factor in your credit score is how much of the available credit you've been given you actually use. Your score will suffer if, say, you've been given a credit limit of $1,000 and you regularly carry a balance of $900 from month to month. Instead, plan to pay off your total credit card bill every single month.\nThat means never buying something you can't afford to cover from your checking account by the time your credit card bill comes due. Credit cards give you extra time to pay for a big purchase, but taking more than 30 days to pay it off will affect your score and cost money in interest. END