What actually moves your credit score?
What a score is built from, why utilisation matters more than almost anything else, whether checking your own score hurts it, and how somebody with no history starts.
What is credit utilisation and why does it matter so much?
Credit utilisation is the share of your available credit you are currently using, and it is one of the largest movable parts of a credit score — which is why paying a card down before the statement date can raise your score within a month.
Does checking my own credit score lower it?
Checking your own credit score does not lower it, because looking at your own report is a soft search and only a lender running a hard search on an application leaves a mark.
How do I build credit when I have no credit history at all?
Credit is built by borrowing a small amount and repaying it on time, repeatedly, so the fastest honest route from nothing is one modest account used lightly and cleared in full every month.