How to successfully use a secured credit card?

I'm a college student and I recently purchased a secured credit card. For the past 5 months of having this card, I've paid off the balance almost immediately after it showed up on my credit statement (I use online banking). But I want to know if this is the most effective way to build credit, or should i leave a balance and just pay my minimum? Which is more effective at building a higher credit score. Please help, any input is welcome, positive or negative.|||What you are doing now is the most effective way Paying only the minimum is best for the bank, but not for you.|||pay off everything every month is better, but really it's not what amount that you pay matters the most, it's if you pay it on time matters most, never have late payment and don't use your card to close to or over 75% of the limit, go close to or over your card limit will have a negative impact on your credit score, credit scoring system is a very complex system and many factors will effect it, therefore I wouldn't go excessively trying to figure out how to work the system and get the highest score, as long as you have a good score, it's enough. Just pay bills on time, don't carry a large balance( and if you can pay it in full every month, why wouldn't you? why would you want to pay interest just so you think you can get a better score)... and you will be fine.|||None of the above. Carrying balances does absolutely nothing special to improve your score. It just costs interst. Nor does paying online immediately after making the charge. Some credit cards will actually refuse online payments after 3 or 4 payments per month.





The best way to handle any credit card is to use it and pay the balance in full by the statement due date. You build good payment history and save interest. You also get to take advantage of the interest free grace period between the purchase date and the statement due date.