What can I do in order to not ruin my credit?

I just got my very first credit card mailed today and I have activated. My account is through 1st Financial Bank and it has $150 on it. I am kind of scared to use it in fear that I might owe an shitload of money and ruin my credit score :(. Any ideas on what I can do?

Don't spend more than you have, simply as that really.

@pyrogram: Agreed.

Apply scissors to credit card

Then spend what you earn

Stay under 30% (45 dollars) utilization and pay your payments on time every time. That will generate positive credit score.

If you have high ultilization and or don't make your payments you will get bad credit.

After that just wait. Getting good credit takes time. Young people don't have good credit generally

Also I would highly recommend the Credit Karma app if you're interested in learning about and or improving your credit. Its great.

Not asking comic book nerds for advice about it.

Best way to build your credit would be to just use the card for a few small purchases each month(like an amount you are sure you could pay off each month) and do so. That will build your credit score. Only charge what you are sure you can pay off each month.

In getting the credit card, you just made half of your first big mistake (I believe that I advised against this in earlier posts in different threads, most recently a year ago, approximately). In hindsight, I should have never fallen for that trap. If you use the credit card, make sure you have a dependable/reliable source of income that's more that $150; just think of the $150 as a 30 day advance that you should pay back in full at the end of 30 days; your second mistake would be planning on paying the minimum credit card balance; don't fall for that, please; either have enough to pay it off in full, at any given time, or, don't use the card at all.

Plus, in what you're probably thinking, your personal credit will never give you a significant balance; for a significant balance, what you're thinking of is business credit; and, with business credit (or even significant personal credit), what you want to plan on is spending your credit on income producing assets instead of expenses. I could explain further, if you PM'd me, as that advice is something that lots of people want/need to know who are considering starting a business from home.