The best thing you can do for your credit in your 20s

The Deserve® EDU Mastercard for Students is no longer available for new applicants.

Your 20s signify a decade of many changes: graduating college, starting your career, moving into your first apartment. With so much to juggle and a lot of adapt to, it's easy to feel like the years fly by.

But while you're young it's important to carve out time to establish a strong financial foundation. More than just learning the dos and don'ts of saving and spending, you should also understand the importance of credit.

Having good credit will open many doors for you down the road, such as qualifying for the lowest interest rates on a new car loan or a future mortgage on your first home. Though the latter may seem far away, the earlier you start building credit the better. In fact, your credit history — or the length of time you've had credit — makes up 15% of your credit score.

The easiest way to do build credit, and the best thing you can do for it in your younger 20s, is to open a credit card and pay off anything you charge on it in full by every monthly due date.

When you pay off your balances completely by the time they are due, your credit report will show that you are capable of paying back what you borrow and don't spend above your means. Lenders and issuers will then see you as less of a risk to lend money to and it will be easier to qualify for more credit in the future.

There are credit cards made for all types of consumers, even newcomers.

While beginners shouldn't expect a high credit limit on their first credit card, note that good payment habits can keep you on track to graduate to a card with higher spending limits.

Since you have very little credit history starting out, the credit cards you'll be able to most easily qualify for are called secured credit cards. These cards differ from traditional, or unsecured, credit cards in that they typically require cardholders to make a security deposit upfront that is equivalent to their credit limit. This deposit, which is usually $200, acts as collateral in case you don't pay your bills each month. The good news is that many issuers let you graduate to a traditional credit card once you show you can use a secured card responsibly.

A basic secured card with one of the lower interest rates (if you carry a balance, which we don't recommend) is the Citi® Secured Mastercard®, which we ranked as your best low-interest option from a major bank. Though there is the typical $200 security deposit upfront, this card comes with no annual fee.

Not all secured cards require as much as $200 upfront. If you have a good enough credit score, you may qualify for a lower deposit starting at $49 or $99 while still receiving the $200 credit limit with the Capital One Platinum Secured Credit Card (see rates and fees). The card also has no annual fee (see rates and fees) and cardholders are automatically considered for a higher credit line in as little as 6 months with no additional deposit needed.

And if you are a student currently enrolled in school or planning to go back, college student credit cards can be an even better choice because they are specifically catered to your spending. Some ofer rewards on supermarket purchases, like with the Citi Rewards+℠ Student Card, and others are open to applicants with no credit history whatsoever, like the Deserve® EDU Mastercard for Students. (The Citi Rewards+℠ Student Card is no longer available for new applications).

See Select's ranking of the best college student credit cards here.

Information about the Deserve® EDU Mastercard for Students, Citi Rewards+℠ Student Card has been collected independently by Select and has not been reviewed or provided by the issuer prior to publication.