be careful about applying for credit - too many inquiries and no one will give you credit. Call the credit card you have and get them to increase it over time versus applying for other cards very often. Inquiries stay on for 2 years. I think credit information is at least 7.

Do you know about annualcreditreport.com? There are three credit agencies. I always recommend to people that they put it on their calendar to rotate every four months (because you get only one free per credit agency per year. For example:

July 15 - Experian
November 15 - Trans Union
March 15 - Equifax
July 15 next year - Experian, and so on.

You can pay someone to monitor your credit, but doing the above only takes a few minutes and you are much more familiar with what and when stuff is reported. You can see the old stuff fall off. I put a reminder on my work calendar to remember.