Key points to hit:
1. Apply for a secured card RIGHT AWAY. A secured credit card is a Visa or Mastercard which has a savings account attached to it. This savings account is funded by you at the time you apply for the card and the amount of money you put in the account dictates how much credit will be given to you. If you put in $1000, you will have a limit of $1000 on the card. You can find a list of providers here:

http://www.cardweb.com/perl/cardlocator/survey/secured

2. At the same time, apply for a department store credit card. If you are turned down at this time you should not apply again until you have had your secured card for at least 3 months. Each time you apply for a new card it will slightly decrease your credit score. You have to knock the score down a little before you can begin to build it back up.

3. Determine the limit of each card. Spend only 20% of that limit each month, but do this every month and pay it off every month in full.
Example: Card has an limit of $1000. You track your spending until you get to $200. Then stop spending. When the bill comes, send in full payment immediately. Wait 1 week. Then begin spending your $200 again. Do this for each card you have.

4. About 3-4 months after doing this, you should apply for a non-secured credit card. You can go to cardweb.com to find one with a low annual fee. Since you are going to pay it off in full each month, do not worry too much about the interest rate. Once you receive this card, you should use the same 20% strategy outlined above.

With these 3 cards in place for another 3-4 months, you will now have sufficient trade lines and credit history to boost your score into a range which will allow you to secure a mortgage at a very good interest rate. After 6 months, I would suggest going to this website and pulling your credit report.

https://www.annualcreditreport.com
Be sure to order your reports from all 3 agencies. At the time you order the reports, we suggest that you also pay for all 3 of your scores at that time. The scores are around $5 each for a total of $15.

Another quicker option can be found here:
https://www.truecredit.com