Improve Your Credit Score - Things You Can Do Right Now
There are several things you can do right now to improve your credit score.
How fast this can be done is as individual as you or me, and depends on various (also individual) aspects.
Here are some tips: 1.
Know what ails thee: What caused you to be in the present situation? Whatever it is, such as divorce, poor financial management, impulse buying, decreased income, loss of employment, etc.
, should be taken care of first to avoid neutralizing your credit score improvement efforts.
2.
Know your credit score and what is on your report.
This article assumes that you already know your credit score.
If not you should order your score right away.
And not any credit score will do.
You should get the true FICO credit score that most creditors use.
Only two companies offer this score to individual consumers.
Unlike your credit report, your credit score does not come free.
3.
Start paying your bills on time from now on.
If it means using one credit card to pay another, do it (just don't make it a habit).
Keep your bills paid on time.
You would be surprised at how rapidly this one thing alone can help improve your credit score.
4.
Make sure your payments and credit limits are getting reported.
Some credit card companies are notorious for not reporting limits.
This can cause the trade line to either be ignored, or your highest balance be used as the limit.
Both scenarios could potentially hurt your score.
Contact the respective creditor and demand a correction.
One more reason you should know what's on your credit report.
5.
Reduce your utilization ratio.
Most experts agree on keeping your balance at 30% of your limit or below.
You can do this by either paying down your debts or requesting limit increase.
Requesting limit increase works only if your credit history is good.
Want in on a little secret? You could take advantage of easy to get unsecured merchandize cards.
These credit cards often offer reasonably high limits.
This can potentially give your total limit a jump, thus reducing your utilization ratio and improving your credit score fast.
How fast this can be done is as individual as you or me, and depends on various (also individual) aspects.
Here are some tips: 1.
Know what ails thee: What caused you to be in the present situation? Whatever it is, such as divorce, poor financial management, impulse buying, decreased income, loss of employment, etc.
, should be taken care of first to avoid neutralizing your credit score improvement efforts.
2.
Know your credit score and what is on your report.
This article assumes that you already know your credit score.
If not you should order your score right away.
And not any credit score will do.
You should get the true FICO credit score that most creditors use.
Only two companies offer this score to individual consumers.
Unlike your credit report, your credit score does not come free.
3.
Start paying your bills on time from now on.
If it means using one credit card to pay another, do it (just don't make it a habit).
Keep your bills paid on time.
You would be surprised at how rapidly this one thing alone can help improve your credit score.
4.
Make sure your payments and credit limits are getting reported.
Some credit card companies are notorious for not reporting limits.
This can cause the trade line to either be ignored, or your highest balance be used as the limit.
Both scenarios could potentially hurt your score.
Contact the respective creditor and demand a correction.
One more reason you should know what's on your credit report.
5.
Reduce your utilization ratio.
Most experts agree on keeping your balance at 30% of your limit or below.
You can do this by either paying down your debts or requesting limit increase.
Requesting limit increase works only if your credit history is good.
Want in on a little secret? You could take advantage of easy to get unsecured merchandize cards.
These credit cards often offer reasonably high limits.
This can potentially give your total limit a jump, thus reducing your utilization ratio and improving your credit score fast.
