1. Get A Free Credit Report.
Getting your free credit report is the first step to take and will let you know where you stand with your credit score. There are a few ways that you can order your credit report and you need to use the one that best suits you.
In order to make sure that you’re ordering the right, and a safe credit report, you will need to provide your name, address, date of birth and Social Security number. You will also need to prove your identity by providing information that only you will know such as your monthly mortgage payment.
2. Carefully And Thoroughly Review Your Report.
Once you have your credit report, you need to check it very carefully. This step can help boost your score. Lenders, banks and credit companies can make mistakes and you need to be on the lookout for these mistakes.
If you see any accounts on your report that you do not recognize or if some of the dates do not match up, you need to contact the company in question for more details. You should also pay attention to late payments and penalties that you do not recognize and get more information. It is best to call the company to find out more than to leave a mistake on your credit report. The call you make could end up with this item being removed from your report and this will boost your score.
3. Pay Your Bills On Time.
If you have a credit score that is on the low side, you will have time to fix this and you need to take advantage of that. If you have a clear history of late payments, you need to start turning this trend around. To do this, you need to ensure that you pay all of your bills on time.
To help with this, you should opt for online payments. You can also make a note in your calendar and keep track of your bank account and spending. Any monthly bills that you have need to be paid on time and when you do this for several months, you will see an improvement in your credit score.
4. Focus On Credit Card Bills.
The interest you pay on your credit card will be the highest interest people face for any short term loans or credit. This is why you need to get your credit card payments down as soon as possible. While paying your bills on time is important, you should also keep your credit balances as low as possible. Focus on paying off high-interest cards first and only use it when you absolutely have to.
There are steps you should take with your credit card to improve your credit score. Lowering your debt and making payments faster are some of the best methods to use to boost your score.
5. Avoid New Credit Accounts.
Lenders and creditors do not like people who open new credit accounts. This is a sign that you are taking on more debt and you could have problems paying all of this off. To lower the chances of this red flag, you need to avoid opening new active credit and loan accounts. Doing this will also improve your credit score.
6. Keep Late Payments To 30 Days.
There are times when you will not be able to pay all of your debts on time. If you are in one of these unavoidable situations, you will need to keep your late payment to 30 days. This is important as many creditors and lenders do not report any 30-day late payments to the credit reporting agencies. However, these companies will report any payment that is 60 days late.
Have A Credit Score Objective.
After checking your credit report, you should set a credit score goal and aim to meet this. If you have a score of 620, you are on the line between bad credit and decent credit. In these situations, you should aim for a score of 670 within 100 days. You can do this by paying down your debt, avoiding any new debt and reviewing all of the items on your credit report regularly.
Avoid High Credit Card Balances.
A lot of people overspend and will see their credit card balances rise. The problem with this is that credit card reporting companies penalize people with high balances. Ideally, you should keep your balance to around 30% of your available credit. This means that if you have $3,000 of available credit, you should have a maximum balance of $1,000. There are a few ways that you can maintain this and paying down your credit card debt is a good option.
