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by Mallory Biggs

If you know how to improve your credit score, you can imrpove your life in many ways. Since good credit expands your options in life, you should try to keep your credit score as high as possible. If a sudden expense arises such as an emergency car repair, a good credit score will allow you to borrow more money more quickly so that you can do what you need to do to fix or replace the car. You will get lower interest rates on loans with a high credit score.

Here’s a disturbing thought; Employers are among the many people who may examine your credit rating. They reason that if you are a good steward of your own money, then you are more likely to handle the responsibility of looking after their money well. If your credit is not already good, you owe it to yourself to learn about ways in which you can improve your credit score.

What is the most important way to improve your credit score? Correct mistakes on your credit report! Credit reporting agencies can and often do make mistakes, and each time you suffer the consequences when they lower your credit score. How do you make sure this doesn’t happen to you? By checking your credit report regularly. If they do make mistakes, dispute them immediately. For example, you may have a closed account that is still reported as being active. Or you may have made a payment on time that was reported as being late. These unfortunate mistakes could and will negatively impact your score, so you must keep a close watch.

You can also improve your credit score by paying your bills on time. Whenever your payment is late (or if you miss a payment), your creditor may report it to one of the three credit bureaus that determine your credit worthiness and as such, you may receive a negative remark. This lowers your overall score, making it hard for you to borrow money at a good interest rate. More often than not, the creditor will give you a chance to pay even if you’re late but sometimes, they will report you as “late” anyway, thus affecting your score. When this happens, you can still file a dispute, but repairing your score becomes far more difficult at this point.

The next technique that will improve your credit score is taught in all courses on credit repair in the US. You should have debts that are no more than 25 percent of your credit card limit or credit lines. For example, if you have a credit card with a limit of $8000, you should carry a balance of up to but no more than $2000 at all times. If you have at least 75 percent of your credit line available, then your credit score will look significantly better to new creditors.

This illustrates how many lenders have enough confidence in you to leave your credit line open. Many times, individuals mistakenly believe that a lack of any revolving debts is the best course to take to improve. Wrong, wrong, wrong; having high balance credit available to you that you have yet to use is what will interest lenders.

Obviously, paying off your debts strategically is how to improve credit score ultimately. Showing on your credit report that you consistently pay off your debt is a good thing. It is best if you have few credit card accounts with little debt but if you already opened those credit card accounts, do not just close them. You want to show that you are responsible about paying off your debts, not moving debt from one card to another card. That means it is better to keep the accounts open and pay them off one by one rather consolidate the debt into one huge card unless that card has a much higher credit limit.

Some people think that the fewer creditors they have the better their credit score would be, so they try to close as many unused credit accounts as possible. This is a huge mistake! Especially if you want to improve your credit score quickly. By removing old credit accounts, not only your debt to credit line ratio will increase, but you won’t have a long credit history to show on your credit report. And this is unfortunate considering they would have shown positive credit history, that you have been consistently paying off your debts that whole time.

The more creditors showing that you have in your name appropriate payment practices, the better you credit score will be. You can learn numerous methods of how to improve your credit score, including a few little tricks to help you. Take control of you credit and financial future today by learning how to improve your credit score.

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Tags: Credit Score

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