How to Increase Your Credit Score

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Acceptance marks displayed on top left of this sign (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

In today’s difficult economy, you need to have credit to be able to get what you want. Whether you want a new car, to buy a home or even get a better job, your credit file has to look good and you need a higher credit score. There are many ways that you can increase your credit score that won’t leave you scratching your head and giving up on the whole process. It can be done but it will take some effort from you, you have to act today to have a better credit score tomorrow.

Three things that you should do right away are: check your credit file, set up payment reminders and reduce the amount of debt you have. Sound easy? It is actually. Get a copy of your credit report and review it to make sure there aren’t any mistakes. You might even see a bill on there that you have paid and can get it removed. Setting up bill payment reminders is a smart way to avoid paying late or not paying the bill at all because you forgot about it. Reducing the amount of debt you have will significantly increase your credit score and it isn’t difficult to do, pay more than the amount on your credit card bill, pay off small debts that you can afford on payday and even go so far as making a double payment on a loan when you are able to.

Some things that you can do long term to increase your credit score do take a bit more effort on your part but can impact your score in a good way. Pay bills on time, even a few days late may have a negative effect on your credit score. If you have late payments, get caught up as soon as you can and stay caught up. It may not be easy, but it will help. If you are having trouble doing so, call the creditor and make arrangements with them, you will be surprised how helpful they will be when you show that you are trying to pay. If you have multiple credit cards keep the balances low. Don’t shift debt from one card to another as this will not help your score at all and may even hurt it. The old advice about closing an unused credit card to improve your score doesn’t hold true. It will only effect your score short term, you need a long term solution to truly impact your credit score. And opening a new card or two is not a good idea either, stick with the ones you have and keep the balances low.

Improving your credit score will take time and discipline, but in the end you will see a marked improvement and you will be able to rest a little easier at night.

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Comments

One Response to “How to Increase Your Credit Score”
  1. kusum Ambardar says:

    Informative piece of writing on credits.Thanks for reminding of three things that we should do right away .Things are now easy

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