Has your credit score dropped recently due to late payments? Or, have you maxed out all of your available credit? Having a low credit score is bad because anytime you apply for a new loan in the future you will either be turned down or you may receive the loan, but at a higher interest rate. Why? Because when you have a poor credit score you are perceived as a high risk by financial intuitions, and that is not the category anyone wants to be in.
Thankfully there are simple ways to improve your credit score so that you can rise out of the ?poor credit? category and jump back into the ?excellent credit? category. Here?s what you need to do:
Pull, And Review Your Credit Report
When was the last time you reviewed your credit reports? Once you have them, review them carefully to make sure every detail is accurate.
Side note: If you are looking to increase your credit score, you can start off by?checking your free credit score through Credit Sesame. They provide free credit scores so that you can see what areas you should be working on. Yes, it is actually free!
Create a Plan to Pay Down Your Outstanding Credit Card Balances
It is time to aggressively pay off your balance owing on your credit accounts. Create a budget or a spending plan that allows you to pay off more than your minimum amount owing each month, and work hard at sticking to your plan.
Get Better at Managing Your Current Accounts
You would think that using multiple credit cards would reduce your credit score. But interestingly enough that is not the case if you manage your accounts well. In fact your credit score will increase if you are able to manage multiple credit cards and loans well.
You can do this by keeping the amount you owe on each card below 30% of your credit limit. For example, if you have 4 credit cards, and each of them has a credit limit of $5,000, make sure you never charge more than $1,500 per card.
Never Cancel an Old Credit Card
Some people think that the less access they have to credit the better their credit score will be.
That is incorrect.
Credit bureaus love people with old, well established credit. So if you have old credit cards that you haven?t used in a long time, for whatever reason, use them to make a small purchase, and then pay it off.
Get a Department Store Credit Card
If you?ve been successful in paying off your credit card balances but you still have a low credit score, you can increase it by adding new accounts. Seems strange, right? But by applying for and using a department store credit card or a gas station credit card, you will notice your credit score increasing after a 6 month time period.
Now of course this only works if you manage those new accounts properly. By that I mean, do not max them out and always pay them on time. Try leaving a small balance on one of them and make the minimum payment each month, on time.
By following the above suggestions you will see your credit score begin to increase within the next 6 to 9 months, assuming you haven?t made any other mistakes with your credit.
If you are interested in credit repair,?there are professionals out there who will work towards improving your credit so that you can get approved for loans, receive lower interest rates (and save thousands of dollars), and more.?CreditRepair.com?will help you create a game plan to improve your credit score, they will contact credit companies directly on their own, they will communicate with the credit bureaus to work towards making a change, and they provide an online dashboard that will help you monitor everything that is going on. It is all very affordable and will most likely save you thousands in interest fees and late charges.
