Here are some tips for increasing your credit scores
Lower your minimum payments with a single call
The first thing i always suggest to those unfamiliar with credit scores is to call their creditors and ask for a interest rate reduction. Creditors usually have no problem lowering your interest rate at request as long as you are in good standing and have low balances on their accounts. However if your credit cards are maxed out and you have demonstrated consistent late payments, they will often refuse. However it never hurts to ask.
Less debt higher score
Pay down your credit cards, In short, the more you owe, the lower your credit score. Remember the more you pay, the less your monthly payment minimum will be, the less interest you will pay, and the higher your credit score will get.
The 30% rule
The magic amount you can owe on your cards seems to be 30 % . This means you should always try and keep your balance under 30% percent of your limit. For example if you have a credit card with a 1,000 limit, do not keep a balance of more then 300. What is typically reported to the credit bureus is your balance, not the amount you paid. therefore if you charge 900 on that same card, and pay it off each month. the credit bureus will not see that you paid it off each month, they will see that you charged 900 each month.
Pay on time
Always pay your bills on time. If you missed bills or are behind, get current and stay current. Always pay within your grace period. 30 day lates and 90 day lates have a substantially larger impact on your credit score then do a simple late payment during your creditors grace period.
More cards arent always bad
Do not close unused cards. The credit bureuaus often take average time of open accounts into consideration therefore closing a unused card will hurt your credit score even though it would lower your amount of liability. Instead of closing old accounts, keep them open with a low balance.
New accounts are bad
Do not open too many accounts too rapidly. New accounts will lower your average credit line account age, which will effect your overall score. Often each new account will lower your score at least 15 points if not more for a few months. After it will slowly go up assuming you stay current with all your accounts and stay under 30% of your loan limits. So stay away from opening up best buy credit cards, target credit cards, or any unessary cards. Opening a mix of accounts will not increase your score contrary to common belief. While there is no magic number to the number of credit accounts you need, it is common belief that at least 2 accounts that have been open for 3+ years will demonstrate you are responsible enough to be approved for car and home loans. Of course that is assuming no late payments.
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