How To Make Your FICO Numbers Go UP

Do you know how to go about improving credit score? If you don’t have a good score, it can affect everything from whether you can get a home mortgage to whether you can land a good job, so it’s important. Many people don’t know how to go about improving credit score though.

Improving credit score has several factors. The first is paying your bills on time. When you are delinquent on your payments, you get dinged on your score. If the account goes into credit, your credit score can take a dive. If you have missed payments, get current as soon as possible because the older the debt, the worse your score is.

You should also know that just paying off a collection debt will not remove the mark from your record. It stays on your report for seven years. However, it is marked as “closed” which will help you qualify for new loans.

When you are having problems making your payments, contact your lender. They may have a program to delay your payments. You can also talk to a credit counselor at a non-profit debt counseling center who can help you with your options when you are behind on your bills. Either of these options is better than letting your bills spiral out of control.

The next item on improving credit score is to stay on top of your accounts owed. You should keep your balances low on revolving credit like credit cards. If you have a high credit utilization ration, it can affect your credit score.

Don’t move your debt from credit card to credit card. Instead, work on paying it down. In fact, consolidating debt on one or two credit cards can actually lower your credit score. On the other hand, don’t open a bunch of credit lines just to lower your credit utilization ratio.

You should apply for credit only as you need it. Don’t play games with your credit in an attempt to raise your credit score.

Another factor in improving credit score is how long you have had lines of credit. If you are a new borrower, there’s nothing you can do about this. Many young borrowers think they should open a lot of new accounts right away. This is a mistake. Rapid account buildup makes you look like a risky borrower.

If you are going to look for new lines of credit, focus your search within a limited amount of time. That’s because loan applications within six months count as one “pull” against your credit. But, if you spread your search over a year, you can have multiple “pulls” on your credit report which will do nothing for increasing score. Requesting and checking your credit score will not affect your overall score though.

If you have had problems with your credit, you should re-establish your credit history by opening new accounts responsibly, and paying them on time.

And that’s how you go about improving credit score.