Need to boost your credit score?
Unfortunately, a credit score isn’t like a race car, where you can rev the engine and almost instantly feel the result.
Credit scores are more like your driving record: They take into account years of past behavior, not just your present actions.
In addition to making the right moves, you also have to be consistent. A few easy steps can push your score in the right direction.
Here are seven simple ways to improve your credit score.
Watch those credit card balances. One of the major factors in your credit score is how much revolving credit you have versus how much you’re actually using. The smaller that percentage is, the better it is for your credit rating. The optimum: 30 percent or lower. To boost your score, “pay down your balances, and keep those balances low,” says Pamela Banks, senior policy counsel for Consumers Union.
Leave (good) old debt on your report. Some people erroneously believe that old debt on their credit report is bad, says Ulzheimer. The minute they get their home or car paid off, they’re on the phone trying to get it removed from their credit report, he says. Negative items are bad for your score, and most of them will disappear from your report after seven years. However, “arguing to get old accounts off your credit report just because they’re paid is a bad idea,” he says. Good debt – debt that you’ve handled well and paid as agreed – is good for your credit. The longer your history of good debt is, the better it is for your score.
Use your calendar. If you’re shopping for a home, car or student loan, it pays to do your rate shopping within a short time span. Every time you apply for credit, it can cause a small dip in your score that lasts a year. That’s because if someone is making multiple applications for credit, it usually means he or she wants to use more credit. However, with three kinds of loans – mortgage, auto and more recently, student loans – scoring formulas allow for the fact that you’ll make multiple applications but take out only one loan. The FICO score, a score commonly used by lenders, ignores any such inquiries made in the 30 days prior to scoring. If it finds some that are older than 30 days, it will count those made within a typical shopping period as just one inquiry. The length of that shopping period depends on the credit score used. If lenders are using the newest forms of scoring software, then you have 45 days, says Ulzheimer. With older forms, you need to keep it to 14 days.
Always pay bills on time. If you’re planning a big purchase (like a home or a car), you might be scrambling to assemble one big chunk of cash. While you’re juggling bills, you don’t want to start sending bills late. Even if you’re sitting on a pile of savings, a drop in your score could scuttle that dream deal. One of the biggest ingredients in a good credit score is simply month after month of plain-vanilla, on-time payments. “Credit scores are determined by what’s in your credit report,” says Linda Sherry, director of national priorities for Consumer Action. If you’re bad about paying your bills – or paying them on time – it damages your credit and hurts your score, she says. That can even extend to items that aren’t normally associated with credit reporting, such as library books, she says. That’s because even if the original “creditor,” such as the library, doesn’t report to the bureaus, they may eventually call in a collections agency for an unpaid bill. That agency could very well list the item on your credit report.
Other tips:
- Eliminate ‘nuisance balances’
- Don’t hint at risk
- Don’t obsess
