Improving your credit score can seem like a daunting task. The credit bureaus claim to factor in hundreds of things and you have no direct control over your score.
Well they are wrong. No matter how bad your credit score is you can take a couple easy steps and improve it.
1. Disputing and removing bad credit items on your report. You can do this yourself or hire a service but it will help your score the most.
2. Pay off any verified bad credit item on your report. In exchange for your payment have the lender remove the item from your credit report.
3. Pay your bills on time. It is estimated that missing a payment can damage a good score by up to 50 points.
4. Open a new line of credit. You will get the most benefit if this is a revolving line of credit. We recommend an unsecured credit card.
This will also help you build a positive payment history by paying your monthly bill. However if you can not qualify for an unsecured credit card then open a secured card, but make sure it reports to all 3 bureaus.
In addition by keeping your balance at approximately 10% of the credit limit it will build the most credit. This shows that you use your credit and use it responsibly.
5. Pay down you large debts. This will help your ratio of available credit to debt. The bureaus want to see that you are not in over your head and the best way to show this to them is by having available credit.
These are the five factors you should focus your efforts on. There is however one last factor that is surrounded by controversy.
6. Piggyback credit, this is where you become an authorized user on a high credit limit credit card. The benefit is this account is now reported on your credit report and adding a tremendous boost.
This tactic has been widely abused and the scoring model has adjusted its formula to discount authorized users. However there is a debate over if this change has occurred yet or not.
In sum if you can take care of steps one through five then you will improve your score. With a high credit score your quality of life will also improve. - 16089
Well they are wrong. No matter how bad your credit score is you can take a couple easy steps and improve it.
1. Disputing and removing bad credit items on your report. You can do this yourself or hire a service but it will help your score the most.
2. Pay off any verified bad credit item on your report. In exchange for your payment have the lender remove the item from your credit report.
3. Pay your bills on time. It is estimated that missing a payment can damage a good score by up to 50 points.
4. Open a new line of credit. You will get the most benefit if this is a revolving line of credit. We recommend an unsecured credit card.
This will also help you build a positive payment history by paying your monthly bill. However if you can not qualify for an unsecured credit card then open a secured card, but make sure it reports to all 3 bureaus.
In addition by keeping your balance at approximately 10% of the credit limit it will build the most credit. This shows that you use your credit and use it responsibly.
5. Pay down you large debts. This will help your ratio of available credit to debt. The bureaus want to see that you are not in over your head and the best way to show this to them is by having available credit.
These are the five factors you should focus your efforts on. There is however one last factor that is surrounded by controversy.
6. Piggyback credit, this is where you become an authorized user on a high credit limit credit card. The benefit is this account is now reported on your credit report and adding a tremendous boost.
This tactic has been widely abused and the scoring model has adjusted its formula to discount authorized users. However there is a debate over if this change has occurred yet or not.
In sum if you can take care of steps one through five then you will improve your score. With a high credit score your quality of life will also improve. - 16089
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