Tips to Improving Your Credit Score
Having poor credit can make it quite hard to get a credit card. It would also be difficult to get an apartment or a mortgage. This is something that could also put you on the hook to have interest rates that are so high. Consequently, making the loans as well as the credit lines you would have obtained much more expensive to repay. In the case where you would therefore have a bad credit score, it is recommended that you should follow the following step to help raise it. The first is to get a copy of what would be your credit reports. With regard to this, what you should know is that before figuring out how to increase your credit score, you would need to know what score you would be starting from. The reason why the first place for you to go would be to your credit report would because this is where the information regarding your credit report can be obtained. Additionally, go about ordering credit reports of the major credit bureaus. This basically would be to identify the accounts that would be needing work.
Having taken the above step, what would be advised that you should do next would be for you to dispute any credit report errors. By the rule of law, one has the right to an accurate credit report. This, therefore, allows you to go about disputing any credit report errors. To go about this, you would need to write to the relevant credit bureau. The bureau would then investigate the dispute within the relevant number of days. Take note that errors that can stem from data entry would go about hurting your credit score a great deal. This is so as they are quite interchangeable with ease. The sooner that you would therefore dispute and get any errors resolved, the sooner that you could then go about increasing your credit score. This is what you would be advised that you should do next now that you would be looking to raise your credit score and this would be for you to avoid any new credit card purchases. For such purchases, take note that they would raise your credit utilization rate. It is however best that you should seek to keep your credit utilization rate below thirty percent.
To help meet this target, it is advised that you should look to pay cash for purchases instead of putting your purchases on a credit card as this is something that would impact your credit utilization rate. As to what would be recommended that you should do next would be to pay off any past-due balances you would have. This is something that you should note and is that your payment history makes up for what is thirty-five percent of your credit score. This, therefore, makes it the most important determinant of your credit. The further behind you would be when it comes to your payments, the more this would go about hurting your credit score. You would need to also avoid any new credit card applications for this to happen.