The journey to get your credit score higher isn’t a sprint, but a marathon. A good score will help you quality for premium rewards credit cards and low interest loans. However, you have to take note that the process actually takes time. You may get started by checking your credit score for you to see where you stand.
- Determine Your Credit Utilization Rate
Make sure to weigh all of your balances that are relative to your credit limit. This will ensure that you aren’t using too much credit available, which is a practice that may indicate risks. If the ratio is high, it means that you will earn fewer points and your scores will surely suffer. One of the things that can influence your score is credit utilization. Your rate may differ depending on your scoring system.
- Always Stay on Top of Your Payments
Keep all of your debts in green to show lenders that you are responsible with credit. You have to take note that your credit score is a reflection of ability to pay back the debts effectively. From the perspective of a lender, established history of timely payments can be a good indicator that you will handle future debts in a responsible manner. You might like to avoid things including repossessions, defaults, late payments, third party collections, and foreclosures. It’s also a horrible idea to file bankruptcy. Anything that could indicate non-performance of liabilities will harm your credit score.
- Consider Score-Boosting Programs
The average age and number of your accounts are both essential factors to help lenders determine how good you handle debt that may leave those who have limited credit history at disadvantage. For this reason, consider score-boosting programs for you to boost thin credit profile with some financial information.
- Leave Your Old Debts on the Report
Once you get rid of your student debt or you have successfully paid off your car loan, you might be impatient to get the traces of them wiped from your report. However, as long as your payments were complete and timely, the debt records might help your credit score. It’s the same with credit card accounts. Any bad debts that might impact your credit score in a negative manner are removed over time automatically.
- Time Your Apps Carefully
Each time you apply for new credit liner, hard inquiry will be pulled on your report. This kind of inquiry lowers the score temporarily. Generally, the effects of hard inquiries may last from six months to a year. This inquiry is will be on your credit report for 2 years. Consider researching your likelihood of approval to make sure that you are a good candidate before you apply for new credit cards. You do not like to risk reducing your score for denied application. You must also refrain from applying for some credit cards within a short period of time or before you take out a huge loan like mortgage.