8 Ways You Can Improve Your Credit Score
-
Verify all of your accounts are correctly reported to the three major bureaus. If you find inaccuracies, you should challenge the errors. Here is a link containing all the information needed to dispute an error. http://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0151-disputing-errors-redit-reports
- Pay down all credit card or revolving debt balances as close to zero as possible.
- Negative items on a credit report are a credit score killer! Act quickly before an account becomes delinquent. Talk to your creditors to see if they have programs that provide temporary relief.
- If your credit report contains negative items (i.e. accounts in collections), allocate financial resources to resolve the most recently reported negative events first.
- If you have a limited budget, negotiate for what credit professional call "payment for deletion". In this type of agreement, the creditor agrees to mark your credit report positive after receiving the final payment on the remaining balance.
- Protect yourself - ALWAYS ask for a deletion letter when negotiating payment or settlement of negative events or collection accounts.
- Add positive trade lines to your credit report. We recommend establishing three credit cards and use them responsibly. If you are unable to qualify for traditional unsecured credit card, start with a secured card.
- Never close credit accounts randomly. Closing the oldest account on your credit report could cause your credit history to appear shorter, which may actually harm your credit score.
Get more details about how to repair your own credit scores on our Credit Education page.
