1. Check your limits. Make sure your reported credit limits are current vs. lower than they actually are. You don’t want it to look as though you’re maxing out the plastic each month. If the card issuer forgot to mention your newly bumped-up credit limit, request that this be done.
2. Get a credit card. Having one or two pieces of plastic will do good things to your score – if you don’t charge too much and if you pay your bills on time. In other words, be a responsible user of credit. Can’t get a traditional card? Try for a secured credit card, taking care to choose one that reports to all three major credit bureaus. And if you can’t get a secured card, you might ask to.
3. Pay bills on time: The largest component of your credit score (35 percent) comes from your payment history. Therefore, the more bills you pay on time, the higher your score will be. Are you sitting on a stack of late bills? Start by tackling the oldest ones, advises Dough Roller contributor Abby Hayes. “Accounts that are 90 days late will have a bigger negative impact on your score than those that are 60 or 30 days late,” she writes. “So pay off the most past-due accounts first, and gradually catch up on all your payments.”
Just one late payment can damage your credit score 20 points or more, so take preemptive measures.
4. Clean Up Your Credit Report. According to some statistics, as much as 80 percent of consumer credit reports have an error or inaccuracy that can cost 5 to 50 credit points. Check your credit report for errors. Once the mistakes are wiped from your history, your credit score will show the effect within a month.
5. Diversify. If you're someone who's only had revolving credit, your score may get a boost simply from getting another type of loan -- a personal loan or a car loan, for example. While you shouldn't rush out to get a loan simply to bring up your score, it's not always a bad thing to have a loan on your record. The lift your score may receive from a richer mix of credit on their credit report can, in some cases, outweigh the negative pull that comes from opening a new account.
2. Get a credit card. Having one or two pieces of plastic will do good things to your score – if you don’t charge too much and if you pay your bills on time. In other words, be a responsible user of credit. Can’t get a traditional card? Try for a secured credit card, taking care to choose one that reports to all three major credit bureaus. And if you can’t get a secured card, you might ask to.
3. Pay bills on time: The largest component of your credit score (35 percent) comes from your payment history. Therefore, the more bills you pay on time, the higher your score will be. Are you sitting on a stack of late bills? Start by tackling the oldest ones, advises Dough Roller contributor Abby Hayes. “Accounts that are 90 days late will have a bigger negative impact on your score than those that are 60 or 30 days late,” she writes. “So pay off the most past-due accounts first, and gradually catch up on all your payments.”
Just one late payment can damage your credit score 20 points or more, so take preemptive measures.
4. Clean Up Your Credit Report. According to some statistics, as much as 80 percent of consumer credit reports have an error or inaccuracy that can cost 5 to 50 credit points. Check your credit report for errors. Once the mistakes are wiped from your history, your credit score will show the effect within a month.
5. Diversify. If you're someone who's only had revolving credit, your score may get a boost simply from getting another type of loan -- a personal loan or a car loan, for example. While you shouldn't rush out to get a loan simply to bring up your score, it's not always a bad thing to have a loan on your record. The lift your score may receive from a richer mix of credit on their credit report can, in some cases, outweigh the negative pull that comes from opening a new account.