How to Raise a Credit Score Quickly With 5 Easy Steps

A high credit score can help you with getting approved a credit card, increasing your credit limits, obtaining a low interest rate on your mortgage, preferred financing on your automobile loan and even good terms on a small-business loan. Whether you wish to maintain a good credit score or improve an existing one, FICO makes it very clear on which elements are used to calculate this number.

Instructions

1

Obtain your credit report. Before venturing out to improve your credit score, it is important to know your starting point. Order a copy of your complete credit report and score. You should review each account and see if the payment history, balance amounts, credit limits and comments match up with your records.

2

Dispute negative items. Negative items, such as excessive delinquent payments, chargeoffs, and collection records can have damaging impacts on your credit score. When you look at your credit report, note the negative items and see if there are any items that can be removed via a dispute process. If one creditor reported you as being late in your payments, but you can prove you were not, submit the dispute for removal.

3

Pay bills on time. Thirty-five percent of your credit score is based on your payment history. If you have a history of being late on your payments, commit to ending that behavior immediately. Over time, a consistent history of being on time with payments will boost your credit score and drown out the impact of older, negative comments and delinquent payment history.

4

Pay down debt. The second biggest factor in your credit score is how much money you owe, particularly as it relates to how much of your available credit limits you are using. This factor represents 30 percent of your credit score. Paying down your debt not only will reduce interest fees but also keep you away from over the limit fees and comments on your credit report.

5

Request new credit. Once you have taken care of the above items, do not be afraid to request new credit accounts or request credit line increases. More credit available means a lower debt to utilization ratio and more ways to spread your purchases over multiple accounts to avoid running one credit line to a high balance each month. In turn, this will help raise your credit score as creditors will view you as more creditworthy.