Credit Reports and How To Raise Your Credit Score by:Alan Turco
In this article on credit reports, we will talk about credit scores
. Specifically, how to raise them. After reading my first article, About Credit Reports, you should have ordered your credit reports, looked them over and picked out all the bad stuff. Now you want to know what to do to raise your credit score.
Ok. First things first.
Your credit score is deemed by the following:
Payment History 35%
Balances owed in relation to your high credit limits (utilization rate) 30%
Years of credit built up 15%
Number of credit inquiries 10%
Type of credit 10%
Knowing that your repayment history is the most influential part of your credit score, you need to pay your bills on time. I know it sounds fundamental, but paying on time is instrumental in getting a good credit score. If you are behind, catch up. If you cant catch up, get help. And then pay on time! If you started paying all your creditors on time for 12 straight months, you could raise your credit score 50 points or more for just that one creditor.
Along that same line, all the bad payment history you have in your report needs to come off your credit report. I know what you heard. The same thing touted by run of the mill consumer advocates (usually ones born with a silver soon in their mouths with never a credit problem), banks and credit bureaus: Only time can erase bad credit from your credit report, or You have to wait 7 years (or 10 for bankruptcy) for your bad credit to come off.
Simply not true! That will be a whole other article, but for now let me say, by federal law, ANYTHING on your credit report that is misleading, erroneous, obsolete or unverifiable HAS to be deleted. There is no way around that. Its the law!
Anyway, a series of disputes and other methods of credit repair and restoration are proven to get negative information off of your credit report BEFORE their 7 or 10 year statute of limitations is up. The more negatives you get deleted, the more your score will raise.
Another way to raise your score is concerning the balances owed on your credit cards and loans. In general, using any more than 40% (30% is better) of your available credit, will hurt your credit score. 30%-40% or less will help it. If you are in position to, pay down your balances on each of your open credit accounts to at least 40% of your available credit. So, if you have a $1,000 limit on your credit card, you should show a balance of no more than $400.00.
If you do not have the money, maybe you can do some credit card shuffling if that makes sense in your particular situation. If not, just pay down as quickly as you can.
The one factor with your credit score that you have no control over is your years of credit built up. Basically, the more time you have been in the system, the more, theoretically, you've proven yourself and you are seen as a better credit risk. If youre young (right out of school) or have not had much credit in your life, you will just have to wait it out.
Inquiries. Inquiries show up on your credit report as a result of you applying for credit and the creditor pulling your credit report (making an inquiry) into your credit report. Although counting for only a relatively small percentage of your credit score, it is still seen as a negative if you have too many inquiries. Especially if those inquiries are not followed up by the creditor with an actual extension of credit.
More than a few inquiries in a year make you look desperate to the credit scoring software. With that said however, only these types of inquiries count against you. There are other types of inquires which are conducted for promotional purposes to solicit you for credit offers, jobs or insurance products or even when you pull your own reports, that do not count against you.
One more little known tidbit as stated in my list above: The type of credit you have can influence your credit score. Mainstream credit granted by banks for instance, if paid on time, will do wonders for your credit score. However, if you get credit from a finance company (HSBC, American General) or some other 2nd or 3rd tier credit grantor, you could hurt your score.
With that said though, I need to say this as well. Sometimes, especially when you are building or rebuilding your credit, its the only credit you can get. In that case, just pay the bill on time each month, and all things being equal, you will be okay.
So to sum up. You can help raise your score in the following ways:
Pay your bills on time
Never go more than 30-40% over your available credit
If you have limited credit, get some and build it over time
Dont apply for too much credit in a short period of time.
Choose wisely who you are getting credit from. Banks and other conventional lenders are best.
I will continue to bring you articles on credit reports as we move forward. So stay tuned and I hope you got something out of this.
About the author
Alan Turco is a passionate consumer advocate with over 20 years experience in the credit and debt industry. Alan believes that "Everyone Deserves a Second Chance",and has built his company's mission statement around that. You can visit the company website at
http://www.TurcoFinancialGroup.com.
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