subject: Ways to Quickly Improve Your Credit Score [print this page] Author: ashsmh Author: ashsmh
Have you been denied a loan or a credit card? Then, it may be due to your credit score which determines your creditworthiness. This is the one number which every lender, be it your banker, or a credit card company or be it a mortgage broker etc will look at in order to see your creditworthiness and to assess whether you can pay back your loan or mortgage or your credit card bills. This number is generated and maintained by the Credit Reporting Agencies such as Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. They generate this score based on your past and present credit history like your pattern of payment of hydro bills, payment of credit card bills etc. If for some reason, you haven't been able to pay even the minimum payment on your credit card, this is one reason for your lower credit score. The lower your score, the lower are the chances that you qualify for any good deals on a loan or a credit card. Everyone who has a loan or a credit card should know that all creditors have access to this information available with the credit agencies. Whenever you apply for a credit card or apply for a loan, the credit card company or your banker goes to this credit agencies to check your credit score to see your credit history. The higher your score, the higher the chances that you could qualify for that credit card or for that loan. It's not that if you have a low score you don't qualify for a loan or a credit card. It only means that you don't qualify for the lowest rates. You may have to pay a higher interest rate. Due to the above reasons, it is your responsibility to improve your score. To improve your credit score, you need to at the first place know what it is. Nowadays, due to increase in default rates, even phone companies and utility companies are looking at your credit score before approving your application for these services. So, it is very important to know where you stand on your Credit Score. So, here are ways on how you can improve your credit score quickly. If you have an unusually low credit score, ask for a credit report from the three major credit bureaus namely Equifax, Experian or TransUnion. By doing this, you can know about your credit history and compare each report and determine if it contains errors that may be hurting your score. For example, if you noticed that a particular report contains an unpaid debt but you previously paid it, you have to immediately correct this error by sending a letter and the proof that you paid the debt in full. Errors like this will lower your credit score and affect your credit rating. By correcting this situation, you will be able to immediately raise your credit score in matter of less than thirty days. You should realize the fact that credit bureaus are responsible for correcting any mistakes in your credit report and you should also know that it is in the law that they should. The next best thing you need to do is to try to pay down the debt you have. For example, if you have a credit card payment pending, you don't have to pay all of it at once. The point to all this is to pay down your credit card debt up to the point that it will not have a balance that exceeds 50% of your credit limit. If you can't pay off in full or at least 50%, you should at the most try to keep paying your minimum payment and not to altogether stop paying. Lastly, the most important thing you can do in order to raise your credit score is to pay all your bills on time. By doing this, the creditors will not report any negative things about your credit activities. By paying your bills on time, you will be able to raise your credit score. This is the quickest way to improve your credit score. Try to consolidate all your bills meaning having the same "pay by date" so that you can remember the same and pay off all your bills at the same time. Get your Equifax Credit Watch Gold Now!About the Author:
