Are you worried about your low credit scores and how you can boost your credit score fast? You’re not alone; many people are looking for ways to improve your credit score quickly.
A higher credit score means building up the confidence of financial institutions in your ability to pay loans or your credit card.
The best part is with a higher credit score; you will enjoy low interest on your loans.
Keep reading to find out dead simple ways to achieve a better, if not an excellent, credit score.
1. Pay Your Bills on Time
Paying your bills on time is an effective strategy for raising your score. Late payments will cost you. They can last on your credit report for up to 7years.
If you miss the payments for 30 days and above, communicate with your creditor and have a plan to make payments as soon as possible this way, they may consider excluding the late payment on the report.
Some creditors won’t include the report; however, make your payments without delays to avoid hurting the score.
Setting a reminder will help you avoid missing payments; adopting automatic payment methods will help you cover the most payments.
Payment of bills plays the most prominent role in determining your credit score when working with VantageScore or FICO.
Adding positive credit to your account will improve your score significantly; the best part is the impact of late payment fades with time, depending on how many days you were late with the payments.
2. Report Errors on Your Credit Report
When you acquire your credit report, look at it carefully and ensure that there are no mistakes.
Some of these mistakes include a late marked payment while you paid it on time when your report is mixed with someone else and an outdated negative report.
A single mistake on your report affects your score immensely. Once you note any mistake, report it.
Even if the process of disputing the errors may take plenty of your time, it is worth it. It will improve your chances of acquiring a larger loan.
If you need a mortgage, make sure you resolve the disputes early enough.
Some credit companies act fast on correcting the errors to improve your score. The credit bureau takes up to 30 days to respond to the complaints.
3. Boost Your Credit Score Fast by Adopting a Payment Strategy
To attain a low balance for reporting by your card provider to the credit bureaus, you must implement a strategy.
Using 30% or less of your limit is a great idea; the lower the credit utilization raises your score; for example, people with excellent credit scores use less than 7% of their limit.
Your credit utilization is vital to your score. For a low credit utilization, set a reminder on your card to notify you once you reach a specific limit.
A good payment strategy highly influences your score. It will lead to a good credit report to the bureaus and boost your credit score fast.
4. Request for Higher Limits
A higher limit on your score reduces your entire credit utilization, and your balance remains the same.
Talk to your credit provider, and they will advise you on how to get a higher limit. Try to avoid hard inquiries that drop your credit score points.
Once your provider reports the higher limit, your credit utilization will lower, provided you avoid using up the extra advantage on your card.
5. Have an Extra Credit Account
An extra credit card will improve your credit. Consider another type of card apart from the one you have.
The new card can help where you have a loan; it will improve your credit score by reducing your credit utilization by availing more credit.
However, before getting the extra card, think about what and how to pay the fees and interests if the card is strictly for improving credit.
The card starts benefiting you immediately after the credit bureau approves it.
6. Consider a Secured Credit Card
A secured credit card is a great way of rebuilding your credit.
It allows you to make a cash deposit as a backup; once you make the advance payment, the deposit acts as your credit limit. It means you can use it just like your typical credit card.
Despite improving your credit score, the card mostly helps you in timely payments and keeps your balances low.
The card adds more positive information to your report and allows you to correct mistakes such as delayed payments you made on the other cards.
7. Be Added as an Authorized User
This idea works well for newbies.
It only requires a relative or a friend who has a better experience with their card to add you as an authorized user.
For example, if you have a new card with a credit limit of $2000 and your monthly usage runs to about $600, it means you are using 30% of your credit limit, thus a higher credit utilization. If your dad has a credit card with $20000 with a bit of usage, you will love the fall in your credit utilization if he adds you as an authorized user.
Before considering an account to be added to make sure it reports to the credit bureaus.
Note that you don’t need the account holder’s personal details such as their account number or credit card to improve your scores.
8. Pay Off Collection Accounts
Dealing with all your collection accounts reduces the threat of being sued for failure to pay the debt.
You can agree with the collection agency to stop reporting any debt payments.
The good news is the latest FICO and VantageScore allow you to remove the collection accounts; after reporting the paid-off status to the credit bureaus, the scores benefit much.
However, if the negative mark on your credit report is significant, convincing your collecting agency to stop reporting the account might be a big deal.
9. Limit new Account Applications
As much as you would like to have additional credit accounts to boost your credit file, more accounts may lead to a hard inquiry that affects your score.
The average age of your credit card is reduced when you have additional accounts; this may compromise the scores.
Even if accounts and inquiries are minor factors affecting your score, you need to be cautious and reduce the number of new applications you make.
Final Word
All the tips above will help improve your score. However, there is a need to be patient with each process. Remember there is no limit for time to rebuild your credit. It all depends on what is affecting your score. Establish the cause and work on it, and before you know it, you will be ranking at an excellent credit score.