Tuesday, October 8, 2013

How To Improve Credit Score - A Checklist

By Patricia E. Beeson


If you have poor credit and want to do something about it, it's usually just a simple matter of following a specific step-by-step procedure that will ensure a relatively quick and hassle-free improvement in your credit score (also known as your FICO score). But it is important to have a plan in place and not just get your current credit report and start making phone calls to the companies that have reported derogatory entries on your report. Here's a simple checklist for how to improve credit score:

Request your free copy of your current credit report. Federal law mandates that every person is entitled to one free copy of their report from each of the three major FICO reporting agencies each year. Everyone should take advantage of this and stay current with all of the items on your FICO report. This way you can be proactive and quickly remove any inaccuracies (which occur more often than you might think).Get a credit repair guide and read through it to get an overview of the process of repairing your FICO score. There are several guides available, and one in particular called "Credit Secrets Bible" is the most popular one. It is written by an expert in the credit repair business. It gives you step-by-step instructions for how to go about analyzing your report and expediting improvements in your score.

How You Can Improve Your Credit Score? Credit scores fluctuate based on how you manage your available credit. Steps you can take to improve your score include:Pay your bills on time. Recent payment history is more important to potential creditors than payments made several years ago. Maintain a timely bill payment strategy for at least six months to see an improvement in your credit score. The longer your payments are on time, the more your score will improve.

Once you are armed with your credit report and a good guidebook on how to analyze and start to improve your FICO score, take action. The first time you go through this process it may be a fair amount of work if your report has many derogatory entries and you have never gone through the process before. A low credit score these days is anything below about 600. It does you no good to get your FICO report, buy a guidebook, and then do nothing with it. So be sure you are ready to put some effort into this because, in the long run, it will be well worth the time you spend on it. If you do it each year the entire process shouldn't take more than a few hours.

Don't Be Late.Improve credit rating by always paying your obligations on time and it is even better to pay them early. This shows responsibility on your part and it will reflect positively in your credit report. The importance of this step cannot be understated. Find a way to get organized using a calendar and keep track of when bills are due. Another reason for paying off some of your credit cards results in fewer bills and less to keep track of. If you do pay off a card to a zero balance, do not close the account as doing so will also reflect negatively.

If you are someone who is faced with a bad credit and find yourself unable to be considered credit worthy, it is time you repair your bad credit. A bad credit rating can affect the possibility of having a good life as it can mar the quality of your life and finances. A bad credit will be responsible for your inability to avail of loans, a house, credit cards and even a good job. If you are at a place where you are worried about your credit rating, do read this article. It will give you tips on improving your credit score.

Obtain a copy of your latest credit reports: This is your first step to repair bad credit. Obtaining the latest credit reports will help you understand exactly where you stand and what needs to be repaired. If you live in America, you must know that there are mainly 3 credit rating agencies. It is a good idea if you can get hold of copies of credit reports from all the 3 agencies.

First, let's briefly discuss what 'credit score' is; basically, it is a piece of numerical information that represents your creditworthiness and capability to pay credit. Keeping your current loans, cards, and their outstanding balances at the minimum is an indication of how well you handle your financial obligation. Your consistency in paying your debts will positively impact your score. High outstanding debt and delinquency in paying them, on the other hand, can be destructive. If you have an existing high outstanding debt and have been inconsistent with your payments, then you have a slimmer chance of getting an approval for another bank loan. How can a lender trust you if you still owe a lot from another financial institution, or several of them? Paying your bills on time is the best way to show financial stability and ability to pay. Delinquency in payments of bills or loans will negatively impact your score, even if the amount to be paid is small. Ignoring small bills is not the best way on how to improve credit score fast. We must remember that creditor reports contain the specific payment history of a borrower.

Here are some pieces of advice on how to improve credit score fast: (1) you must not spend on non-essential things in order to pay debts, as living beyond one's means will just aggravate the situation; (2) you must make a budget for your monthly expenses, taking into consideration all the debts and loans you must pay; (3) you must adhere to the monthly budget you've set for yourself; and (4) you must check your report on a regular basis to familiarize yourself on how you are doing in terms of your credit standing; this can also help you determine if you have been a victim of identity theft. Victims of identity theft have their score drastically diminished by the perpetrator and they only discover that they have been victimized after knowing that their score has dropped even when they have been following every other advise on how to improve credit score fast.

In these tough economic times, your credit is more important than ever. Even people with seemingly good credit are getting turned down for credit cards and home and automobile loans. Everyone is frantically searching for a way of how to improve credit score fast so that they can get the loan they need.Another thing that is happening is that businesses are being more harsh when it comes to negative credit reporting. Many people have noticed their credit score dropping as much as 200 points in one month just for being late on a few bills. The companies that are doing this hope that this will give their customers a little motive to start paying their bills - and paying them on time.




About the Author:



0 comments:

Post a Comment

Share

Twitter Delicious Facebook Digg Stumbleupon Favorites More