How Do I Raise My Credit Score?

Every creditor you have an account with probably reports your payment history and outstanding balances every month to each of the three credit reporting agencies. This makes it easy to see results quickly – good or bad – when dealing with your credit.

The fastest way to improve your credit is to pay down credit card balances. If you are paying an extra $100 a month on your house or car payment, but have a large credit card balance, stop paying the extra on the house and get that credit card paid down! Chances are the house or car loan have lower interest rates. They’re also considered safer lines of credit than an unsecured credit card. Go to http://www.about.com/ and type in managing debt or managing credit card debt and read some great articles about credit scores and debt.

Credit scoring agencies have a variety of formulas to increase or lower your score, but high debt to available credit ratios are one of the fastest ways to drop your score.

Your past two years of payment history are the most important, so start paying on time NOW and in 24 months your score will rise significantly, even if you still have outstanding balances.
Finally, raising your credit score involves work – don’t try to pay someone to “fix” your credit. If there’s a true mistake, you can fix it yourself for free. It’s work to monitor it, it’s work to be sure you pay on time and it’s work to be responsible with your credit. But you’ll see results when it comes time to make your next big purchase and you get a super interest rate because of your high credit score!