There are times when it pays to have an excellent credit score. Maybe you’re recovering from a bad credit history or about to refinance your mortgage; whatever it is, it’s always good to have a healthy score. In this article, we’ll show you how you can improve your credit score. Let’s get started.
How to Quickly Raise Your Credit Score
Find out when your credit issuer reports payment history
Pay down debt strategically
Pay twice a month
Raise your credit limits
Mix it up
Find out When Your Credit Issuer Reports Payment History
Ask your credit card issuer when your balance gets reported to the credit bureaus, as this would be the last day of the billing cycle on your account. If your payment is received after the deadline, your ratio appears inflated. This negatively impacts your score. So, be sure to pay your bill just before the closing date. In this way, your reported balance will always be low or even zero.
Pay Twice a Month
If you’ve had a couple of rough months with your finances, or made big purchases like a new fridge, be sure to make your payment more often. This is because putting big items on your credit card to get the rewards can temporarily throw your utilization ratio and credit score off. So, make a payment at least two weeks before the closing date and make another payment just before the closing date. And, make sure to not use a credit card for a big bill if you plan to carry a balance since the compound interest will create a pile of ugly debt pretty quickly.
Raise Your Credit Limits
If you have problems with overspending regularly, don’t try this. The goal of this tip is to raise your credit limit on more than one card so that your utilization ratio goes down. This will only work in your favor if you don’t need to use the newly available credit.
Don’t do this if you’ve missed payments with the issuer or have a downward-trending score since the issuer may see your request for a credit limit increase as a bad sign.
