10 Simple Ways to improve Your Credit Score

1) Credit Cards with higher caps on Limits

A credit card with a higher cap on the utilization limit, makes your average monthly spending look minuscule, in comparison to a card with a small limit which might make your average spending seem massive. This small change will render your credit score to move up some points, in fact ten percent of the credit score takes into account activity on new credit cards. But it is also important to avoid taking too many cards, rather chose to close old cards and take new cards to present a successful credit history. This strategy works when done in limitation, doing so frequently would make any lender question your financial history.

2) Compare your Credit Report with your personal records of Financial Data

A copy of your credit report can be easily found online, do this periodically since it would help to ascertain if entries in your report were made by criminal elements. Cross check accounts you own, including credit entries, they should be similar to figures on paper or digital bills in your financial paperwork. There are many instances of people finding accounts they had long closed appear as open in a credit report because the paperwork on the account was not closed out completely, this could drag your credit score down. Any kind of discrepancies should be reported immediately and the paperwork to support your claims can be submitted to the credit bureau. The agency then has 45 days to verify the claim, but if your claim cannot be verified, the bureau is still obligated to remove the entry after the mandatory investigation period expires.

3) Pay off your Credit Cards twice a month

Paying your bills on time will help improve your credit score. In addition, pay debts like credit cards twice a month, by breaking down the amount owed. A credit report will reflect your financial history on that particular day, if you plan to apply for a loan, make sure you pay up your credit card payment before you request a credit report. Most people pay up credit card debt at the end of the month, by making more payments in a month, you can inflate your credit score. In brief, a reduced balance on your credit card, brings down costs charged for utilization, and influences credit scores.

4) Paying Bills and Debt on Time

A healthy credit history is a result of paying bills and debt on time, a process looped into years of practice. This is essentially why our parents and grandparents would score better in credit scores than we would because consumption has become erratic in our generation. As a rule of thumb, in 2017, pay off your bills and debt on time, do not take in new credit cards until you get into a healthy pattern of paying off the ones you already own. In just a year, you can see your credit score improve in leaps and bounds.

5) Give your child an authorized user account to accumulate credit scores

Parents can open an authorized user account for their children and purchase things using the card to begin an early credit history in their child's name. Your child can begin accumulating his/her credit scores early on in life, but it is important to understand that bad financial behavior by either party can result in bringing down credit scores for both. An authorized user account is giving to individuals who are not legally obligated to pay off the debts they incur.

6) Pay off more than the minimum balance at the end of the month

People with good credit scores pay off their debt balances by the end of the month. But making a habit of paying more than the minimum balance will also reflect well on your credit scores. As a rule of thumb, start by making payments on cards that are in danger of being maxed out, keeping balances low will always save you money because credit cards charge lower utilization charges when the balance on the account is low.

7) Get a 30 percent boost on your credit score

Nearly 30 percent of the FICO score comes from the following criteria's:

Closing credit cards that have not been used does not raise your scores, but using them effectively will give you a boost.

Opening new credit cards in hopes of boosting your credit score will only drag it down, because its more on the history of spending and repaying than the number of cards in your name.

Never move or spread debt around a number of accounts to make it seem balanced, rather beginning the process of paying off your credit card debt will make your scores shoot up.

A low credit card balance will influence your credit score to move up higher.

8) Earn a 35 percent boost on your credit score

Paying bills on time will drive up your credit score, even a few months of late payments could bring down your score.

Past performance on your credit history does not effect credit score as much as present performance does, so don't worry about the past as long as you have acquired good financial behavior on your account to reflect the present.

In case you are going through a personal financial crisis, meet up with credit counselors at the bank and find out ways to manage your credit better.

If you have been using credit cards for a number of years, opening new credit cards would trigger a positive credit score, but if you are a novice user who ends up opening more credit cards, it will adversely effect your credit score.

9) Bad credit histories can be repaired

When enquiring on new loans, do so within a certain period, because erratic searches for loans may be visible in your credit history. Bad credit histories can only be corrected by adopting good financial behavior, and displaying it over a period of time, this will cause your credit scores to rise than any quick fixes.

10) Ways to portray average credit scores

If you are unable to start out on adopting healthy financial behavior, do these basic measures to repair your credit scores:

Pay off your bills on time because it makes up 35 percent of your credit score.

Set up automated payments to pay off a little more than the minimum balance required.

Mortgage, credit cards, auto loans etc contribute to 10 percent of your credit score.

15 percent of your credit score depends on the quality and quantity of card use, keeping this in mind should influence you to spend right.