You may not be entirely happy with where your credit score is. However, there might be a few quick ways for you to bring it up a bit. It depends on why it’s down, but you may have the ability to add as many as 100 points relatively quickly. Let’s take a look.
Making Payments
Maybe you went on vacation – to Las Vegas, or anywhere really. Say while you were there, you got one of those Las Vegas loans. If you can make a few small payments, known as micropayments, throughout the month, that can assist with keeping those balances down and can lead to a few additional points on your credit score. Making a few payments throughout the month affects what’s known as credit utilization. After your payment history, this particular factor highly influences your overall credit score.
Credit Limits
If you get an increased credit limit on your credit cards, yet your balance remains the same or lower as you pay it down, this instantly lowers your credit utilization, and this can lead to a higher credit score. Call the issuer for your cards and ask if they can raise your limit without performing a hard credit inquiry, as this can temporarily make your score go down a bit. If you’ve had an increase in income or added a few years of positive credit history, you may have a good shot at getting your limit raised.
Pay Your Bills
There isn’t a strategy out there that has the power to improve your credit if you’re late paying even just your utility bills. You see, your payment history is the single largest factor that affects your credit score, and making late payments can actually appear on your credit report for as long as seven years. If you make a payment 30 days or more late, call your creditor as soon as you know you’ll be late. Make payment arrangements, and ask them if they’ll consider not reporting the late payment to the credit bureau. The worst they can do is say no. Then, do all you can to bring the account current as quickly as you can.
Dispute Errors
Even if you’re making weekly payments on your credit cards, a mistake on one of the credit reports can pull your score down quickly. By the same token, repairing this can quickly make your credit score go up. Everyone is entitled to a free credit report each year from each one of the credit bureaus. Request these reports and make sure there aren’t any mistakes, such as late payments or even negative info that (due to age) should no longer be listed. Dispute any errors you see and make sure they are removed.
Keep Cards Open
If you’re in a hurry to raise your credit score, you need to know that closing any credit accounts can actually make your mission a bit more difficult. Closing even a single credit card will mean that you lose the credit limit on that particular credit card when taken as a part of your overall credit usage. This can actually bring your score down a bit. Keep your cards open and use them periodically so that the card issuers won’t close them on their own.
Finally, mix things up a bit. If you only have loans or credit cards, think about getting a different type of credit that you don’t already have, if only to raise your score. If you improve your mix of credit – say, having both revolving credit and installment accounts, you’ll be giving your score a boost.
