Tips on Increasing Credit Score
Payment History (35% effect on FICO
score)
- Paying your bills on time.
- If you’ve missed a payment, pay it right away and stay current. (Call your credit card company and ask them to reimburse the late fee and never ever miss a payment again)
- Paying off a collection account won’t remove it from your credit report.
Amounts Owed (30% effect on FICO score)
- Keep the balances on your credit cards low by paying them off every week or twice a month.
- Never move your debts around, pay them off as soon as you can.
- Don't open a lot of new credit cards that you don't need.
Other Essential Tips:
- Having a higher credit line (Total Credit) will increase you credit score. Usually every 6 months you can request a credit limit increase from each of your credit card companies BUT make sure there is not going to be a hard inquiry on your account! (American Express usually doesn’t run a hard inquiry if you request less than $25K increase, Capital One, just request through their App and you are gonna be fine, Chase and Bank of America have a hard inquiry anyways!!)
- Having a higher credit limit doesn’t mean you have more money AT ALL! It simply is a number, you are not allowed to use it unless you are sure that you can pay it back within 30 days.
- NEVER close a credit card that you don’t use, just simply use it once a year and pay it off right away, this way your credit history and total credit line limit are gonna be high and as a result, you are gonna have a higher credit score.
- You can check your credit score for free from different sources without any effect on your score. (Credit Karma, BOA FICO and Capital one credit wise are some examples of those)
- Choose your credit cards wisely! This means, check the cash backs they offer when you are gonna shop somewhere or in Gas station or …, use the one that has a higher cash back or benefit for you (Don’t forget the deals available on some of your credit cards)
- Take advantage of the bonuses on opening the credit cards but don’t get the credit cards with annual fees unless you are 100% sure you are gonna get your money back every year PLUS more cash back or values.
- Instead of being afraid of having credit cards and use cash, LEARN to have discipline and use your credit cards ONLY when you can pay it off really fast