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Employee

Question

How to Raise Your Credit Score

Forum|Forum|8 years ago
March 22, 2018
102 replies
0 views

Ever since I have started using a credit card I have basically had the same score the entire time. What are some ways and tips to raise my credit score?

PaulaM

Employee

You might check out his community link: How to Raise your Credit Score

**Say "Thanks" by clicking the thumb icon in a post**Mark the post that answers your question by clicking on "Mark as Best Answer"

Bluesoap

How to raise my credit score

KhongPhuTu

Employee

Hi,

You are not disclosing enough information to provide a more detailed answer. So the answers here are generic in nature:

Here're my methods, tested.

1. Don't payoff your monthly CC bills each month. If you want to save in interest but also bring up your Credit Score (CS), then pay off all except $1 each month. Carry over that $1 each month is a sure way of showing you are a Credit Worthy (CW) person. Paying off the entire balance each month will show up as no credit history. You can also carry over more from month to month to let them earn a bit more interest, but there is no relationship between this and raising your CS.

2. Watch and control the percent of credit you used relative to your Credit Limit (CL). The whole idea to bring up your score (or not lower your score) is to keep this ratio as low as possible. If you have good income which increases yearly, consider asking your Credit Card Issuer (CCI) to increase your CL. This has the effect of lowering your % used credit. However, having higher CL may also drops your score because the logics is that if you have a higher CL, you may be prone to using it carelessly so the risk of not able to payback or pay back on time is higher. If you ask for a reasonable increase of say $3,000 and your monthly credit usage is says $2000, this will not likely to hurt your score (may be one time when you get it, but it will comes back up within 1-2 quarters (3-6 months).

3. Don't open too many CCs. 3-4 cards should be ok.

4. Don't arbitrarily close any of your CC; especially those that have high CL and also have been held for a long time.

5. If you have CC with high CL and you don't use it for a while, and have zero balance or negligible balance, call CC and ask them to lower your CC. This can help bring your CS up.

6. Try to use your CCs more often, and be sure to pay on time each month at least between the minimum payment and the total balance minus $1.

Your CS should go up in 3-6 months if you apply the intents herein.

Good luck.

pancakes

Employee

When I went to buy my car, the finance guy there gave me a few tips that really helped my score.

1. I was going to pay a big down payment up front. He pointed out a VERY low interest rate (1%) at the dealership and encouraged me to keep my money liquid, and build up my credit by setting a monthly payment that I could comfortably pay a bit extra on each month. (Even just paying $5-$15.00 extra makes it look like you can easily handle your bills.

2. He told me to put EVERYTHING possible on my CCs and pay it off in full each month (I know- this is a bit different from other advice here to carry over a very small amount).

3. He mentioned the idea of not opening too many CCs and try to keep them active if possible- and set up autopay so I don't forget to pay them or be late with payments.

4. He recommended doing a credit freeze to protect myself from credit fraud. Its more trouble if you are thinking about opening a new credit card or making a large purchase, (because you have to unfreeze your credit) but it adds a sense of security in this age of credit fraud.

5. He recommended checking your credit often (which I didn't do, but I am going to try to be better about.)

6. I thought about paying off a big chunk of my student loan but when I researched it, someone mentioned that having a long-held loan that you are making regular payments on is very good for your credit, so I decided to keep doing that for now. Payments are pretty low and interest rate could be worse, so it's OK.

I would say I did all this for about a year now and my credit score has really gone up. Out of three scores, one was REALLY good. I am in a MUCH better position should I decide to buy a house or condo at this point. Ive also been surprised to find out how many employers are checking credit history as an indicator of employee reliability.

MariP

Employee

Hi @pancakes,

Thanks so much for sharing your experience with raising your credit score. I'm even more impressed that the finance person was giving you tips. I've never heard of that before but great that he was willing to give you specific advice that helped. It would be great if all car finance professionals did the same thing.

I'd love to hear about about your story and the impact of all of the changes you made? What was your credit score originally when you bought your car? And how much were you able to raise it after following each of the steps? Congrats on being so diligent with improving your credit score and great to see that there's been some additional benefits, like with future employers, that have been an added plus with raising your credit score.

Purafine12

Employee

Can you advise me to do how can I Raise me credit score!!!!!

Nykidd1007

Employee

Give me some tips on how to raise my credit score.

GreeneyedLady

Employee

Dont buy unneccary things

hikaurgessa

Employee

I wanna improve my credit score

alntoy2

Employee

Way to improve is get a good credit mix:
1) Bank Cards (Visa, MC, AmEx)
2) Retail Cards (Target, JCPenney, Macys)
3) Installment Loans (Car, Mortgage, Personal)
Lastly, pay all of the above ON TIME EVERYTIME! One payment 30 days are more late will be put on the "Risk Factors" section your report for 3+ years! I know from experience! Forgot a car payment in Feb 2015 and it's been on my report for 3 yrs 9 mos.

flute

Employee

why when i pay off loans early they take points

alntoy2

Employee

Do you want the points or the money you were paying in interest? Smart man told me, do you wanna pay $12K/yr mortgage, of which $4000 is interest so you can get a tax deduction on the $4000? Why not keep the $12,000 in your pocket from the jump?

Tonyay84

Employee

Can you go into more detail on how this works. Sorry I don't understand interest and taxes

alntoy2

Employee

First, Lenders do not, I REPEAT DO NOT focus solely on Credit Scores. That is a Myth. The CONTENT of the Report drives the score, not the other way around. Think of it this way...when you submit your application/resume to an employer, it doesn't list the SCORE of your life experience does it, No. It lists the CONTENT (what I have been exposed to) of your life experience and how you behaved (patterns).
Simply, creditors want to see if you have been exposed to Bank Credit Cards (Visa, MC, AmEx), Installment Loans (Mortgage, Car, Personal), Retail Credit Cards (Walmart, Target, Macy's) and how you behave (pay on time, pay late or not at all).

BNicole603

Employee

This makes A LOT of sense and is GREAT advice! Thank you!

alntoy2

Employee

Why do you want to raise your score?

New

Employee

1) Get a 1000$ loan from selflender.com
2) Open a small store card (same as cash? example a furniture / mattress store) make sure they report your loan.
3) open a secure/unsecure credit card
Setup auto pay - minmum to all of the above.
Remember the key is to keep your balance below 10% of your limits, inreference to store credit card, if you were planning to pay cash for the thing get the card anyway then pay online 90% of your bill in one installment. Rest 10% spread out your period. Otherwise the credit score formula looks at the store card as 100% usage of your credit limit.
In 3 to 6 months your score will improve dramatically if you don't do anything else.

alntoy2

Employee

Bring Bank and Retail Card balances UNDER 29% utilization (Balance divided by Credit Limit), stop applying for new credit. Primary thing is to manage what you have. First question should be why do you want to raise your score?
Scores are NOT the only indicator of your credit worthiness.