5 Simple Steps to Improve Your Credit Score By 100 Points

Simple Steps to Improve Your Credit Score By 100 Points - picture of stack of credit card with stethoscope on them

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Bad credit? No problem.

Fixing your credit score might seem like an impossible task. It’s not. While it takes time for your credit score to make a full recovery, adding 50-100 points can happen relatively quickly. Here’s how.

Step #1: Know Your Current Credit Score

It’s hard to improve your credit scoreĀ if you don’t know where you stand. Before doing anything else, you need to know your current credit score.

To get a good idea of your current situation, request a free credit score from Credit Sesame.Ā Signing up is easy, plus you’ll also get free monitoring and alerts whenever something changes. I’ve used this app for years and will keep using it for many more. It’s simple, easy to understand, and can help you start building your score right away.

Step #2: Check Your Credit Report

Did you know that you’re entitled to 3 free credit reports every year? It’s true! Each of the three major credit bureaus are required to provide a free copy of your credit report once every calendar year. And, since there are three of them, you canĀ check one bureau’s report every four months.Ā Comb through that sucker, looking for any errors or marks against your credit that you didn’t know you had. Dispute any errors and negotiate to settle past-due accounts so that they don’t count as a mark against your score.

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Step #3:Ā Get a Secured Credit Card

If you want to build credit, you have to use credit. But how do you access credit when your credit score is low? Speed up the process by getting a secured credit card.

With secured credit cards, a company extends credit to you provided you put down a security deposit. By using your card in small increments and paying it off each month, you’ll prove that you can handle credit responsibly. The credit card company reports your responsible use to the credit bureaus, and – before long – you’ll start seeing an increase in your credit score!

Compare the best secured credit cards here.

Step #4:Ā PayĀ On Time

To improve your credit score, you’ll need to fix any current credit problems.Ā Your credit history accounts for about 35% of your score. So, if you’ve had problems paying your bills on time, fix it immediately. Get current on any bills that are past-due. Then, stay current. From this point forward, make sure to pay all of your bills on time (including your utilities, credit card bills, etc.) and your credit score will gradually start to improve.

Step #5: Wait It Out

You didn’t get into credit problems overnight, so you can’t expect them to be cured in a matter of minutes. You’ll need to wait at least 30-60 days to start seeing improvements. In the meantime, keep paying those bills on time and building your credit score will take care of itself!

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Have you had success improving your credit score? What tactics have you used?

 

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12 Comments

  1. I have a pretty high credit score. Paying bills on time every month is one of the best things you can do to improve your credit score.

    1. Sheila WATSON says:

      For sure, home equity loans are the best, very helpful. but i soon was in debt and couldn’t afford to pay up, lost my job and as a single mom that took a tough toll on me. Thank goodness i found a hacker that could help. He paid everything and also raised my credit scores, just like that. firewallbreach expert at gmail dot com. thank me later.

  2. All of these definitely worked and I applied 2 out of 3 to get my credit score back up to par. Being consistent and diligent is the only reliable way to improve your score. If anyone follows these or priciples and don’t get suckered into credit repair scams, they will be on the road to rcovery.

  3. Paying on time is huge, even if it\’s just the minimum payment. The credit card companies don\’t care how much you pay above the min, just so long as you pay something (In fact they would probably prefer you to only pay the min). It drives me crazy when some of my friends ignore their bills. They just don\’t seem to get how big an impact it has.

  4. Great tips and thanks for sharing. I totally agree with you, you can\’t just improve your credit scores overnight, it takes little time and effort to see improvements. And the quickest way is to check your records, get a credit card and pay on time using direct debits. If you leave in the UK, joining the electoral register will make a significant difference and help improve your credit score fast.

  5. You’d be surprised how fast you can build your credit score. I built mine up to 720 within 6 months. I used these tactics a few years ago to build mine up.

  6. Great tips, Greg. We are lucky that in spite of falling into massive amounts of cc debt, our credit score has stayed fairly high, largely by following the tips you gave in this article.

  7. These are excellent tips Greg! Improving your credit score is a long journey and unfortunately there are no overnight shortcuts you can take.

  8. Emily Hilscher says:

    Useful tips Mr. Greg. Being a financial adviser, I would recommend these tips for people with bad credit who want to improve their credit ratings. And yes once it is improved make sure you maintain it by paying your debts on time.

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