7 Tips You Can Follow to Improve Your Credit Score

1. Pay down your credit card balances as frequently as possible. A major factor in your credit score is how much revolving credit you have versus how much you’re actually using, the smaller that percentage the better, 10% or lower is the optimum if you want to improve your credit score.

2. Remove nuisance balances, you don’t want a lot of small balances on several credit cards

3. Do not remove old accounts from your credit report. Sometimes, once someone has paid off their car or house they try and get that account removed from their credit report, however debt which you have paid off without issue is good for your credit score and shouldn’t be removed, in fact these accounts should be left on as long as possible.

4. Don’t apply for credit too often, this can cause a dip in your score. However it is important to keep in mind that your FICO score does not take into account any inquiries you make 30 days before scoring.

5. Don’t make late payments, it goes without saying that late payments can be seriously detrimental to your credit score.

6. Don’t suddenly start paying less, missing payments or charging more on your credit cards than you usually do as this could ‘scare’ your credit card issuer and indicate future money problems. The same applies to using your credit card at pawnshops or a divorce attorney; these instances could lower your credit score.

7. Get a copy of your credit score a few months prior to making any major purchases. You should also be regularly keeping up with your credit report and removing any inaccuracies that are bringing your score down. You are entitled to a credit report from one of each of your three credit bureau reports (Equifax, Experian and TransUnion), every 12 months, for free. If you request one every four months, then you can monitor your credit score for free!