How to Improve Your Credit Score

Having a good credit score can make your life so much easier.  Not only does it make it easier to get a mortgage loan, car loan and other kinds of consumer credit, but having good credit also allows you to have a better shot at good employment and even better deals on insurance.  Having a bad credit score can really affect you in a number of ways, so it makes sense to investigate some of the ways to improve your credit score.  Here are some tips to get you started.

The first way to improve your credit score is to actually check your credit report on a regular basis.  If you don’t know what’s on your report, you are likely going to find out that there are errors there that could be affecting your score.  Sometimes your credit may have been mixed with someone else’s.  This happens a lot more often than you would think.  That’s why it’s so important to keep a constant check to make sure that there is no erroneous information or old debts coming back after they should’ve been wiped clean.

An important part of improving your credit score is starting to pay your bills on time every single month.  If you have to, set up some kind of a payment reminder system so that you never forget a due date.  It’s easy to allow bills to just pile up on your kitchen counter, but every time you’re late it affects your credit score.  If you are able, it makes sense to set up automatic bill pay with your creditors so that your payments are always on time.

You should stop using your credit cards as much as possible.  By continuing to accrue debt, you’re going to have a very hard time keeping up with your bills and paying them on time.  For that reason, try to pay down as much of your debt as you can so that you have a very manageable amount that you can pay off on time, in full, every single month.

It might make sense to speak with a credit counselor if you feel that your debt has gotten out of control.  Sometimes, you may have to settle debts for less than the amount as a way of getting out from under them.  They will still show up on your credit report, but they will be noted as settled as agreed.

When you’re looking for ways to improve your credit score, there is no quick and easy answer.  It will take time and perseverance on your part to make sure that you are keeping your debt under control. By learning new skills such as budgeting, you will be able to slowly pay off your debts and improve your score over time.  Try not to take out any new lines of credit or go on spending sprees for things that you don’t absolutely need.  Remember that your credit cards should be there as an emergency and not as your first line of defense.