Your credit score is based on the information in your credit report, making sure you pay bills on time and managing credit cards responsibly, you’ll start to see your credit score improve.
Steps to improve your credit score
Check your Credit Report
You can request a free copy of your credit report and check it for errors. Your credit report contains the data used to calculate your credit rating. Credit providers and credit reporting bodies must take steps to get things right, however, there's still a chance that it may contain errors. Check to make sure that there are no late payments incorrectly listed for any of your accounts and that the credit limits for each of your open accounts is correct. If you find errors on any of your reports, dispute them with the credit reporting agencies or credit providers.
Pay your bills on time
Defaults and late payments can have a negative impact on your score.
Missing payments
If you have missed payments, get current and stay current. The longer you pay your bills on time after being late, the more your score should increase. The impact of past credit problems on your score fades as time passes and as recent good payment patterns show up on your credit report, credit providers will see that you are managing your credit well.
Paying off defaults
Paying off a default will not remove it. It will stay on your credit report for five years.
Seek legitimate advice
If you are having trouble making ends meet, seek legitimate financial advice for help. This won't rebuild your credit score immediately, but if you can begin to manage your credit and pay on time, your score should increase over time. Seeking assistance from a financial counselling service will not hurt your score.
New accounts
Don't open a lot of new accounts too rapidly. New accounts will lower your average account age, which will have a larger effect on your scores if you don't have a lot of other credit information. Also, rapid account build-up or rapid increases in your credit limits can look risky if you are a new credit user.
Credit Cards
Have credit cards but manage them responsibly. In general, having credit cards and paying timely payments will rebuild your credit score. Someone with no credit cards, for example, tends to be higher risk than someone who has managed credit cards responsibly.
Closing accounts
Closing an account doesn't make it go away. A closed account will still show up on your credit report, and may be considered in the calculation of a score.
Fast solutions
Repairing bad credit takes time and there is no quick way to fix a credit score. In fact, out of all of the ways to improve a credit score, quick-fix efforts are the most likely to backfire, so beware of any advice that claims to improve your credit score fast. The best advice for rebuilding credit is to manage it responsibly over time. If you haven't done that, then you need to repair your credit history before you see credit score improvement.
Raising your score after a poor mark on your report or building credit for the first time will take patience and discipline. Be wary of credit repair companies who promise to instantly “fix your credit history” by having black marks removed from your report. If information on a credit report used to calculate your credit score is correct, it can’t be removed.
Loan/debt Health Check
Contact us for a free check on your current loans or mortgages.
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