Improving Your Credit Score Should Not Be Overwhelming: Try These Steps

Everyone needs to be concerned about their credit score. Your credit score sits at the centre of you being able to move your life forward in many ways. A high credit score will help you work with the best banks to get affordable loans, credit cards even mortgages.

But credit scores are challenging because they are tough to keep high, easy to damage and difficult to repair. Because of this reason, many of us find ourselves with low credit ratings. For the millions of us who have poor credit here are some proven tips to help get your credit score back up.

Constantly Check Your Credit Report for Accuracy

People generally believe that their credit reports are accurate because they think that the systems used by these banks are foolproof. The reality, however, is that private companies place the information on each of our credit reports, and they make errors all the time. In fact, in a study conducted on credit report accuracy in 2018, it was found that nearly 20% of all credit reports have some inaccurate information on them.

Some of this information was trivial and would not impact the credit score, but other mistakes had a direct negative impact on the credit score. So, make sure you get a good credit rating, you should regularly check your credit report for accuracy. If something is incorrect contact the reporting agency immediately with the correct information. It will take some time to correct it, but it could raise your credit score.

Make Sure to Pay Your Bills on Time

One of the biggest credit score killers is late payments. Your timely payment of bills to creditors makes up 35% of your credit score, so you need to always pay your bills on time. If you make a late payment it will stay on your history for years and have an impact.

So always pay your bills on time and never miss payments, especially credit card payments. If you have a tendency to be late, make the payments early or set up a standing order. Keep doing this, and over time your credit score will go up.

Reduce Your Debt

Your credit score considers the amount of credit usage you have as a factor. If for instance, you have a credit card and you are using nearly the entire credit limit that will weigh more heavily than if you are only using 25% of the limit.

Remember to keep your credit utilisation low because it shows good discipline to lenders. Soon they will offer you more credit, and if you do not use it, your credit score will go up even more.

The final bit of advice is to be wary of how often credit agencies review your credit report. Credit agencies have become less critical of this, but it will still weigh on your credit score if you have too many companies pull your credit report. The credit agencies have made it easier to get and review your credit report. Take advantage of this to monitor your credit score.