If you have been struggling with a poor credit history, it may sometimes seem as if there is nowhere to turn. Don’t despair! Many people have managed to repair their bad credit, so you can do it too. The advice in this article can help you get on the road to good credit.
Nothing will repair your credit other than time. If you have late payments, defaults or even bankruptcy, your score will go down. There is no way to remove these once they have been reported. Only time and good behavior will eventually make them less and less of a determining factor in your score and the credit that you receive.
Keep your first account open. Whatever credit account you have had open the longest, is the best one to keep on your report. Don’t close this account because the limit is too low or the rate is too high. Try to get a higher credit limit, or ask for a lower interest rate, but even if they won’t give that to you, keep the card and keep using it. The longer track record you have with an account, the more it will affect your score in a positive way.
Buy a car and make your monthly payments on time to improve your credit score. Your credit score will be checked when you apply for a car loan. But if you build up a good score with a cheap car, a few years later you could easily apply for a new loan and get a better car.
If you have extremely bad credit, consider going to a credit counselor. Even if you are on a tight budget, this might be a very good investment. A credit counselor will explain to you how to improve your credit score or how to pay off your debt in the most efficient way possible.
For a quick boost to your FICO score, start paying down your credit cards. Your FICO score is heavily influenced by how much available credit you have. Try to get your cards down to where you are only utilizing 50% of the available limit at most and keep them there.
Make sure to borrow no more than 30% of the credit available to you. Your credit score will start to suffer if you have any higher credit utilization than that. Make sure to use your cards, though, because using none of your available credit hurts your score as well.
While it may be tempting to close your credit cards when trying to repair your credit, it is actually best to keep them open. This shows your account as current, and credit companies report this good history to the credit bureau, which, in turn, helps to increase your credit rating.
To improve your credit worthiness, pay off your credit cards but DON’T close the accounts. It is an ironic truth that creditors want to lend credit to people who don’t really need it. Two of the major factors going into the computation of your FICO credit score are the amount of credit you have available to you and how much of it you are using. Paying down your credit card balances is the ideal way to improve your FICO score and bring expenses under control. As you accomplish this, there is a tendency to want to close the credit card account altogether to be done with it. Don’t do that! Retaining the account keeps the line of credit open and enhances your overall financial standing with creditors. Just set the credit card aside and don’t use it again except for serious emergencies.
If you are trying to improve your credit score, it may be helpful to set up a direct debit to pay your monthly bills. Direct debit will ensure that you never miss a payment due to being out of town or simple inattention. Also, if you use direct debit to make the minimum payment, you can add to that payment any time without feeling additional pressure.
Bad credit can seem like a nightmare that never ends, but there is a way out. If you follow the techniques and apply the advice you’ve learned from this article, you’ll be able to get back on track before you know it. Before long, your bad credit will be just a bad memory.
