by Andrew Cohen
When you see those advertisements that say you can fix your own credit it’s understandable that you’re skeptical, but there is some small grains of truth to them – there are some things that you can do to make your credit better on your own. That will help you raise your credit score and will work to your advantage when you try to get a loan in the future, but you have to be willing to put in the work. Step one is to know what’s on your credit report and why it’s there, because it’s pretty hard to fix something or improve upon it if you don’t have any starting point for it.
Next, step two is to take a look at the credit reports that you’ve been sent from the various bureaus (there should be three of them – Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion) and spend some time comparing them. If you see discrepancies, part of your credit problem could be that there are things on your credit that actually don’t belong to you and that are hurting your credit. You can call the credit bureaus and ask that these things be removed, and they will investigate them for you – finding no evidence that these things really belong to you will get them removed from your file and a new copy of your credit report issued to you, which can help to raise your credit score.
In step three, you’ll want to count up the open, active accounts that you currently have and see that you have at least three, since that’s how many you need to have a good credit score. It’s hard to tell how responsible you are with your credit if you only have one or two open accounts, and if you have three to five it’s much easier to see what you’ve been doing with your credit, especially if those accounts are varied (like vehicle loans or a mortgage) and not all credit cards. You can get more accounts if you don’t have enough, but you’ll have to be careful how you do this, since just running out and applying for more credit cards can actually really hurt your credit score.
Step four is a crucial one if you know someone who has good credit and who trusts you, because it’s not a step that you can do on your own. What you want to do here is get that trusted person to add you as an authorized user on their credit cards without actually giving you the card to use – that way you won’t be spending or adding up debt, but you will be getting the benefit of their good credit added to your credit report. Only do this with a person who has had the card for at least two years and who has not been late with a payment, though, because their credit problems with that card would also attach to your report, as well.
In step five, you have to start paying down your debt, because having high balances on things will really hurt you in the long run – it makes you look irresponsible. Your credit card debt, for example, should be no more than 30% of the amount that you’re actually allowed to borrow on your credit cards, but even if you can’t get them to that point work to get them down below 50% of the available credit. Having balances that are low and that stay low means that your lenders will see that you’re taking good care of the credit you’ve been offered, so you’ll have a better chance of getting even more credit.
Step six is to not close out your credit accounts just because you’ve paid them off, since open, properly-paid accounts help to build good credit. If you close them out and get rid of them you’ll find that your credit score might actually drop off a bit because you aren’t able to get any more ‘good credit points’ from those companies anymore. There are some accounts, though, that will automatically close when paid, like car loans and mortgages – but leave those newly-paid-off credit cards open.
Step seven is the easiest one: maintain what you’ve done and are doing to keep your credit score high by making sure things get paid on time. Don’t start adding up a bunch of new debt once you’ve gotten rid of the old debt, and you’ll soon see that your credit score will stay high, allowing you to get the credit that you need when you need it. If you only get and use credit when you need it, and you don’t overextend yourself, you’ll have a much better chance of keeping a great credit score for years to come and being able to buy what you need without worrying that you won’t qualify for any kind of low-interest credit.
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