If you had kept a record of who you owed money to then perhaps your debt could have been avoided. At this point, you need to practice some crisis prevention and start fixing your score. The following article provides you with some simple and effective hints and tips to help you improve your credit rating.
Keep your credit card balances below 50 percent of your credit limit. If any of your balances climb past half of your available credit limit, pay them down or spread the debt around other accounts, otherwise, your credit rating gets tarnished.
Credit Score
It’s easy to lower your interest rate by ensuring your credit score is high. It will lower your monthly payments, so your debt will be taken care of at a much quicker rate. Quickly paying off your debts is a good way to improve your credit score. This will give you access to more competitive rates in the future.
If you credit score is good, you should have no problem purchasing a house and obtaining a mortgage. Making your mortgage payment on time each month will also boost your credit score. Once you own a home, you will have financial stability secured by your assets, thus a good credit score. If the need arrives to obtain a loan for any reason, this will be a valuable asset for you.
Installment Account
If you make a decent income, consider an installment account when you want to give your credit score a boost. There is a minimum amount each month that you will have to pay, so be sure not to get in over your head. By successfully handling the installment account, you will help to improve your credit rating.
Many credit card companies are willing to help customers by eliminated late fees or lowering monthly payment amounts. If you do this you will not go into debt more and make your situation worse than it was. Politely ask if it is possible to have your minimum monthly payment adjusted or due date changed.
Before you hire a credit counselor, make sure that you have done your research. While there are lots of counselors with your best interest at heart, there are others who just want your money. Some are just people trying to scam you. It is smart to verify the legitimacy of credit counselors prior to getting involved with them.
Make sure you review all of the negative marks against you on your credit report. While the credit item itself may not be in error, if you can find a mistake in the date, amount, or any other factor, you may be able to have the whole item removed from your report.
Any time you establish any payment plan with any creditor, make sure you get it in writing. If there is a change of heart, this paper will protect you. When the debt is eventually paid or settled in full, you should request documentation of this and forward copies to the primary credit reporting companies.
Go through all the statements you receive. Ensure that all of the listed charges are purchases that you made, keeping an eye out for fraudulent charges. You bear the responsibility for looking after your own best interests, and you are the only person who will know if your statement is accurate.
Try lowering the balance of any revolving accounts you have. Having a lower balance will boost your credit score. When your available credit passes 20, 40, 60, 80 or 100 percent, it gets noticed by the FICO system.
Look for a trusted credit score repair agency to help you. There are far too many of these companies that are quite simply fraudulent. Some people have turned over all of their financial information to people who turned out to be scam artists, and they wound up in worse shape than before they started. See if the company in question has a reputation on any of the user review sites before you commence business with them.
Credit Score
As you can plainly see here in this article, getting out of debt and repairing your credit score is more about common sense than you may have realized. Following these simple steps and credit score improvement will no longer be a distant dream.