Tips to improve your credit score: Do you know how to improve your credit score? Credit scores are determined by a complex formula that looks at your income, your debt repayment history, your total approved credit limits and your credit usage levels. The information is crunched into a scoring system that assigns a number of between 300 and 900. This is known as your FICO score. The higher you are on the scale, the less risky you are to a lender. Generally, 680 and higher is good. Mortgage and credit experts recommend getting a sneak peek at your credit rating yearly or every two years. The main reasons for this are to ensure that the information the credit bureau has is accurate and to make sure youre not the victim of fraud. Credit rating agencies such as Equifax Canada and TransUnion Canada are typically used to determine scores. Heres how you can improve your credit score, even if youve been a little negligent paying your credit cards on time: 1. Pay your bills by their due date, even if its the minimum amount. Try setting up automatic payments so you dont miss a date. 2. Keep your spending well below your credit limit. Even if you pay off your balance every month, maxing out your credit looks bad. 3. Make sure you use your credit. An active history is what lenders look for so pull out your plastic every so often. 4. Dont carry tons of credit cards. Most card holders are unaware that your credit is negatively affected every time a company checks your credit rating in order to issue you new credit. 5. Be wary of having too many credit lines. A number of loans may worry some lenders that youre desperately seeking credit everywhere and that you wont be able to pay the debt off. 6. People with exceptionally poor credit need to re-establish their credit by getting a secured credit card. These cards are similar to gift cards as you pay the credit company upfront and then make purchases on it until the balance depletes.
Posted on: Wed, 19 Nov 2014 21:00:00 +0000
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