Thursday, August 24, 2006

Exceptional Ways To Improve Your Credit Score

! That's the thing perhaps most Americans care about these days.It is easy to ruin your credit score -but-building or increasing credit score is not so easy. Here some tips to increase your score easy to follow but exceptional.

First tip:
Dont spend hundreds of on credit repair services that
don’t work.
Write letters to the collection agencies requesting
proof that the bad credit accounts were your. 89% of the time they have
no proof that the bad accounts belonged to you. So you'll be able
to get them deleted from your credit file.

Second tip: Get a copy of your

Obtaining a copy of your credit report is a good idea because if there is something on your report that is incorrect, you will raise credit score once it is removed. Make sure you contact the bureau immediately to remove any incorrect information.

Your credit report should come from the three major bureaus: Experian, Trans Union and Equifax. It's important to know that each service will give you a different credit score.

Third tip:
Open new accounts with high credit limits and keep the
balances low.

If you keep your available credit limits high and
only use 10% to 30% of the credit you have available, your
credit score will improve dramatically.

Fourth tip: Pay Your Bills On Time

Your payment history makes up 35% of your total credit score. Your recent payment history will carry much more weight than what happened five years ago.

Missing just one months payment on anything can knock 50 to 100 points off of your credit score.

Paying your bills on time is a single best way to start rebuilding your credit rating and raise credit score for you.

Fifth tip: Pay Down Your Debt

Your credit card issuer reports your outstanding balance once a month to the credit bureaus. It doesn't matter whether you pay off that balance a few days later or whether you carry it from month to month.

Most people don’t realize that credit bureaus don’t distinguish between those who carry a balance on their cards and those who don’t. So by charging less you can raise credit score even if you pay off your credit cards every month.

Lenders also like to see a lot of of room between the amount of debt on your credit cards and your total credit limits. So the more debt you pay off, the wider that gap and the better your credit score.

Tip no 6: Next, add accounts with years of perfect payment history to
your credit file. This step will take your credit score from 647 to 762.

While you can certainly add seasoned accounts to your credit
file for free, there are companies that claim they can do it for
a fee.

The problem is, they charge between $2,000 and $2,500 per
account. If you want a 700+ credit score you’ll need 3 to 4 of
these accounts. That equates to a cost of $6,000 to $10,000.

Tip no 7: Don’t Close Old Accounts

In the past people were told to close old accounts they weren’t using. But with today's current scoring methods that could actually hurt your credit score.

Closing old or paid off credit accounts lowers the total credit available to you and makes any balances you have appear larger in credit score calculations. Closing your oldest accounts can actually shorten the length of your credit history and to a lender it makes you less credit worthy.

If you are trying to minimize identity theft and it's worth the peace of mind for you to close your old or paid off accounts, the good news is it will only lower you score a minimal amount. But just by keeping those old accounts open you can raise credit score for you.

Tip no 8: Stay Out Of Bankruptcy

Bankruptcy is the single worst thing that will destroy your credit score. will lower your credit score by 200 points or more and is very difficult to come back from.

Once your credit score falls below 620, any loan you get will be far more expensive. A bankruptcy on your credit record is reported for up to 10 years.

Your credit score will go up if you follow these steps.

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