- Pay your bills on time. Sounds simple, but this is the biggest thing you can do to keep your score high. Delinquent payments and collections have a major negative impact on a score.
- Keep your balances low on unsecured revolving debt like credit cards. High outstanding balances can affect a score.
- The amount of your unused credit is an important factor in calculating your score. You should only apply for credit that you need.
- Make sure the information in your credit report is correct. If its not, dispute it with the credit agencies and/or with the creditor directly.
- Routine credit checks from companies that you have accounts with should not cause damaging inquiries.
- The type of loan that you are applying for makes a difference in the credit score that they will accept; 660 is fine for a auto or home loan but is risky for a credit card company because the consumer is more likely to make his car or mortgage payments before paying on a credit card if he is in a financial bind.
- Low balances = better credit score and Zero Balances = even better. If given a choice between paying several cards down or paying one off, pay the one off.
- If a trade line is labeled as “in dispute” by the bureaus, it is temporarily not included in the credit score. This does not apply to public records or collections.
- If your score is above 740 there is no point in trying to improve it, you'll probably just screw it up.
- Your average balance on credit cards and how many of your cards are over 50% of their limit are both factors in your credit score.
- Pay down your cards but don't necessarily close the accounts (that would skew your ratios).
- Approximately 70% of lenders are using the latest version of the bureau score models. The other 30% includes some large lenders whose infrastructures cannot yet handle the upgrade.
- Public records are all considered equal for the score so a tax lien is just as bad as a bankruptcy on your score.
- Although Income is not factored into bureau scores, it may be part of an application score. Depends on the lender.
- Inquiries created by periodic reviews from your current creditors do not affect your score.
|
