Easy Ways to Improve Your FICO Score
Even though I spent the better half of my life working in finance and banking, like everyone else, I have had to work to keep my credit in good shape. In actuality, this is not the case. I have been through many ups and downs in my life and more than once found myself in need of a little credit restoration. When most people find this out, they are always anxious to find out what methods I use to repair my own credit.
To get started improving my credit score, the first thing I do is to get a current copy of my credit reports from Equifax, Trans Union and Experian. Chances are you will find more errors than you can imagine. I had a very close friend who had to file for a medical bankruptcy. Since all of her debts were included in her bankruptcy, she had not bothered checking her credit report since she had received her discharge. When she finally got around to it, she found that just about every medical collection she had was still being reported as open. Her credit score when up quite a bit after she got these errors corrected.
Getting rid of revolving debt is one of the best ways to improve your credit score. Even if you are paying your credit cards on time each month, carrying balances is still lowing your credit score. Your credit utilization ratio, or the relationship between the credit you are using and what you have available to you, is the second most important determinant of your credit score. For credit score optimization, try to get the amount that you owe to below 20% of what you have available to you. Of course, there are many ways to improve your credit. The key is to make conscious, consistent effort.
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