So, you’re wanting to buy a new house or car, need a personal loan to cover an unforeseen emergency, or want to get a new credit card for those “just in case” situations, but you’ve been down on your luck, missed a few payments and now you have bad credit. Having a low credit score will keep you from getting loans altogether or at least cause you to have to pay high interest rates and slap down large down payments.
However, there are some steps which you can take to increase a credit score fairly quickly. It’s worth taking 30 to 90 days to increase your FICO rating. Doing so will save you thousands of dollars in interest rates and other fees over the life of the loan as well as raise credit lines and lower down payment amounts.
Here are some tips for increasing your credit score quickly:
Pay Down Credit Cards – The three main credit bureaus consider revolving credit card balances more important to your credit rating than installment loans. You want as many balances as possible to be less than 30% of the card’s limit in order to see the best credit improvement.
Resist Using All Available Credit Each Month – The available credit line of credit cards is generally averaged over the complete billing cycle. This means if you use your full line of credit to make a purchase, your credit score will skyrocket. This is even true if you pay the entire balance off each month. Small businesses can get around this by acquiring an additional card and splitting expenses between two or more cards.
Ask Creditors to Apply Goodwill – Sometimes, creditors with whom you’ve been doing business with for a long time will grant you forgiveness when you hit a rough spell and fall behind on a payment. Make the payment as soon as possible and then write the creditor a Goodwill Letter explaining your situation and provide them with the payment information. Ask them to erase the negative payment item from your three credit reports.
Dispute Negative Credit Report Items – Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, you are allowed to dispute any negative item that shows up on your credit report. Send a Letter of Dispute to the credit bureaus which have published the charge. They will contact the creditors or courts and advise them of the dispute. The creditors or courts will need to provide validation of the charges within 30 days and, if not, the charges must be eliminated from your credit report.
If you need assistance with increasing your credit score, contact us for a free consultation at report-credit-today.com.