Having a good credit score is beneficial for you in more ways than just having a good name. You can gain a lot of financial benefits, such as low APR when you apply for a home loan or when buying a new car.
That is why it is essential that you keep an eye on your credit report to make sure there are no errors on it. A good credit score also allows you access to the very best credit cards where you can earn more rewards.
Keep on reading to find out how you can boost your credit score fast to have access to all the great features.
7 Ways To Boost Your Credit Score Fast
Boosting your credit score is not always easy, and sometimes it might take time to improve it to a much better level. The following is a list of the fastest ways to get your credit score to a more acceptable or comfortable level.
1. Check Your Credit Report
To start, you need to check your credit report online to make sure there are no errors. This will take only a few minutes. You may also get some useful information on this site about which factors are influencing your credit score.
You should keep in mind that lenders may not all use the same type of credit score, but this is a good start for you. If you do not have a good credit score of at least 670 points, make sure there are no errors on your credit report.
If you find an error on your credit report, even if it is just an incorrect telephone number, you should contact the credit bureau. Remember that no error is too small to dispute with the credit bureau, and you will see a difference after they have corrected it.
2. Clear Your History
When you check your credit report, make sure that your history is up to date regarding any old debt. You may find that the negative history of old accounts that have been paid off is still showing up on your credit report.
To get this done may take some time and effort from your side, and you may even need the help of an attorney. But removing that series of late payments of an old account will improve your credit score drastically.
You may need to contact the original creditor to ask them to remove that old paid-off account from your credit report. Or, if you do not want to make use of an attorney, there are always collection agencies or debt buyers you can ask for help.
You should convince them to completely remove the account from your report and not just show it as paid-off.
3. Increase Your Credit Limit
If you increase your credit limit, you may also improve or lower your overall credit utilization rate. The credit utilization rate is the difference between your current credit and the most credit you are allowed to have.
So if you have a $1,000 credit balance and your maximum credit is $15,000, the difference between that is calculated. To see what your credit utilization rate is, take the amount of credit you have and divide it into the maximum, and multiply by 100.
Each card is calculated separately, but credit companies will take the total of all your credit cards and calculate the average. Just make sure you are not maxing out your credit limit to keep your overall rate low.
To increase your credit limit, you can simply ask for more credit or apply for another credit card with a separate utilization rate. There are certain credit cards that cater to people with not so good credit scores to help you improve them.
The best cards to go for are those with cashback rewards with very low to no fees for people with low credit scores. You can use a few ways to keep your credit utilization score low, and it is ideal if it is below 30 percent.
- Split purchases between different credit cards
- When you need to make large one-time purchases, make extra payments before the billing cycle is over
- Use those cards that earn bonus points
- Charge only essential purchases such as groceries and gas
4. Pay More Than Just the Minimum
If you are able to pay more than just the minimum monthly payment on your credit card, you should do it. This will help to lower your overall revolving debt, which will have a significant influence on your credit utilization rate.
You can find out from your credit company how often they report payments on your credit report to show at the credit bureau. The more often they report, the better for your overall credit score; keep in mind that some creditors report monthly.
So if you want to boost your credit score quickly, you should concentrate more on those creditors who report more regularly. For a much better rate, you can make more than just one payment during the month so that it can reflect more often on your report.
5. Be an Authorized User
Family members with a higher credit score than what you have can add you to their credit card as an authorized user. If the card has a long account history with a low utilization score, it can make quite a difference to your credit score.
The card should also be paid on-time for most of the credit card’s recent history.
6. Join a Credit Boost Service
If you sign up for a credit boost service such as Experian Boost, they will help by reporting your payments regularly. These companies will also report your utility payments and cell phone plans to the credit bureau for a credit score boost.
7. Pay On Time
The next step you need to take is to make sure that your bills are paid on time every month. This may take a bit longer to boost your credit score, but it is a good practice that will help your overall credit score.
Summary
As you can see, there are fast ways to boost your credit score, but you should not forget about the slower ways as well. All methods will have a permanent and significant influence on your overall credit score, so keep them current and up to date.