Credit is one of those things that — for the uninitiated, at least — far too many people don’t take very seriously until they need it.
Here are ten things you can do to keep your credit in good shape so it is there when needed.
1. Pay your bills on time. A strong history of making your timely payments will do wonders for your credit profile, making you appealing to lenders. Often, a good payment history in your credit reports can lead to lower interest rates as well.
2. Pay your bill in full whenever you can. This will save you money on finance charges and even strengthen your credit scores if they are already in the top tier.
3. Do not use more than 50% of the credit line available on each card.
4. Lastly, if you see anything incorrect on your credit reports, dispute it in writing with the credit bureau right away. You can also contact the creditor to inform them that their information is inaccurate and request that they report it correctly with the credit bureau on each of your reports.
5. If you have recently completed bankruptcy, begin rebuilding with a secured credit card or one where it is no hidden fact that they are favorable to people like yourself. This usually comes at a higher interest cost, but after three months, your credit score will increase because you are paying.
6. If you have accounts listed as open but are closed, call the creditor AND send a letter to the credit bureau. Often, creditors never report an account as closed to the credit bureaus. …Or they’ll question why you have all of that available credit on the report in the first place and what your reason is for wanting to obtain it. If the lender believes you will increase your debt load substantially with all that credit, then a lot of seemingly valuable open accounts sitting at zero balances could make you look like someone who belongs in deep down the bowl loan world.
7. Keep your credit score high: Do not make many applications, as this will lower some points on your credit status due to multiple inquiries.
8. Limit your credit card usage to the essentials, and do not spend more than you can pay off within 6 months.
9. If your credit cards have extremely high credit limits that you will never use, balance them out by calling the creditor and asking to reduce my limit to something that makes sense for me. Not only will this help avoid the temptation to overspend, but it will also prevent potential lenders from looking at all that unused available credit and wondering if you are going on a debt spree.
10. The easiest means is to check the details reported by each of the three credit bureaus on a 6-month basis. Examples are TransUnion, Experian, and Equifax. You can get a free copy of your credit reports every 12 months at AnnualCreditReport. com
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