Lately, there have been a number of commercials on television offering solutions to help you build your credit score or get your credit back on track. These companies offer to help you in return for charging you a fee for their help. Unfortunately, many of these companies cannot do anything for you that you couldn’t do for yourself for free. If you are interested in increasing your credit score, here are the steps that you can take to build your credit score on your own.
Check Your Credit Report For Errors
It has been estimated that nearly 25% of all credit reports have errors on them that decrease the person’s credit score and makes it more difficult for them to get additional credit. Removing or correcting these items can give your credit score a significant boost, depending on what the error is. Report any errors found to both the reporting creditor and the credit monitoring bureau that has listed the error on your credit report along with a request to review and correct the information. In limited cases, you may have to seek legal help to get incorrect information removed completely from the report.
Pay All Of Your Bills On Time
Paying all of your bills on time is very important for increasing your credit score. While not all creditors report on time payments, most quickly report late and missed payments to the credit monitoring bureaus, ensuring the delinquencies will damage your credit score. Try to pay your bills as soon as they arrive at your home to make sure that the bills are not laid to the side and forgotten. A few years of on time payments will help reverse any previous damage done to your credit score.
Do Not Charge Anything That You Cannot Pay Off Quickly
One of the biggest mistakes that people make when using credit is charging more than they can afford to pay off each month. Carrying a balance on your credit card subjects you to significant charges from the high interest rates and puts you at risk of defaulting if the balance becomes too high for you to handle. To ensure that you do not get in over your head, only charge what you can afford to pay off each month. If for some reason you must charge more than that, make a plan for paying off the balance as quickly as possible and do not charge anything else to the credit card until the previous purchases have been paid off.