Nearly everyone has suffered some damage to their credit score, because of either financial difficulties, mistakes, or the actions of others. Many people believe that there is nothing that can be done about their credit score and quickly throw in the towel when they cannot immediately get negative information removed. The truth is that there are many methods that can be used to increase your credit score in a short amount of time. Here are some tips that can help you fix your credit score quickly.
Increase Your Credit Limit
One of the easiest ways to increase your credit score is to increase the credit limits on your credit cards. Part of your credit score calculation is the amount of your credit you are using versus the amount of credit that you have available to you. By increasing your credit limit without increasing your credit card balances, you skew the calculation in your favor. The trick is not to use the additional credit, which will bring your credit score back down to where it was.
Ask For Previous Negative Information To Be Removed
If you credit score has dropped due to negative information being added about your accounts, you may be able to get the information removed by the creditor. This typically works if you have a limited amount of negative information and have been able to make your payments on time for a while since. Contact the creditor directly and plea your case to the representative that answers. The creditor is under no obligation to remove the negative information but if you have had a long history with the company, they may be inclined to overlook a minor negative instance and remove the information from your credit report.
Pay Down Your Credit Card Balances
High balances on your credit cards will translate to a lower credit score. Because you are using a large amount of your available credit, creditors will consider you to be a bigger risk of defaulting than someone that is using a small portion of the credit available to them. If you are interested in applying for a credit product in the near future, pay down your current credit card balances as much as you can first so that you will have a higher credit score and can qualify for a lower interest rate for your new credit product. The best interest rates typically go to those that are using less than 30% of their available credit.