3 Quick Tips for Increasing Your Credit Score

Drive-through windows, next-day shipping, and quick fixes; in our society of immediacy, we like things to happen quickly. The same attitude is typical when it comes to improving our credit scores. We know it's important to have a good credit score and that when practiced over a long enough time period, using credit responsibly will result in a good credit rating. But what if you need results quickly? If you're searching for a simple way you may be able to increase your score by a few points, here are 3 tips:

1) Make payments on your credit cards immediately before the reporting date to show lower balances. To find out the best date to make a payment, your credit report should show what day of the month your creditors are sending updates to the credit bureaus. When you find out this date, make it a point to make your credit card payments about 3 to 5 days before when the accounts get reported. Your reports will reflect the lower outstanding balance, instead of the higher balance, giving your credit score a little boost.

2) Use old cards now and then. Most of us have a few older cards that were used only once or twice when buying that new electronics equipment, or a department store account you opened to get 30 percent off your purchase. Pull those cards out every once in a while and use them for small purchases that you can easily pay off the next month. These old accounts will then show activity again (positive activity because you paid them off), and that will reflect well on your credit rating.

3) Untapped credit is a good thing, so keep your utilization ratios at about 30 or less across all of your cards. For example, if your credit limit is $10,000, maintain a balance at or below $3,300. Furthermore, 3 cards with a $1,000 balance on each is better than one card with a $3,000 balance; same total outstanding balance, but spreading it out helps out your score. Although common sense tells you it shouldn't matter, you will need to learn to play the game to achieve the best score.

A few quick fixes are great, but they are not going to be enough to restore a low credit score. If you are looking to improve a low credit score by more than a few points, in less time than it would take for a credit score to improve on its own, you'll need to look beyond simple fixes. Depending on your credit situation, increasing your credit score may require removing the questionable negative items on your credit reports, paying down high account balances, diversifying your credit usage, reorganizing your account balances, or a combination of all the above.

Solving credit score problems takes more than quick fixes. It takes time, knowledge, and perseverance to clean up your credit reports. It will be worth it in the end, and in a society where instant gratification is expected, credit repair proves that sometimes there are things worth waiting for.

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For over 18 years, Lexington Law, the trusted leader in credit repair, has been helping clients take action on their credit. For more information about Lexington Law or about your credit score, visit LexingtonLaw.com

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