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Monday, March 2, 2009

Credit Coach - What Can I Do To Improve My Credit Score?

By Cliff Pape

One of the first things you need to do to improve your credit score is to purchase your credit score and read those tips and explanations that are included in your score.

If you don't know what your credit report looks like, it's impossible to begin improving your score. However, once you do get your report, where do you begin improving your credit score?

Certain things in your credit report have a particular percentage that is being reflected in your total score:

35% of your score comes from your payment history.

30% of your score is based upon the amount of debt owed.

15% of your score is based on how long you have had any credit accounts you currently hold.

10% of your score is based on any new lines of credit you have opened.

10% of your score is determined from what type of an account it is; revolving, installment, etc.

Here are some simple tips on how to improve your credit scores as much as possible.

Payment history: Making timely payments every month is a must if you want to improve your credit score. If you have some payments which are not current, getting caught up on these is an important part of repairing your credit.

Keeping your payments current once you catch up will keep your credit score in good shape. While there is no quick fix here, it is important to know that over a period of six months to a year, making timely payments will lead to your score increasing by as much as 50 points.

Debt, available credit and balances: To improve this part of your credit score, you'll need to have some credit available to you already. Keep your balances on any existing lines of credit to 30% or less of the credit limit. The lower you can keep your balances, the better your credit score will be for it.

Length of credit: It's natural to want to close accounts which you don't use. When you close an established account, however, you can actually hurt your credit score. Even if you don't use this account, having a long established line of credit is a very good thing for your credit score. Keep at least one and preferably two long established accounts, whether or not you use them.

New or recent credit: Having new accounts can demonstrate your continued creditworthiness. You may even want to think about opening a new account if it has been more than a year since you have opened one. However, you should not open a new account which you do not need unless you are trying to improve your credit score; and of course, use this account responsibly (if at all).

Type of credit accounts: The best thing for your credit score is to have both revolving accounts and installment loans which are in good standing. Having a few credit cards which have low balances and installment loans such as car loans or mortgages which are kept current will help to improve your credit score.

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