How Can I Improve My Credit Score?

By Author: Lesley Bauer
Total Articles: 7
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It is not very uncommon to find people who ask questions like "how can I improve or fix my credit score?" Since you have landed on this page, you are probably one of them. The good news for you is that things are not as difficult as you think. It is just that you are going through a bad financial phase, which is probably a result of some wrong decision that you took regarding your financial matters. But, once you realize your mistakes, you can always make things right. It is never too late. And, the best time to do the right things is NOW. There is no credit secret. No matter how bad the situation is, you can always achieve a better and impressive FICO score. You just have to follow these simple steps and you will be surprised to see how fast it can put you on the road to debt recovery and to a better financial life.

* Find Out Errors In Your Credit Report And Fix It

The first thing that you have to do is to contact the credit bureau and tell them, "I want the details of my credit score." There are three main agencies that prepare these reports. So, make sure you contact each of them. As per the law, you ...
... are entitled to get a copy of the report free of cost from them, at least once every year. Review the details thoroughly to find out if there are some errors or mistakes in it. Is it showing a debt that you have already paid? If so, then you should provide the proof of payment to them and tell them to rectify the errors. Another alternative is to talk to your respective creditor and request him/her to contact the agency on your behalf and explain that the debt has already been paid. You can easily fix bad credit by fixing these errors.

* Pay The Debt With Highest Interest Rate First

There can be several factors that may lead to a low FICO score. For example, my credit score was low because multiple debts were outstanding in my name. So, I first made a list of all those debts and sorted them according to the ones with the highest interest rates at the top. I started doing some extra savings in order to pay those high rate loans fast. There were some bad mortgage loans in my name, which were actually causing a major damage to my financial profile. I started spending all my savings towards the repayment of these loans and it was pleasant to see that the faster I made the payments, the faster my credit score started going up. You can also use this strategy - it really works.

* Non-profit Credit-Counseling

Sometimes, the situation seems hopeless. If that is the case with you, you had better consult a non-profit credit counseling organization. They will educate you on how you can consolidate all your debts while focusing on the areas of improvement to regain control of your financial life. They may even negotiate a deal with your lenders, convincing them to reduce the rates of interest and penalty charges. Lenders only want their money back. So, they may even eliminate all outstanding penalty charges, if you convince them of your determination to make the repayment.

Since you are going through a stressful situation, you also need to try some stress-reduction techniques to keep you focused on your efforts. It will be a nice idea to keep filling your thoughts with positive commitments. For example, you can keep telling to yourself, "I am determined to improve my credit score." But again, just an oral commitment is not enough; you must also put in some serious efforts in the right direction as suggested above.
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