When you see those advertisements that say you can fix your own credit it’s understandable that you’re skeptical, but there is some small grains of truth to them – there are some things that you can do to make your credit better on your own. That will help you raise your credit score and will work to your advantage when you try to get a loan in the future, but you have to be willing to put in the work. Step one is to know what’s on your credit report and why it’s there, because it’s pretty hard to fix something or improve upon it if you don’t have any starting point for it.
Next, step two is to take a look at the credit reports that you’ve been sent from the various bureaus (there should be three of them – Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion) and spend some time comparing them. If you see discrepancies, part of your credit problem could be that there are things on your credit that actually don’t belong to you and that are hurting your credit. You can call the credit bureaus and ask that these things be removed, and they will investigate them for you – finding no evidence that these things really belong to you will get them removed from your file and a new copy of your credit report issued to you, which can help to raise your credit score.
In step three, you’ll want to count up the open, active accounts that you currently have and see that you have at least three, since that’s how many you need to have a good credit score. It’s hard to tell how responsible you are with your credit if you only have one or two open accounts, and if you have three to five it’s much easier to see what you’ve been doing with your credit, especially if those accounts are varied (like vehicle loans or a mortgage) and not all credit cards. You can get more accounts if you don’t have enough, but you’ll have to be careful how you do this, since just running out and applying for more credit cards can actually really hurt your credit score.
Step four is finding someone that you trust and asking that person to add you to their credit cards – but there’s a catch to this. You won’t actually get a card or be allowed to use it, but you will be added as an authorized user, effectively giving the length and quality of their credit on that card over to your credit report, as well. However, don’t try this with someone who hasn’t had the card very long or who hasn’t been paying it on time, or their bad credit will be attached to your credit report, and you definitely don’t want that.
In step five, you have to start paying down your debt, because having high balances on things will really hurt you in the long run – it makes you look irresponsible. Your credit card debt, for example, should be no more than 30% of the amount that you’re actually allowed to borrow on your credit cards, but even if you can’t get them to that point work to get them down below 50% of the available credit. Having balances that are low and that stay low means that your lenders will see that you’re taking good care of the credit you’ve been offered, so you’ll have a better chance of getting even more credit.
Another important step, the sixth one on the list, is to not take a step at all, in the sense that you don’t want to close out the credit accounts that you have paid off. Accounts that are in good standing and that are still open give you points on your credit report and if you close those accounts out you might actually see your credit score drop by a little bit instead of rising. Some accounts you won’t have control over and they will automatically close out when they are paid off, like mortgages and car loans, but keep those good-standing, paid off credit card accounts open.
The easiest step in number seven, in which you maintain what you’re doing and pay all of your bills on time so that your credit score can stay as high as possible. Once you get rid of your old debt make sure you don’t start adding up a bunch of new debt, and keep your credit score high so you can get credit for something when you actually need it. If you don’t overextend yourself and you only use credit when you need it, you’ll have a better chance of a great credit score and the opportunity for lower-interest loans.
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