Nerdy Millennial

Top Menu

  • About
  • Contact
  • Write For Us

Main Menu

  • Career
    • Entrepreneurship
    • Blogging
      • Social Media
      • SEO and Keyword Research
  • College
  • Arts & Culture
  • Technology
  • Health and Fitness
    • Nutrition
    • Recipes
      • Baked Goods
      • Breakfast
      • Condiments
      • Dessert
      • Fermented Foods
      • Main Dishes
      • Side Dishes
      • Snacks
      • Soup
    • Keto
    • Vegan
  • Relationships
    • Dating
    • Friendship
    • Parenting
    • Pregnancy & Birth
  • About
  • Contact
  • Write For Us

Nerdy Millennial

Nerdy Millennial

  • Career
    • Entrepreneurship
    • Blogging
      • Social Media
      • SEO and Keyword Research
  • College
  • Arts & Culture
  • Technology
  • Health and Fitness
    • Nutrition
    • Recipes
      • Baked Goods
      • Breakfast
      • Condiments
      • Dessert
      • Fermented Foods
      • Main Dishes
      • Side Dishes
      • Snacks
      • Soup
    • Keto
    • Vegan
  • Relationships
    • Dating
    • Friendship
    • Parenting
    • Pregnancy & Birth
Finances
Home›Finances›6 Smart Ways to Increase Your Credit Score

6 Smart Ways to Increase Your Credit Score

By Vanessa Pruitt, PLMHP, MS
April 5, 2017
1670
0
6 Smart Ways to Increase Your Credit Score

Building and maintaining a good credit score can have a huge impact on your life. Your credit score can determine whether or not you can buy a house, buy a car, or put things like furniture and appliances on credit.

In some areas, your credit score may even determine whether you can rent an apartment.

Not to worry, because anyone can raise their credit score with a little bit of planning. Here are 6 ways to increase your credit score that anyone can do.

1. Pay on Time

The #1 rule of credit is to pay your bills on time. Make sure that you make the minimum payments on all of your credit balances each month.

Whether or not you consistently pay your bills on time lets other creditors know how trustworthy you will be with more credit.

If you have a steady income, try setting up automatic payments. Just make sure you have a budget in place so that your auto payments don't come as a surprise each month.

2. Keep Credit Balances Low

About 30% of your credit score is calculated by looking at your debt-to-credit ratio. That is, how much credit you have compared to how much of your credit limit you are utilizing.

The less of your available credit you are utilizing, the higher your credit score. One way of increasing your credit score is keep the balances on your credit cards and loans low, even if you have a lot of credit.

3. Raise your Credit Limit

Another way to increase your credit score via your debt-to-credit ratio is to have a higher credit limit. You can do this by applying for a credit limit increase with your credit card company.

Just remember, what matters is not necessarily your credit limit. Your credit score will increase by how much of a buffer there is between your actual credit limit and how much of that limit you are actually using.

The goal is to have a high credit limit, and a low usage rate.

4. Don't Apply for Too Much Credit

If you know that you're likely to get declined for new lines of credit, don't apply “just to see”. If you make a lot of applications for credit and they get declined, it impacts your credit score negatively.

Creditors look poorly on borrowers who keep applying for new credit when they obviously have trouble maintaining what they already have.

5. Dispute Reporting Errors

If you feel that there is an error on your credit report, don't hesitate to dispute it. The creditor will be required to provide reporting agencies with more information in order to make sure the report is accurate.

If it's inaccurate, the reporting agencies will either update the misreported information or remove it from your credit history.

Your first step is to obtain a free credit report in order to review what is on your credit report. You can dispute a credit reporting error online or in writing through Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion, depending on which reporting agencies the error appears through (in most cases, all three).

Read here for more information on how to report an error on your credit report.

6. Become an Authorized User

This last method of increasing your credit score is a bit risky, but a valid method nonetheless.

If you can get added as an authorized user on someone's credit card, it will also begin to be reported on your own credit report.

Here's the catch: This person needs to be a responsible individual who pays their credit card on time and who you can trust to improve your credit score. There's always a risk that the credit card holder could stop paying their credit card, which will negatively impact your credit score as well.

In addition, you need to have a trustworthy relationship with this person, as your use of the credit card could also impact their credit score. I recommend having an agreement in writing the amount in which you may use each month, and also an agreement that you will pay off this balance by a certain date each month.

~

What are you doing to improve your credit score? Let us know in the comments!

 

  • Author
  • Recent Posts
Vanessa Pruitt, PLMHP, MS
Vanessa Pruitt, PLMHP, MS
Vanessa is a Provisionally Licensed Mental Health Practitioner in Nebraska and holds an MS in Clinical Psychology. She is a certified trauma professional with a special interest in helping people heal from trauma and complex trauma.
Vanessa Pruitt, PLMHP, MS
Latest posts by Vanessa Pruitt, PLMHP, MS (see all)
  • 7 Tips for Taking Better Cell Phone Photos - May 21, 2022
  • Must-Haves for a Modern Website - February 3, 2022
  • 3 Ways to Take Time for Yourself During Pregnancy - January 31, 2022

No related posts.

Tagsfinancesincrease your credit score

You Might Also Like...

  • CondimentsFeaturedNutrition

    50+ Real Food Condiment Recipes

  • Natural Cleaning Recipes for Home
    At HomeFeatured

    5 Ways to Simplify in the Kitchen: Tip Tuesday

  • Easy Protein Iced Mocha Coffee
    FeaturedHealth and FitnessNutrition

    Easy Protein Iced Mocha Coffee

  • 19 Reasons Why Your Boyfriend Is Mean
    DatingFeatured

    Why Your Boyfriend Is Mean: 19 Reasons Why He’s Mean To You

About Nerdy Millennial

This blog all about millennials sharing their passion, ideas, and expertise about blogging, healthy living, self-improvement, education, parenting, and more!

Interested in contributing? Contact us to pitch your idea or submit an article.

Featured Posts

DatingFeatured

5 Essential Characteristics of a Gentleman for the Modern Dating Scene

A successful gentleman in the modern dating scene brings more to the table than just good looks and a nice car. Although these certainly don't hurt, other essential characteristics make ...
  • The Ultimate Guide to Travel Photography

    The Ultimate Guide to Travel Photography

    By Contributing Author
    August 26, 2022
  • 6 Steps to Make Money with Teespring in 2022

    How to Make Money on Teespring in 2022

    By Ian Walsh
    August 26, 2022
  • Easy Protein Iced Mocha Coffee

    Easy Protein Iced Mocha Coffee

    By Contributing Author
    August 7, 2022
  • 6 Best Spiritual Books of 2022

    6 Best Spiritual Books of 2022

    By Contributing Author
    August 6, 2022
  • The Complete Guide to Throwing an Unforgettable Party

    The Complete Guide to Throwing an Unforgettable Party

    By Contributing Author
    July 26, 2022
  • 4 Ways You Can Manage Your Mental Health

    4 Ways You Can Manage Your Mental Health

    By Contributing Author
    July 23, 2022
  • 7 Tips for Hitting Your Goals

    7 Tips for Hitting Your Goals

    By Contributing Author
    June 10, 2022
  • Developing a Present Moment Connection with Your Baby In Utero

    Developing a Present Moment Connection with Your Baby In Utero

    By Contributing Author
    June 5, 2022
  • The 5 Benefits Of Fishing From A Kayak

    The 5 Benefits Of Fishing From A Kayak

    By Contributing Author
    April 25, 2022

Join Us on Facebook

Search

  • Home
  • About
  • Contact Us
  • Write For Us
  • Comment Policy
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Use
Manage Cookie Consent
We use cookies to optimize our website and our service.
Functional cookies Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
Manage options Manage services Manage vendors Read more about these purposes
View preferences
{title} {title} {title}