How to Rocket Launch Your Credit Score

A good credit score is your ticket to new credit cards and loans at low interest rates. Low interest rates save you money each month, and that means you have more money in your pocket to spend or save as you please.

So how do you take your credit score to the next level? Here are 15 tried and true ways that will have you in great shape in no time.

1. Use your 3 free credit report checks Order your reports online and check them for any errors that could be spoiling your score. Look for late payments, delinquencies and misspellings that may mean someone else’s report is mixed up with yours.
2. Dispute every report error. Protest to the credit bureau that is reporting the error. Send the bureau copies of your evidence that the information is wrong.
3. Don’t open any new credit accounts to keep your credit inquiries at zero.
4. Do not close any accounts even if you no longer use them (your combined credit limits can help minimize your credit utilization ratio).
5. Pay every bill on time, every time. This is the biggest thing you can do to instantly begin transforming your credit score. You’ll see a lift within 6 months.
6. Add a consumer statement to your credit report to offset any big negatives like bankruptcies or liens. The statement gives your side of the story. Contact customer service at the credit bureau for assistance. A lender may read it and decide to take a chance on you, which offsets a lower score.
7. Improve credit utilization ratio. This measures how much of your available credit you are using. Pay down your debt to get it below 30% of your total credit limits (all cards combined). Don’t ever go over that threshold of debt or your score will plummet.
8. Ask for rapid rescoring from your lender. This new process allows a new credit score to be generated within a few days after you complete some credit-improving task such as reducing your debt.
9. Only use your lowest interest rate credit card. Put the others away while you pay them off. Every bit of interest reduced helps when you’re trying to turn your credit around.
10. Do not get arrested, or sued. Both can show up on your report.
11. Watch your mail. Pursue a bill you’re expecting if it doesn’t arrive as scheduled. If you don’t, you’ll be penalized by a late payment notation even if the bill never arrives.
12. Have negative items removed as soon as possible. Request that bankruptcies, tax liens, foreclosures etc., be removed ahead of schedule. 7 years is the maximum time they may be reported. There is no MINIMUM time they must remain, so ask, and keep asking.
13. Request negative information be removed by a creditor. Once you are in good standing with a creditor, request that an old item (for example, a late payment) be removed and no longer reported. Ask for this as a goodwill measure.
14. Know exactly what you make each month. Cut costs and use the difference to pay toward debt. The lower the debt, the higher the score.
15. Don’t foolishly endanger your identity by carrying every credit card you own. Carry only your primary card. Leave your social security card and other non-essential documents at home. Identity theft can take months to sort through and your score could be devastated.