Everybody wants a good credit score. After all, a strong number on your credit report is essentially the key to unlocking all kinds of financial products and options that can benefit you in the long run. Credit cards, substantial loans, and low interest rates could all be yours if you can just get that credit number in the 700 range.
Unfortunately, life circumstances sometimes take over, and money gets tight. Before you know it, you could find yourself buried under a mountain of debt and a credit score that wouldn’t get you the time of day.
Improving your credit score generally takes some time–say, several months. However, there are ways to boost your credit score fast. These are common-sense solutions, and if you follow them, your credit score can begin to rise. That means you will qualify for all kinds of new loans. You may even start looking into how home improvement loans work.
Check out these four ways to kickstart a stagnant credit score when you’re in a pinch.
1. Pay Down Current Debts
If you’re the type of person who keeps your debts revolving from month to month, then take steps to pay off those debts as soon as you can. Aside from saving yourself on all that interest, eliminating the debt will instantly decrease your credit usage. To creditors, that’s a sign of a fiscally responsible person. Some finance experts recommend using no more than 30% of your available credit in a given month. The less credit you use, the better off your credit score is likely to be.
2. Pay Your Monthly Bills on Time
Now, it’s worth it to mention that utility companies generally do not report your payments or non-payments to credit bureaus. If that’s the case, you might wonder, then why would someone recommend paying these monthly bills on time?
It’s because utility bills naturally provide one of the best ways to build credit fast. If you use a credit card to pay your utilities, you will probably accumulate a few hundred dollars a month in those bills alone.
Put it in your calendar, or write yourself notes, to pay off those utility payments from your credit card bill on time every month. The recurring nature of those payments guarantees you a monthly outlet to pay down debt. This is an easy way to boost your credit score fast.
3. Increase Your Credit Limit
If you’re able, you can also boost your credit score by raising your credit limits. With more credit available to you, any debt you currently have will suddenly equal a smaller percentage of your total. Of course, the trick here is not to grow that debt just because you can borrow more. That would wind you back up in the same predicament.
There are two main ways to increase your credit limit. You can request a credit increase from the institution where you hold your credit cards. Some banks do this automatically every so often, but asking directly for an increase expedites that process.
The other way to increase your credit limit is to open a new credit card. Doing that instantly expands your total credit allowances. Managing the extra card responsibly shows creditors that you can handle the temptation of additional credit.
All of this is good for your credit score.
4. Correct Credit Report Errors
The last of our recommended ways to boost your credit score fast is to check over your credit reports for errors and correct them as soon as possible. If you didn’t think it was possible for mistakes to exist on those ever-so official documents known as credit reports, think again. Errors are present in about 25% of credit reports in the United States. Those errors could seriously bring down your credit score, and unfairly so.
If you find such an anomaly in your report, dispute it with the credit bureau. The sooner you correct the mistakes, the faster you can raise your credit score and get on with your life.
Simplify Improving Your Credit Score
Our main point in this post is to impart to you that it doesn’t have to take you years to rebuild a low credit score. You can take these four simple steps right now to start down the right path, that of producing and maintaining a healthy credit score.
Don’t forget, once you build up that number again, you can start looking into all kinds of new financing options for yourself. From researching how home improvement loans work, to getting a mortgage, to securing a car loan, a robust credit score is good news all around.
