8 Easy Hacks to Boost Your Credit Score
If you have bad credit, you may be wondering what steps you can take to fix it. Fortunately, there are a number of things you can do to see results.
Making a few changes to how you pay your monthly bills could help increase your score by 100 points or more. Here are eight easy hacks to boost your credit score.
- Consider getting a loan. There are several types you can look into. First, if you have an urgent need right now, look into emergency loans for bad credit. These are a great solution when time is critical.
The second type are debt consolidation loans. Rolling multiple credit card payments into one monthly loan can help lower your overall interest rate. It can also make it easier to prevent skipped payments or late fees if your debt is difficult to manage.
- Pay off your credit cards as much as possible. Credit utilization, or the percentage of credit you’re using on your accounts at any given time, plays a key role in your overall credit score. It’s ideal to keep your utilization for each credit card below 30%. People with the highest credit scores tend to utilize less than 7%.
- Ask for credit limit increases. This can be an easy way to lower your credit utilization. If your limit is higher, your utilization will decrease. In order for your credit card limit increase to help, it’s important to make sure you don’t actually use it — or you could make it even harder for yourself to get out of debt.
- Try the Debt Snowball Method. With this debt repayment method, you work to pay off your smallest credit card or debt at a time. In the meantime, you’ll make minimum payments on your other payments. The goal is to use this method until all of your debts are paid off.
This method can encourage you to successfully pay off all of your debt. The only drawback is you may spend more in the long run if your highest debt is attached to a higher interest rate. An alternate method would be to write your debts down in order of interest rate and begin paying the highest off first. - Never miss a payment. Payment history is the main determining factor of your FICO score. Having a history of late payments can have a huge impact on your credit score. The good news? Paying on time will gradually increase your credit score. Consider setting up cell phone reminders so you’ll never be late again.
- Call your lenders and ask what your options are. Most people don’t realize that lenders will sometimes work with you if you’re struggling to repay your debt. You might be able to change your payment due dates to a more comfortable time of the month. In some cases, you might even be able to get the company to lower your interest rate.
- Pay off your balances in full each month. If your debts are small enough, it’s ideal to pay off the entire balance each month. If this isn’t an option, the goal should be to pay off as much as you possibly can. Remember that you should always pay more than just your minimum payment or you’ll risk interest fees piling up and owing much more in the long run.
- Make multiple payments throughout the month. You might consider making a payment every week or at least every other week. This won’t directly improve your credit score, but it will help you lower your balances faster and prevent those pesky interest fees.
These are just eight easy hacks to boost your credit score. Following one or more of these methods for repaying your debt can help pave the way to a more successful financial future.