Increase Your Credit Score by 100 points in 45 days!
Sun, Jan 6, 2008
Your credit score is used by lenders to determine if you can get a mortgage loan and what interest rate they will charge you. It is also used to obtain a car loan, cell phone contract - even employers and landlords check it! This is a precious 3 digit number you should try your best to protect. My clients often ask me about ways they can easily improve their credit score. I’ve put together a list of the top 6 things that you can do that will help raise your credit score.
What’s In Your FICO® Credit Score
Ways to Increase your Credit Score!
1 - Pay Past Due Accounts
(does NOT include judgments or collection accounts)
2 - Have Late Payments Removed or Have Mistakes Corrected
Phone your creditor and request it - always get a letter that documents it with name/address/account #, specific late or mistake to be corrected, on company letterhead, signed by employee - BE PERSISTENT!
3 - Increase Credit Limits
Every 6 months request an increase to credit limit (do NOT allow them to pull credit)
4 - Become an Authorized User
Ask a relative or friend to add you to a credit account in good standing (current balances below 10% of limit + good payment history)
5 - Do NOT Close Accounts
Closing accounts with a long credit history will hurt your credit score!
6 - Keep Balances-to-Limit Ratio Low
Below 40% is ideal. If you have charged $5,000 on a card with a $10,000 limit - that is hurting your score. If you have $2,000 on a card with a $10,000 limit - that is not harming your credit score.
Savings Example
The higher your FICO® scores the less you can expect to pay for your loan. For example, on a $216,000 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage:
| If your FICO® score is | Your interest rate is | …and your monthly payment is |
|---|---|---|
| 760 - 850 | 5.74% | $1,259 |
| 700 - 759 | 5.96% | $1,289 |
| 680 - 699 | 6.14% | $1,314 |
| 660 - 679 | 6.35% | $1,344 |
| 640 - 659 | 6.78% | $1,405 |
| 620 - 639 | 7.33% | $1,485 |
As you can see in this example using today’s national rates, a person with a FICO®score of 760 or better will pay $226 less per month for a $216,000 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage than a person with a FICO® score of 620 – that’s a savings of $2,712 per year. You can see how essential improving your credit scores can be if they are low, and also how important it is to keep them high if they are good. - source www.myfico.com
www.AnnualCreditReport.com
* * * By law, you are allowed to review your credit score - for FREE, once a year. Check it out! * * *
If you would like more detailed information how to make your Credit Score shine, please email or call me and I’ll gladly get you more helpful information! Becky@BeckyWyattOnline.com
Tags: credit score, fico, mortgage
February 20th, 2008 at 4:33 pm
Another tip, which only works if you’ve already defaulted on an obligation, is to ask the collection agency for the original paperwork. If they can’t find it, mainly because your obligation has probably already passed through several hands, then they can’t report it: http://www.followsteph.com/2008/02/18/a-lesser-known-secret-tip-to-increase-your-credit-score/
June 22nd, 2009 at 7:51 am
This is interesting. You seem very knowledgeable in your field.