How to Improve Credit Score

Credit Score Improvement Tips

How to improve credit score tutorial- a step-by-step procedure of how to understand your credit report with specific ways to improve credit score

1. Get your free credit score instantly.
   
   
2. Get one of your free annual credit reports



3. Carefully review your credit report. Make sure that the report has only your name and your addresses. I have found errors indicating places I never lived.



4. Verify that the amount owed for each creditor listed is accurate.



5. Make sure that there is no bad data over 7 years old (except for certain items, like bankruptcies, these must be removed)



6. Review all the delinquencies and make sure that they were correct. Record which creditor is reporting a delinquency and contact information for that creditor.



7. If there are any errors write a letter to the credit reporting agency indicating that you are disputing the factual accuracy of their report. If you find an error in one report you might want to get the other two reports because chances are the error will show up in all three and you will have to write all 3 agencies.



8. Closing old accounts reduces your available credit and lowers your credit score. On the other hand, when you apply for a mortgage, banks will regard too many open accounts as a negative. So you should try to have only a few credit card accounts.



9. Don't apply for new credit repeatedly. Frequent requests for credit lower your credit score.



10. If you have some creditors that show only one delinquency and these were 2 to 3 years ago, call the creditor (contact information is in your credit report) and request that they remove the delinquency from your record as a courtesy. This is one of the easiest ways of how to improve credit score.



11. When you are disputing an error write separate letters for each dispute. Be very specific about what the error is and what resolution you want (removal of error from report)



12. If you are married you need to write a letter for both you and your spouse since the error is likely to be on both reports.



13. The credit agency has 30 days to respond to you. If you supply additional data, an extra 15 days is added to the response time, so make sure you supply all pertinent information in your first letter.

It is important that you keep track of all your correspondence during this process. Keep copies of letters and date sent. If 60 days have passed and the credit agency has not responded, send another letter and ask that the information be removed. Often the credit agency will delete the information if the creditor has not responded within 30 days.

Don't send in form letters or try to send too many letters at once. The agency will flag your account and it will negatively affect you. Be polite but do not give up if you are rejected. You can refile a request in 60 days.

Learning ways to improve credit score is not a one time excercise. You need to obtain your credit report regularly and keep on top of reporting errors. After a while you will become an expert on how to improve credit score.

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