Your credit score is the number that reflects how likely you are to pay your debt back. A lot of lenders, such as banks and credit card companies, often look at your credit history when they calculate your credit score. This shows them the level of risk in lending to you. Therefore, you need to be concerned about your credit score because the higher it is, the higher your chances of getting accepted for credit along with lower rates. You need to put into effect some ways to boost your credit score. Boosting your credit score is something important in many cases, and it is something achievable, even within a short period.
Here, we outline to you how to build your credit score fast and get the desired results. Whether your credit score is currently inadequate or good, these tips are nevertheless as important as ever for you. Therefore, if you have been asking yourself the question “how to boost my credit score fast?”, you should worry no more.
Know Your Actual Score
From experience, the easiest way to know how to boost my credit score fast is by first understanding what the score itself is, and you should endeavor to do that too. When you know it, improving it becomes even easier? Surprisingly, it has been established that a lot of people do not understand what is on their credit report. You should try to have an idea what you have on your credit report by requesting it from a credit bureau once in every 12 months for free. You can contact any of the major credit bureaus that can do this for you. These bureaus are Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. Under federal law, they are required to give you one each year. Do not hesitate to take advantage of that. It remains one of the ways to boost your credit score quickly. It is possible you have information on your credit card report which has been compiled by these major credit reporting agencies even if you have never had a loan or credit card.
Create a Track Record
Again, one more way to boost your credit score is by establishing a track record yourself. This requires you to use credit and pay on time. One trick is to hold small balances each month. Although credit bureaus do not reveal the formula used by them to calculate credit scores, it is certain that having so much outstanding credit will negatively affect your credit score. Make small purchases with your credit card and make sure you pay off the balance each month. If you charge a small amount on at least one credit card and pay the balance on time in full, this shows that you can manage your credit without charging above what you can pay.
Ask for a Credit Limit Increase
Another way how to boost my credit score fast is by requesting a credit limit increase, which is a great strategy you can also try. It is straightforward. All you must do is tell your credit card providers to increase the limits on all your cards. If you are the type who pays your credit card providers in time, they will most likely accept the request. However, it should be noted that this trick will only work if you do not increase the rate at which you spend.
Be careful with how you use this method. Failure to do this may lead to a serious inquiry on your credit report, which can negatively impact your credit score. However, if properly used, this strategy is one of the most efficient ways to boost your credit score. This is because when your credit limits are increased, your credit utilization rate also improves.i.e., the balance between the amount of debt you have and your total credit limits, which are essential factors that largely contribute to your credit score.
Determine the Kind of Credit That Is the Best for You
If you are looking for how to boost credit score fast, then you should research your choices of a credit card. Your choice of credit will most likely be limited if you have little or no credit history. A secured loan is easiest to obtain, such as a Merchant card, Gas card, or even title loans with bad credit. They are quite easy to get and will also help you establish a credit history. When it comes to credit score, they don’t hold as much weight like that of an unsecured credit card like Visa, American Express, MasterCard or Discover as they are easy to be approved for.
Use Your Credit Wisely
One habit common to most people that negatively affect their credit scores is purchasing and thinking about paying later. As such, the smartest decisions you can make is to use your credit cards for what you ordinarily pay with cash. This is how to boost your credit score fast. This is even particularly more important to those that are just starting out because, at that point, you do not boast of a long, distinguished track record that can help you reduce the effect of little mistakes.
Find Credit Report Errors
The reason for a drop in your credit score may be due to one or more report errors. If this is the case, the only way to boost your credit score is by correcting the mistakes. You can request your credit report for free once every 12 months at annualcreditreport.com. Credit bureaus are not infallible; they can make mistakes in preparing your credit report. For instance, you may see names and addresses that you do not know at all on your credit report. Similarly, credit bureaus can mistakenly report a payoff as a charge off.
The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) confers the right to dispute credit report errors on consumers. As such, if you discover any error, do not hesitate to notify the credit bureau so that the mistake gets corrected as soon as possible. The Act requires most credit report issues to be sorted out in 30 days, or 45 days in a few situations.
Consider Using a Rapid Rescore
If you seriously need to know how to boost credit score fast, then maybe you can try out rapid rescoring.
- What is rapid rescore?
Rapid rescoring services are services provided by mortgage lenders when applicants are on the edge of qualifying for a better interest rate. It can help you update your credit reports or correct errors on it. Therefore, if you recently just paid off a debt or you have proof that there is a mistake on your credit score, you can tender the documentation to the lender after which they will request a rapid rescore on your behalf and either help you absorb the cost or pass it on to you. It is one good way to boost your credit score.
Avoid Certain Mistakes
If you want an answer to the question “how to boost my credit score fast?”, there are a few mistakes you need to avoid as much as possible. Doing them can severely injure your credit score. They include:
- Applying for credit many times within a short amount of time: Keep your applications limited and go only for the opportunities that offer you the best deal.
- Having a high debt to credit ratio
- Having high outstanding balances on your credit cards
- Making late payments
- Failure to establish a credit history
Keep Tabs on Your Credit Report
Most people do not periodically keep up with their credit reports, such that when a fraudulent activity or mistake is affecting their credit scores, they would not even know. One of the smart ways to boost your credit score is by following your report regularly. This is going to let you know what is happening and going on about your credit score.
How to Request a Free Credit Report
The Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act (FACT Act) allows you to get an annual credit report file for free once in a year from each of the three major credit bureaus. Also, by the Act, the bureaus are to create a central source through which the request for the free annual credit file disclosures can be made. Currently, the website serving as the primary source is annualreportcredit.com. Go there to obtain your credit report for free.
Conclusion
As highlighted earlier, knowing how to boost credit score fast might seem a bit difficult to you, but the reverse might be the case if you can do the things required. Above, we have highlighted ways to boost your credit score, and they are sure to bring about your desired result if followed correctly. Do not be hesitant to try them out.
