How To Fix Credit Score After The Damage Has Been Done

The first step to improving your credit score is to be aware of it. You can request a free copy from the three nationwide companies in order to check your personal details, the details of your credit history, and to obtain your credit score. Once you know where you stand you can begin building a better credit history, and by proxy, a higher credit score.

What Is A Good Credit Score?

Credit is scored between 300-850 points. Anything below 620 can make it difficult obtaining a loan or hire purchase arrangement. If you do have a low score, you are not alone; there are millions of people who have low credit scores. Once you are aware of it, you can actively take steps to raise your score, and the chances of getting credit in the future. Even if your credit score is good, you can improve your chances of getting a good interest rate on a mortgage or credit cards.

How Do I Improve My Credit Score?

One way of improving your credit score is by paying debt off your credit cards so that the balances are below 30%. This is also beneficial to you by meaning you pay less interest overall. Attack cards that are close to their credit limit. It is better to make purchases that keep you within that 30% of your credit card balance. If you make big purchases, even if you pay them off within the month, this can negatively affect your credit score. Widening the gap between your limit and your balance is the best plan of action.

If you have a good history with a lender, but have made one or two late payments, you can write to them and request they remove these payments from your credit history. If you have an account with many late payments, try and negotiate. If you make a years’ worth of on-time payments, they may erase your previous history.

If you have had an unfair collections amount with a utilities company, where the debt was not your own, your can relay this to the credit bureau. If the outstanding amount is not a huge, and if it is quite old, they may just remove it without investigating. This may also happen if the former company has merged with a new company and the records have not been kept, or become messy in the merger.