{"id":2667,"date":"2008-07-30T18:16:43","date_gmt":"2008-07-30T23:16:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/magic1host.com\/blog\/2008\/07\/30\/4-steps-to-improving-your-credit-score\/"},"modified":"2008-07-30T18:16:43","modified_gmt":"2008-07-30T23:16:43","slug":"4-steps-to-improving-your-credit-score","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/magic1host.com\/blog\/?p=2667","title":{"rendered":"4 Steps to Improving your Credit Score"},"content":{"rendered":"
by Rob Kosberg<\/div>\n

Though the mistakes people make in handling their credit<\/a> is well documented no one argue that good credit is vital. A good credit score is a stepping stone to many advantages in wealth creation. Here are a few credit basics to improving or maintaining your score.<\/p>\n

Step 1: Determine what needs Improvement? Your first order of duty is to determine exactly what derogatory and incorrect items show on your credit report. There are several ways to accomplish this but the easiest is simply going directly to the source. There are 3 credit bureaus that creditors use. They are as follows; www.equifax.com, www.transunion.com, and www.experian.com.<\/p>\n

Make sure that you get both your credit report and score. Do not waste your time with a so called free credit report service as those are usually a waste of you time. They are usually trying to sell you into some monthly credit monitoring plan that is expensive and unnecessary.<\/p>\n

When you receive your three reports take the time to review each one individually. Each credit repository reports your score based on a different matrix and some creditors do not report to all three bureas. Make note of any item that is reflecting as late or is listed as a public record.<\/p>\n

Step 2:Dispute the issues. Make sure that when you dispute the incorrect and derogatory items that you do it by hand written letters in your own words. Do not use the standard bureau forms that are provided. The employees at the bureaus are real people trained to be on the look out for credit repair companies and false disputes. You will get a better response by taking the time to personalize things.<\/p>\n

Do this with all inaccurate information on your report. It is not very hard to do and can raise your score very quickly. If the credit account in dispute is yours, and it is currently an open account, then you should contact that creditor directly. Many times a creditor will remove derogatory items at the request of a current client. In some cases putting pressure on the creditor by threatening to close your account will get them act quickly on your behalf.<\/p>\n

Step 3: Sit it out or Pay. Eventually almost all derogatory credit will come off your credit report after 7 years. In some cases you are better waiting it out then investigating. If you are close to the 7 year period then investigating the account could reactivate the derogatory and you will see an immediate drop in credit score. So take care in disputing an item that is old and that you cannot prove to be incorrect.<\/p>\n

Another thing you can do to improve your scores immediately is to pay down current credit items such as credit cards with higher balances. A good rule of thumb is that your balances should be no more than 50% of your available credit and preferable as low as 30%. If you have one card with a zero balance and another with a higher balance then you are better off transferring a part of that balance to the free and clear card.<\/p>\n

Step 4: Don’t open new credit or close old credit accounts. Closing out an old card, even one that you’ve not used in years can lower your score. One of the factors in credit scoring is length of time that your credit has been established. So older accounts can carry alot of weight in scoring. Obviously, new accounts will drive down the average that you’ve had credit and effect the score.<\/p>\n

By applying the strategies I’ve outlined here you can fix or maintain your credit. In some cases, working with a credit repair agency is worthwhile but before you do these simple steps can put you well on your way to excellent credit.<\/p>\n

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About the Author:<\/div>\n
If you are in the market to Buy a Home then check out Rob Kosbergs’ Complete FREE Guide on Buying your Dream Home with a Zero Down Mortgage<\/a> or for up to date Mortgage info visit my Mortgage Blog<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Though the mistakes people make in handling their credit is well documented no one argue that good credit is vital. A good credit score is a stepping stone to many advantages in wealth creation. Here are a few credit basics to improving or maintaining your score.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1135,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[77],"class_list":["post-2667","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-business","tag-business"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/magic1host.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2667","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/magic1host.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/magic1host.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magic1host.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1135"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magic1host.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2667"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/magic1host.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2667\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/magic1host.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2667"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magic1host.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2667"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magic1host.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2667"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}