Credit Repair Blog

Enhancing credit should always be part of financial planning. A good credit score can save you a lot of money in long term especially when you have to purchase big ticket items such as a house or a automobile. For example, having an excellent FICO score could mean zero or low down payment, reduced monthly payments, and reduced interest that you have to pay. Other benefits of having a good credit score is also for getting jobs and lowering your monthly insurance premiums. Companies with high profile employment opportunities would potentially review your credit score as a requirement for employment. These work opportunities are mostly in financial sectors that would need the credit report. Insurance companies also provides lower premiums for people with good or excellent credit scores.

There are a lot of ways that you can improve your FICO score. While most people go through those credit repair companies, you do not have to use those companies to improve your FICO score.

Below are the a few ways to enhance your FICO score:

Have A Closer Look At How Much You Owe on Your Credit Card
Always understand that the bigger your total balance as a percent of your total credit limit across all the credit cards, the lower your FICO score would be. Experts say that you lose 1 FICO point for every percent of your credit limit that you use. So if you have a total credit limit of $40,000 and have an outstanding balance of $80,000 (50%), your FICO score would be 50 points lower than if you had a $0 balance. Be aware that if you unable to pay off your total credit card balance in full, you should try to keep it below thirty percent of the aggregate total credit cards amounts.

Time Using on Your Credit Card
Payments made to your credit cards may take a a number of weeks to get reported by the lender to the credit bureaus. By not charging to your credit card at least 60 days before applying for new loans, it’s more likely that all the payments you have made to date will be shown inyour FICO score by the time a lender requests your credit report.

Always Pay on or Before The Deadline
If you can,try to pay your credit card balance in full and send it as soon as you get in the mail the account statement. If you are unable to pay the balance in full, at the very least pay the minimum amount due.

Avoid Applying for Credit in a Short Time
Lenders usually do not want to see a borrower who applies for a lot of credit card in a short period. This is because that it increases the probability of you defaulting on the loans.

Do not Close Unused Account-
Closing any of your unused credit cards will effectively increase the debt to credit limit ratio. Remember the first method – try to keep your balance below thirty percent of your total credit limit. As an example, assuming that you have three credit accounts, that have credit limits of $5,000 each but one of the card is inactive but you owe $5,000 total balance on the the remaining two credit cards, closing the unused credit card would increase your total debt to credit limit ratio from thirty percent ($5,000/$15,000) to 50% ($5,000/$10,000)

Be Aware of Your Credit
Always check your request for a credit report and review it for any incorrect information posted. Usually, you can get a free copy of your credit report annually form the free annual credit report website. When you request for a report, obtain for your credit score as well, too. In addition, checking your credit report would allow you to see if there are any identity thieves trying to opened or have already opened accounts in your name.

For additional information on credit cards such as Things you should know before getting Costco AMEX card and Protect Your Fico Score visit Spruce Up Your Finances.

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