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20 Credit Rating Hacks Infographic

20 3. HACKS ** THAT CAN IMPROVE YOUR ** CREDIT RATING ★★★ PAY YOUR CREDIT CARDS TWICE EACH MONTH. DON'T CLOSE CREDIT CARDS ONCE THEY ARE PAID OFF If you're that person who charges close to your credit limit every month, it could damage your score. You can lessen the damage by making two payments each month - one just before the statement closing date and one just before the due date. About 15 % of your score is determined by the length of time you've had credit. By closing your oldest account, you can shorten the length of your credit history, which can deal a blow to that part of the formula. Iol. GET ADDED AS AN AUTHORIZED USER ON SOMEONE ELSE'S ACCOUNT. Another person's good history with their credit card could be imported into your credit bureau files to help burnish your scores. Although it sounds difficult to get someone to sign off on this, the other person doesn't have to give you access to the account. You can be an authorized user in name only. 3. CLEAR YOUR CREDIT CARDS WITH A PERSONAL LOAN DON'T OPEN RETAIL-CARD ACCOUNTS If you can't pay your cards off immediately, consider moving the balances to a personal loan as these don't affect your scores as strongly as balances on credit cards. 20% off a new pair of jeans isn't worth the potential damage that opening a store card can do to your credit score. For starters, 5 points are deducted for each new retail or gas card. DISPUTE OLD, SMALL COLLECTION ACCOUNTS. PAY DOWN THE CARD THAT'S CLOSEST TO ITS LIMIT FIRST. Your credit score is affected by how close to the limit you are on each individual card. While paying off the highest-interest card first will save you the most money in the end, it may give your score a boost to pay off the one that's close to being maxed out. The most recent version of the leading credit scoring formula, the FICO 8, ignores collection accounts where the original balance was less than £100, so disputing these could see a rise in your score. USE A PREPAID CARD LIKE MASTERCARD® OR VISA° TO IMPROVE CREDIT RATING Some pre-paid cards allow you to improve your credit rating by charging a monthly fee, which is treated like a tiny loan. This is referred to as a Credit Builder. At the end of a nominated period (usually 12 months), this shows up as an honoured credit agreement on your credit file. Of course, you have to pay the monthly fee for the privilege of using this service. PAY ANNUAL FEES ON A REWARDS CARD HAVE 2-3 CREDIT CARD ACCOUNTS OPEN If the rewards total more than the card's annual cost, and more than what you would save with a no-fee card, paying these fees can be worth every single penny. Credit agencies show favour those who have multiple open revolving credit accounts because, if those accounts are used correctly, it indicates reliability and organization. 3) LOWER YOUR DEBT-TO-CREDIT RATIO SPEND ON EACH CARD EVERY MONTH Credit agencies look for debt-to-credit ratios under 20%. If you have £10,000 in total credit on your cards, make sure to keep running balances under £2,000 To show activity on your dormant cards each month, you can set up an auto pay for one of your regular bills, such as a gym membership. BUMP UP YOUR CREDIT LIMITS PAY YOUR INSTALLMENT LOANS ON TIME One great way to improve your debt-to-credit ratio is to increase your credit limits. There are many reasons to request an increase: a promotion, a pay raise, or buying furniture for a new apartment or house Your student loans, car loan, and mortgage payments may be through the roof, but all credit agencies general care about is that you're paying them in a timely fashion. STOP PAYING FOR YOUR CREDIT SCORE Use a free site such as Credit Karma to check your credit score. KEEP YOUR SPENDING IN CHECK The sad truth is if you carry a balance on your credit cards, you are paying way more than the sticker price in interest. DON'T MISS A PAYMENT PAY OFTEN Nothing will destroy the goodwill you're building with credit agencies than missing payments. Lenders don't typically report delinquencies to agencies unless they're 60-90 days overdue, so you typically have time to correct the problem. If you can, put as many of your bills on auto-pay to reduce the chance of forgetting a payment. To get a great credit score, you should use as little of your available credit as possible – many experts recommend keeping your credit utilization lower than 30%. If you want to use your credit card a lot but don't want to hurt your credit utilization rate, consider making multiple account payments each billing cycle. STRATEGICALLY OPEN ACCOUNTS REPORT ALL ERRORS Applying for credit should be done sparingly, because applications result in a hard inquiry on your credit report. Recent hard inquiries will dock your score a few points, so the more there are, the more points you lose. Around 79% of credit reports contained a mistake, and a quarter were errors that could lead to the denial of credit. Head to www.annualcreditreport.com to check your report for free. Getting those errors fixed will be crucial your credits core. sources: http://lifecheating.com/2014/10/03/10-easy-cheats-to-up-your-credit-score/10/ http://johnnystartup.com/2014/01/29/hacking-your-credit-score/ http://abcnews.go.com/Business/perfectly-legal-hacks-improve-credit-score/story?id=23071180 http://moneyfacts.co.uk/guides/credit-cards/the-advantages-and-disadvantages-of-prepaid-cards/ ICOUNT

20 Credit Rating Hacks Infographic

shared by Kynes on Feb 11
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icount have created an infographic that features 20 hacks for improving your credit rating, from keeping you spending in check to not missing any payments.

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