Exisiting Accounts
It is important to have activity on your credit accounts to gain lendability; maintaining existing accounts is necessary to keep an active and positive profile. Those who do not have history can accelerate their credit growth through strategically opening accounts. Use your cards for a small purchase, and pay it off before the billing due date. Even one transaction once in a while can prevent seasoned accounts from being closed due to inactivity.
The lenders don’t want the credit to go to waste – but they also don’t want you to use all of it. There is a delicate balance. By using what you’ve got, within reason, the lenders will see the need to give you more. If you aren’t utilizing any of your accounts, the lenders will not see a need to
approve any additional funding.
Negative Items
Negative items will negatively impact your scores and lendability. Remove them by disputing any late payments, collections and other derogatory items on your report. Be mindful of debt collectors, as they can report the same account multiple times as the debt gets sold to multiple
agencies – causing your scores to drop drastically.
If you have a minor late payment (30 days or less) with a creditor, but have otherwise had a solid history, you can contact the creditor directly and ask if they can remove the late. Not all lenders will do this, but many would rather work with you to remove the late than lose your business
altogether.
Never pay a collection account unless you first contact the original creditor. If an account has been passed through multiple collection companies, find out who currently “owns” the debt, and make sure to always get written confirmation when a debt has been paid.
Verifying Information
Verify that all of your personal information is correct. Update any incorrect information on your report such as previous addresses, telephone numbers, social security number, and reported occupations to avoid future issues. All it takes is one busy cashier at a department store to enter a misspelled name or wrong social, and it will show up on your credit report.
You can access a free credit report every year through Annualcreditreport.com. For more active monitoring, you can utilize a free service like Credit Karma, or a more detailed monitoring service like Identity Guard.
Housekeeping
These minor changes and updates can help to significantly boost your credit scores, just by doing a little “housekeeping”.
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