Five ways to improve your credit score

Know your current score, pay down debt, avoid new debt and use credit cards in moderation, experts say

Pay off your credit card every month. But, if that is not possible, making small payments can help you to maintain or increase your credit score. Getty

Credit scores are complicated and the process of improving them can look different for everyone.

When Willard Carpenter, 68, wanted a loan to open a new business, he realised that his credit score was not high enough to get it approved. After checking his credit history, he found several issues he needed to solve.

Mr Carpenter’s credit was heavily affected by credit card debt that his father left on their joint account after his death more than a year and a half ago. He has also had no credit cards for at least 10 years — he stopped using them after he declared bankruptcy due to credit card debt.

Now, he is working with a financial adviser to erase his father’s debt from his history and start building up his credit in a safe way.

Here are some tips on how you can improve your credit score:

Know your starting point

The first step towards increasing your credit score is knowing your current score and what is showing in your credit report, says Kristin Myers, editor-in-chief of The Balance, a personal finance website.

“You can’t fix what you don’t know,” she says. “See if there are any errors or if you’ve previously made a dispute and it keeps showing up.”

Once you see what is in your report, you can start identifying where you might have weaknesses. For example, if you have a large amount of debt on one of your credit cards, start paying off that debt to reduce the credit utilisation that is affecting your credit score.

Tackle your debt

Ideally, you pay off your credit card every month. But, if that is not possible for you, making small payments can help you maintain or increase your credit score.

If you can, pay just a bit more over the minimum monthly payment so you pay less interest over time.

A well-known payment method is the “debt snowball” where you pay down your debts from smallest to largest, to build momentum and good habits. Once the smaller debts are paid off and you have built a habit of paying off debt, the money you were used to putting aside every month can then go towards larger debts.

Avoid more debt

Not acquiring new debt is another way to increase your credit score, Ms Myers says. If you have not paid off the debt that you currently have, it is best to not open more lines of credit.

If you are in a position where you rely on credit due to economic circumstances, try to avoid unnecessary purchases that could significantly increase your debt.

Use credit cards, but in moderation

Many people’s first instinct is to not use any credit cards to avoid getting into debt. However, this is not a good tactic if you want to have a good credit score.

It is best to have at least one credit card but the key is to use it moderately, says Colleen McCreary, consumer financial advocate at Credit Karma.

“You don’t want to use more than 30 per cent of the credit that is available to you, but you want to be using those cards even just a little bit to prove that you can be trusted,” she says.

When using your credit card, make sure to pay on time each month and try to use it only for purchases that you were already planning to make, and can afford.

Do not close your old accounts

After you have paid off your credit card, you might think it is best to close the account to avoid using it again.

This actually hurts your credit score. Since one of the factors in your credit score is the length of your credit history, if you close your oldest credit card account, you are also erasing this from your credit history.

“Keeping the length of that credit history open is incredibly important because the length of time you have had a loan or line of credit is going to boost your credit score,” Ms Myers says.

Mr Carpenter plans to build up his credit score by using a credit card with a low limit and paying it off every month. He plans to open three credit cards and use a maximum of 25 per cent of the allowed credit, he says.

Associated Press