Top 5 Ways To Maintain A Good Credit Score

Your credit score is one of the most important things you have to prove your creditworthiness. If you plan to borrow money to buy a home or car, you’ll need to have a good credit score. That helps lenders see you can be a good credit risk for them. How do you maintain a good credit score? There are a wide range of factors that contribute to your credit score. Here are five ways you’ll need to focus.

#1: Making On Time Payments

Lenders value on time payments heavily. It is one of the most common factors to impact credit scores. Even being a few days late on a loan can make lenders worry you are struggling financially. Prioritize paying your debts a few days before they are due to minimize the risk of making a late payment. The best way to ensure that is to set up an automatic payment. Most lenders let you set up a specific day of the month for money to come out of your checking account. Since it is automatic, you don’t have to worry about it getting there late.

#2: Keep Your Credit Limit Lower

While it is ideal to owe less than 30 percent of your available credit limit on your loans, that is not realistic for many people. What is most important is to keep your balance under the limit. Going over it could hurt your score. Work to pay down your debt over time to help reduce the costs you’ll have to pay in overextending yourself.

#3: Keep Older Credit Lines Open

It’s tricky to keep older lines of credit open and not use them. However, your oldest credit lines are some of the most valuable to you. They show lenders you’ve been using credit for a long time. That means your credit score is a good representation of your actual risk. You’re not new but proven. If you have an old credit line you want to maintain, use it just for a few small purchases each month. Then, pay those debts off in full each month.

#4: Use Credit

Just having a line of credit or a credit card isn’t enough. You also need to use credit and make on time payments to prove yourself. A good way to do this is to use your credit card for gas payments or utility bills only. Then, pay it off every month on time in full.

#5: Check Your Credit Reports

It’s also important to make sure all information being reported about you is accurate. You can obtain a free credit report from each of the three credit bureaus one time each year. Do that at AnnualCreditReport.com. Look for errors and report mistakes right away.

Get the Help You Need to Repair Your Credit Now

Improving your credit score takes time and knowledge. With the help of our team at Key Credit Repair, you can get outstanding support to make better financial decisions. We are a bonded, fully insured, and top-rated credit counseling company ready to support you. Call us today to learn more.