How Can I Make Myself More Creditworthy?
You won’t be able to improve your creditworthiness immediately. You will have to give it some time, especially if there are some negative marks on your credit report holding you back. You may see ads from credit repair companies saying they can fix your credit right away and get black marks against you removed, but they are often untruthful. Any information on your credit report that is true, negative or not, cannot be removed. If you want your creditworthiness to improve, then you have to practice sound financial measures over time.
You can gradually improve your credit score as your payment history, and other factors start to look better on your credit report. This is only going to happen, though, if you consistently pay bills on time and use your credit wisely. Below are a few dos and don’ts for good credit behavior:
What To Do To Become Creditworthy:
- Pay every bill when it is due or before. If you pay late or not enough, then it can hurt your score considerably.
- Any missed payments need to be rectified by getting your accounts current.
- Get rid of debt rather than trying to shift it around onto your other accounts.
- If you have had credit problems in the past, try to correct them and rebuild your credit history. It can help to open new accounts up and responsibly use them.
- Only open up new accounts when you need them.
- Hold onto your credit cards, but use them only as necessary. Having credit cards and various loans can be good for your credit, but you have to manage them well. If you cannot make your payments on time or in full, then you need to talk to your creditors or get in touch with a credit counselor.
- Maintain low credit balances on all cards.
- Any time you shop for rates on loans, do it within a short period of time. If lenders are making credit inquiries on your behalf over a long period of time, it can hurt your score.
What Not to Do For Creditworthiness:
- Closeout the credit cards you are not using
- Open multiple accounts to try to boost your available credit. You can hurt your score with this method. For those who have only been managing credit for a short time, it’s a bad idea to open multiple accounts quickly. That can decrease your average account age and hurt your score. It will impact your score more negatively as a new user than it would someone who has been managing their credit for a while.
