If you haven’t started playing the FICO game yet, a Pandora’s box of problems awaits you. If you’re ready, hit **start**, I’ve got 10 little-known cheats that will help you get to the next level. You only get one life, but 1mil’s 1ups are here to help you get the second chance you wish you had. Come and get it!
You think high school or college was the last you ever saw of report cards, and grades and scores!? Well my friend you were mistaken, there’s one monster of a score that follows you around for life — your credit score!
There is a wide variety of reports about you available to people you want to borrow money from, but the most largely adopted source is none other than Fair, Isaac & Co., (namesake of FICO) which developed the de facto credit scoring system used by some of the biggest lenders in the nation.
Companies like Equifax, Experian and TransUnion provide this information to financial institutions that deal with you and money to determine your creditworthiness.
Your creditworthiness determines what interest rate you’ll get for loans, or if you will be approved to rent an apartment. Maybe you’re starting to see how your FICO score can wreak havoc on your life! So now that you know the basics, let’s get to the reason why you came here:
10 Ways to 1-Up Your Credit Score
- Know and Track Your Credit Score- You can get the free MyFico 30-Day Trial of Score Watch which will tell you your current score and alert you if there are any changes.
- Never Miss a Payment, Starting Today- So you might not have had the best track record, but if you can keep your credit clean from now until forever your credit score will raise over time by itself! You can pay your bills online or use a direct deposit payment so that you never miss!(+100 pts)
- Never use more than 20% of your Available Credit- This is one of the lesser known tricks to credit score building. If you have a $1000 credit limit on one card, only use a maximum of $200 on it. This rule applies to every card you have.(+15 pts)
- Keep Credit Cards that Have No Annual Fees Open For as Long as Possible- The length of your credit history is a good indicator for your short term performance on paying a bill or loan. So, even if you’re trying to resist the temptation of using your cards, do not close them. Cutting them up is ok. (+25 pts)
- Extend Your Credit Limit on Cards You Already Have before You Get New Ones- This has to do with tip #3 there, it’s better to have more available credit on one card, then to have it spread around multiple cards. Besides, it’s just easier to keep track of, and it will help you not miss your bill cycle. (+10 pts)
- Get Credit Cards that Have CashBack Rewards to Contribute to your Balance- Get paid to use your credit card? Sort of.. With only 2 or 3% returns the trick here is that you have to use your credit card for most of your purchases. You’ll get a couple of hundred dollars back at the end of the year, and you can use it to pay off your debt, or to put away in a Money Market Account.(+5 pts)
- Transfer Your Balance to a Credit Card with a Lower Interest Rate and a Higher Available Credit- Not such a tricky maneuver but this one depends on you having another card with a lower interest rate. If you do, try tip #5 — up your available credit on your current lower interest rate card, then transfer the balance. (+10 pts)
- If You Think You Are Going to be FORCED to Pay a Bill Late Ask for an Extension or Payment Plan -Avoid getting a negative mark on your credit report, however possible. Beg, plead, make a deal. Once they bring out the smudger, your credit is smudged. Save yourself a major hit, negotiate new payment terms, refinance, — they really just want their money, but some credit places out there are dirty and tricky. Try try, and save yourself 15 points. Remember each hit is compounding negatively against your FICO points! This is a Plan B for those days where you forgot to follow trick #2(+15 pts)
- Take out a Small Personal Loan and Repay it Over a Year-Tricky, but it works. Take out a loan for say $1000 and pay the balance off over the course of the year. If you pay every month on time you will start to build a credit history. (+10 points)
Ask Someone With Good Credit if They will Account Shadow you- This a little tricky but it can do the job. Some credit cards allow you to add other people to your account without giving them an actual card. When your friend pays their bills on time it will reflect on your credit report, so will their available balance! But beware if they miss a payment or become delinquent, it will show up on your report as well. (+25 points)Fico scores no longer consider accounts that are shadowed! Looks like I need a new #10! =)
If you have any questions about your Credit Score feel free to contact me or leave a comment!
You can also get your Full Credit Report here or try the Suze Orman Credit Report Repair Kit
Or if you worried about your score changing you should try the Score Watch
January 29th, 2007 at 11:11 pm
Great article with good information. Thanks for sharing.
January 30th, 2007 at 1:48 pm
Hey I sent you a question to your email about some of the things you listed!
February 2nd, 2007 at 7:24 pm
Thanks man!
February 2nd, 2007 at 7:58 pm
Thanks for what?
February 13th, 2007 at 12:32 pm
[…] 1mil presents 10 Ways to 1-Up Your Credit Score posted at Millionster.com, saying, “How to improve credit score. My most popular article! =) Tricia presents A Simple Click and My Credit Card Gave Me Some More Rope posted at Blogging Away Debt. […]
February 27th, 2007 at 11:17 am
Ok I hope this has helped someone in some way! *hoping*
April 20th, 2007 at 7:29 am
Good advice. You guys rock.
April 23rd, 2007 at 12:14 pm
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May 1st, 2007 at 8:37 am
With an account shadow, how long will it take to reflect your credit score onto thiers. And how long do you have to carry another persons name on the account. Will it negitively effect the person with good credit if the other person has bad credit? Can you take them off after a short period of time (i.e. after they would get a loan?) or do they have to stay on your account for a period of time? Thanks!
May 1st, 2007 at 10:16 am
With account shadowing all you’re doing is adding their name to your account as a sub account which won’t have any impact on your credit score unless you issue them an actual card and they don’t pay it on time.
The way you help someone else increase their score using this method is simply by paying off your balance on-time every month. If you miss a payment this will negatively impact them as well. It might take 3 or 4 months to get any good gains but the amount of the actual gain depends on which portion of their credit score they need to work on. Remember paying bills on time accounts for only 35% of a credit score. Available credit and credit length also play a role here.
Also I should mention if you remove them from your card they lose the available credit that your card allowed them. This will cause their score to go down whenever you take them off.
Hope this helps!
May 2nd, 2007 at 12:42 am
Hi there, I have couple of questions for you. I have a credt monitoring service and it is currently with my capital one credit card, as I get monthly update on it, new acount and so on. On Jan my credit score was 589 and I just recently got and update on it, my credit score went up to 617. So I was wondering that I’ve been making all the minimum payments on them and I have 2 credit cards , capital one (300) credit limit and sony style credit card 1500 credit limit, and i’ve been making minimum payment. So I’m thinking how’d the credit score went up and I want my credit score to go up to 700 within 3 months, and how do I get this higher within 3 months from now which is by July?. Also since my credit score is 617, is that a good credit score or is it still consider as weak score, Would I be able to get a loan or is that a good score to apply another credit card, from my understanding is that we have to minimize applying more credit cards as much as possible, and is it true that when you apply credit card if it gets declined, your credit score goes lower, if so by how much does it gets lower? Thanks in advance.
May 7th, 2007 at 7:04 pm
Hey there Taz! In regards to your question, there’s so many different things you can do to boost your score but the one thing that’s worked best for me was shrinking my debt to credit ratio by expanding the limits on my cards. Seems like your goal is to get a loan, but you have to understand the whole point of FICO score is to show by some measure how credit worth you are to lenders. Your goal should be demonstrating that you are indeed credit worthy, so in your case focusing on making your payments on time and maybe getting cards with higher limits (but not actually using them) will be helpful for you. It all depends on where your real weak areas are since the break down of things that effect credit scores aren’t equally weighed.
May 17th, 2007 at 7:45 am
[…] Read the full article here, it gives you an overview of credit scores, and the 10 steps in detail on page 2:http://millionster.com/articles/debt/inc… […]
June 8th, 2007 at 6:55 pm
I have question about credit line limite.
As you said always keep the balance on credit card around 20% of max. It is what i have been doing but seem not really increase much. so i think about go this way .
I will use my credit card to almost max out ( example 1000 limit i use up to 900 ). On my next build cycle once it post in the report i will pay it off. Next build cycle when it start from 0 balance i will do it again .. it mean i do it once every 2 months . Do you think this will boost credit score faster or it will mess it up ?
June 21st, 2007 at 3:14 pm
Whoa more comments hehe! hey there!
June 28th, 2007 at 6:24 am
How important is and how much does paying off old negative accounts help your credit scores, especially if they are primarily medical bills?
September 18th, 2007 at 3:20 pm
@Ly — the debt to credit ratio is only a piece of the puzzle that comprises your credit score — in your case your credit score may not be largely effected by changes to your balance on your card because you either dont have enough overall credit or there are other negative things impacting your score. Get a comprehensive view of your credit and then start off by addressing things easiest to fix, like correcting errors and making payments on time! You’ll see in time your score will improve!
@Leonard - Medical bills are a pain arent they. In my experience paying off old collection debt doesnt do anything for your credit score — sure you can pay them off and your account will be clear, but the fact that you paid late and there was a collection will negatively impact your score for 7 years even if you pay it of or not. In some cases you may find that not paying it off is the easiest thing to do, but some lenders do check to see if all your accounts are current regardless of your score, but like I said paying it off will not change your score.
September 28th, 2007 at 1:39 pm
[…] Phase I – Reconstruction (2006) * Graduate College * Get a Job * Fix My Credit * Get Healthy/Fit * Change Attitude * Rebuild Confidence * Learn About Business […]
October 1st, 2007 at 6:02 am
[…] 10 Ways to Increase Your Credit Score posted at Millionster.com […]
October 5th, 2007 at 12:12 pm
I am trying very hard to increase my score. I have paid everything on my credit report off except for one bill. I will begin working on that one this month. The balances says zero on everything else, one says unpaid (which I will try to dispute this weekend ) but my score went from mid 550 to just now today 603. I do not know what I need to do to get my credit to go higher.
1. No one will let me open a credit card to get new credit? So how do I get new credit, I don’t want to get credit cards w/ those crazy fees.
2. I know it takes about 7 years for these things to fall off, so is it 7 years from when its opened? or 7 years from last reported?
3. I have some collections paid and I saw that if they are paid it takes 2 years to fall off your credit report. Is this true? If so 2 years from open, or last reported.
I would take any help possible. I want a better score and I’m striving to get it but how do I do so when I have everything paid off and no increase in score?
October 10th, 2007 at 8:19 pm
[…] Popular Posts 10 Ways to Increase Your Credit Score (FICO)Love Hurts: The Hidden Cost of Girlfriends […]
October 10th, 2007 at 8:56 pm
@isotruth — check out this Post. I hope it answers your questions!
October 19th, 2007 at 9:51 am
[…] Are You Destined for a Life of Mediocrity? October 19th, 2007 by 1mil [^] Judging from the perspectives shared among blog readers and writers I think it’s safe to assume that most people buzzing around the money blogosphere are “Middlesters” — that is to say that they, like you are a shade in the spectrum of middle class. Sure there are exceptions to this rule, but look at where the buzz is on blogs that talk about money: how to invest in your retirement fund, where the latest deals and promotions are, how to get out of debt, how to pay for college, how to find loopholes in credit card agreements to make an easy buck, and of course one of my favorite topics how to increase your credit score. These are all consumeristic middle-classs money topics at best, and while they have their place in creating a solid financial foundation they are not the keys to the rocket ship that are going to blast your life off into the stratosphere. No, no, they are the keys to the Lexus parked in valet. […]
January 13th, 2008 at 1:39 pm
I recently went through a divorce. I was negligent about our expenses before the process and learned while filing papers that our home was being forclosed on! It was too late to work with the bank. The house has since been sold, but it is not posted as paid on my credit report. My ex and I also paid all of our credit cards off (with one exception). My credit score dropped nearly 100 points when I closed the accounts, but I had no choice in the matter. I know the forclosure will haunt me…anything I can do about that? But, don’t these companies actually LOOK at the credit report anymore (instead of just looking at the score)? I should not be penalized for closing joint accounts through my divorce!!! What can I do?
February 4th, 2008 at 4:51 pm
these past 2 days i been looking up my credit score from various sources (like at least 6)and i just read how that affects my credit through out time but my main question is;
IF I PAY OFF MY DEBT IMMEDIATELY AND JUST OPEN ONE CREDIT CARD AND PAY AS I GO THAT WAY I’M NOT IN DEBT AGAIN, HOW MANY MONTHS OR YEARS UNTIL MY CREDIT MAKES UP AND GOES BEYOND THOSE POINTS THAT WERE DEDUCTED WHEN I WAS PULLING UP MY CREDIT SCORE? because i plan on buying a car in about 9-10 months. also; CAN I KEEP APPLYING FOR CREDIT CARDS OR JUST STOP COMPLETELY AT LEAST UNTIL THE TIME OF PURCHASING MY CAR COMES?
February 13th, 2008 at 1:12 pm
[…] Read more here from my blog : 10-Ways to Boost Your MyFico Score http://millionster.com/articles/debt/increase-fico-credit-score/ […]
February 24th, 2008 at 9:27 pm
I have one collection on my account which was for a parking ticket in college. Overall, I have a couple of credit cards that I paid late several times while in college, mainly being stupid and not realizing how high the monthly payment would be. I have student loans that are in great standing. I have started paying everything on time but my score is only a 523. You recommended getting credit limits extended, and you mentioned that you got more credit through your bank. Are these only secured credit cards? Besides paying everything on time, what else can I do within the next year to improve my score?
March 3rd, 2008 at 9:59 am
I have recently moved from the UK to the USA and have no credit here. Is there anyway of tranferring my credit from the UK to here?
March 26th, 2008 at 11:30 pm
[…] Another day, another dollar. Get those bills paid on time and get your credit score fixed! Did you find something interesting? Subscribe to Millionster! Article Tags: Personal Finance, Sponsored [TagCloud ] Other Interesting Articles Got Military? Get Access to the Best Bank in the NationLast Minute Mother’s Day Ideas with FullBloomTeaCarnival of Personal Finance #88 St. Patrick’s Millionaire Raffle0.005% CloserCarnival of Personal Finance #87 $40 In My PocketGhetto FinancingBeat My Credit Score!10 Ways to Increase Your Credit Score (FICO)Shelter or InvestmentThe Data Storage Dilemma Sell Your Soul For 20 Free CD’sHeat Your Home SmartlyGot 5000 Dollars? […]