Hello. Hope everyone is having a relaxing holiday season. Below, is a blog from The Phoenix Group, https://thephenixgroup.com, that has some interesting points for those looking for ways to improve their credit.
Millions of Americans deal with an incredible amount of debt. As of March 2018, American household debt alone reached $13.21 trillion. As the amount of debt rises throughout the country, credit scores are bound to sink. Which makes credit repair a must for some people. If you’re one of the unlucky individuals that are dealing with a sinking credit score, you’re not alone. Here are a couple situations that might have destroyed your credit score, along with millions of other Americans.
Foreclosure is one of the most prominent situations that significantly lower credit scores. Over two million homeowners have dealt with this unfortunate event since 2009. Also, you may have been one of the millions of individuals that claimed bankruptcy since 2009. There are also many other small situations many of us deal with, like delayed payment of a bill, that negatively impact your credit score. But, with the recession of 2007 to 2009 behind us, as a country, we are better equipped to repair our credit scores than we were ten years ago. If you’re looking to rebuild your credit score, then read on to learn more.
Monitor Your Credit Score
First off, the most important thing that you can do is be aware. Get a free copy of your credit score and analyze it. If you find any inaccuracies in your report, resolves those issues ASAP with the three most prominent credit monitoring bureaus: TransUnion, Experian, and Equifax. Then, once everything looks accurate, monitor it as much as possible.
Make Payments on Time
Over a third of your credit score is measured by how often you make payments on time. Even if you’ve had a spotty past with your payments, focus on making sure you get every future payment out on time. Each timely payment will positively affect your credit score.
Get Current on Delinquencies
A third of your credit score surround your debt to credit ratio, so it’s incredibly important that you get current on those delinquent accounts.
Avoid Closing Accounts
When you close accounts, you damage your credit in two different ways. 15% of your credit is based on how old your credit history is, so the older your account is the more credit history they have to take from. When you close an account, you wipe out all the credit history the account is linked to.
Also with closing revolving accounts, it makes your debt to credit ratio smaller. Make sure that all your accounts, even those with minimal balances, are still getting used. If they’re not, your credit company might close it before you do.
Diversify Your Credit
Be sure to have a couple credit lines through your accounts. Relying on one credit line (i.e. credit cards) will do you more harm than good.
Always Pay Down Your Debt
Paying more than the minimum payment on your debt will inevitably help your debt to credit ratio. The less debt you have compared to your credit, the higher your credit score will be.
Think Before You Take On New Debt
Taking on too much new debt too quickly will negatively affect your credit score. For example, taking on three new credit cards in three months is probably not a good idea.
Being aware of your credit score and monitoring it is the first step to achieving your goals. By doing things such as paying down your debt, making payments on time, and getting current on your delinquencies will help your credit score in no time. Following these steps will help start building credit again for you & your future!
If you are looking for other tips to repair your credit, you may try this link with Top 20 Credit Repair Blogs, https://blog.feedspot.com/credit_repair_blogs/