Tuesday 28 February 2012

7 Ways To Protect And Enhance Your Credit History

By Alice Walters


Your credit history accounts for the quantity of interest you've got to pay for a loan or a card. Elevating your score in just a few points will make a significant difference in the rate you'll pay for a purchase. If your credit score is high enough, you will not have any problem qualifying for a lender's best rates and terms on auto financing, home loans and small company loans.

The following are a few tips about how you can protect and improve your credit history.

1 - Order Your Credit Score. Your credit score is founded upon your credit report, so you should begin by ordering your reports and reviewing each one for accuracy. It is easy to get your reports from a service like MyFico.com, or order from Equifax, Experian and Trans Union separately online or by phone.

2 - Take A Look At Your Credit History Information for Mistakes. Check the identifying information for name, social security number, birth date and inaccurate address. Make certain that old negatives and paid-off debts are removed. Check for accounts and delinquencies that are not yours, overdue payments, charge offs, lawsuits, judgments or paid tax liens older than 7 years old. Additionally , paid liens or judgments that are listed as delinquent, copy collections, bankruptcies that are older than ten years and any negative info that's not yours.

3 - Always Pay Your Bills in Good time. Payment history makes up more than a third of the characteristic credit score. If you paid bills late during the past, you can improve your credit history by starting to pay your bills punctually. Lenders are looking out for any sign that you may default, and a late payment is a good indicator you're in fiscal difficulty.

4 - Keep Cards Balances Low. Carrying smaller balances is the most effective way to raise your credit history. The score measures what proportion of your limit you use on each Visa card or other line of credit, and how much of your combined credit limits you are using on all your cards. Within 60 days, clearing card balances can boost your credit history by as much as 20 points.

5 - Try Hard not to Open In-Store Credit Cards. Although your first credit accounts can act to build and improve your credit score, there comes a time when each successive credit application can scale back your score. New cards cut back the age of your credit history, and a dept store credit card isn't good evidence of credit suitability. Each time you make an application for a retailer's credit card your credit store gets dinged.

6 - Be Conservative When Applying For Credit. Having at least one credit card that's more than 2 years old can help your score by 15 percent. Ensure your credit report is checked only when necessary. Or, if you are purchasing a home, try to sign up for loans within a two week period. By keeping the loan process within a two-week period, all the credit history lookups are seen as one single request.

7 - Don't Close Mastercards or Other Revolving Accounts. Shutting down new accounts that have due balances without paying down the debt changes your "utilization ratio," which is the amount of your outstanding debt divided by your total available credit. It'll reduce the space between the credit you are using and the total credit open to you, and that will damage your credit score.

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