Fresh Healthy Body

A popular joke among people with a less than perfect credit score is that Santa Claus, the tooth fairy and a man with a credit score above 800 were walking on the road and as they were strolling they chanced upon a $100 bill. But nobody picked it up; why you wonder? Because apparently, all three of them don’t exist. Well, au contraire to this belief it really isn’t so difficult to take your credit score to the tune of 750 and above and simple common sense steps can go a long way in giving you a near flawless credit rating.

Lets start with the first step; how will you ever know what your credit score is unless you go for regular credit rating reports. There are two advantages of checking your credit rating records often; one you will be able to handle possible errors at the earliest and also you will be able to identify instances of identity theft. If there is an erroneous entry in your credit rating report it will be investigated by the credit bureau without any cost to you.

The next and most important step, pay your bills on time. Don’t just go for the minimum balance that you need to keep those credit cards active. Also ensure that your checks reach the lending establishments at least two days before the due date, it would be futile to try and fool the bank by backdating the checks.

Guarding your credit history is another crucial step, according to the Fair Issacs Model; the one responsible for your FICO score, people with a long standing history of good credit usage are less risky. So don’t just go around arbitrarily closing down accounts or canceling credit cards because when you do so you wipe out part of the history and erase your debt to limit ratio and both these things will have a severe impact on your credit score.

Some people incorrectly assume that no loans would equate to a higher credit rating however this would equate to a no score which will as bad as a poor credit score. Since there will be no record of your debt repayment history the lending institution may b not be able to pin a risk level on you and you may find it difficult to get a loan.

Too many loan or credit card applications will reflect poorly on your credit rating.

Also ensure that you repay as much of your debt as you can this will help to increase your debt to credit ratio consequently raising your credit score.

Finally going for the right credit mix will also help your credit rating, so ideally your credit mix should include credit cards, installment loans, auto loans, retail cards and mortgages. If you just own a secured credit card you would still be deemed as a high risk customer by the lenders.