5 Ways to Raise Your Credit Score

Most of us don’t even know why or how a credit score can change or what affects the change. Perhaps we can help you figure this out with these 5 ways you can use some expert know-how to boost your credit rating:

1. Pay bills before the statement date. How much you owe is 30% of your score and your utilization ration is a large part of that.

2. Make multiple payments. To make periodic payments throughout the month you are lowering your balance. Basically, the lower the balance on your credit report, the better. Make sure your card will handle multiple payments.

3. Ask for a ‘good-will deletion’ If you have one or two bad marks on your credit record, you may be able to them expunged if you ask the lender to “cut you some slack.” You might be surprised when it works by just asking.

4. Pay for removal. If you have an account that has gone into collection, the lender might remove it if you agree to pay it off. “You’d be surprised how many collection agencies will stop credit reporting in exchange for payment.” Get the arrangement in writing.

5. Protect yourself in a short sale. After a short sale, the lender often will report to credit bureaus that the me loan was settled for less than full amount or deficit as balance owed. Short sale will damage your credit score dramatically, you can mitigate the damage by arranging with the lender not to report a balance owed. Negotiate before or during the short sale not after it’s been paid!