I’ve talked to many people over time who have been told about sending letters to their creditors to clear off items from their credit. This is definitely a great approach to take when working to improve your credit score.

Although sending out letters is a very effective method of boosting your credit score, there is one major thing that most people forget.

What is that you may ask?

Simple, it is to continue following up after the initial credit letter is sent out. You see, just because you send one letter doesn’t automatically mean that it will all work out.

A more powerful approach is actually to have a credit reporting service that will give you access to your credit score each month. That way, you can monitor if the letters worked or not.

If your letter worked, you would see those negative items removed from your credit. If not, you would know that sending another letter the following month would be your next step.

The point is, the magic is in the follow up. Be sure to check to see if you’ve gotten results. Only then will you truly know what else is left.

This approach is what major credit repair agencies take to clear your credit. They just use a system to continually monitor the results of the letters they send on your behalf, and then send them over and over again until they can clear those items off of your credit report.

So knowing this, you can take the same approach that credit repair agencies take, but save yourself the money that they would normally charge.

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Let’s face it; everyone is looking to build good credit. There are many benefits to having good credit such as saving money on interest, having a lower insurance premium, and even saving you the embarrassment of having your job application denied because of having poor credit.

The truth is, with a little bit of discipline, it’s very easy to build good credit without much effort at all. If you are short on time and money to build good credit, then here are 5 instant tips to building good credit and a good credit score.

1. Increase Your Credit Limits – did you know that you can easily call your credit card companies and ask for a credit limit increase? The point is to have a higher limit and instantly lower the percent of balances that you carry. The lower the credit card balance compared to the credit limit, the better for your credit score as credit balances count for 30% of your credit score.
2. Spread Out Your Balances – if you have a credit card that is maxed out and others that are paid off simply transfer part of the balance over to the other cards. What that means is that you wouldn’t get hit from the credit agencies for having a maxed out card since you have now spread out the high balance over a series of cards.
3. Have Several Types Of Credit – part of building good credit is having a good mix of credit. The saying “Don’t put all your eggs in one basket” definitely applies here. When it comes to your credit, having different types of credit is key. It’s best to have credit cards, auto loans, mortgages, and other installments loans within your credit profile than just having one of these categories.
4. Pay On Time – this seems like the most obvious, but often is overlooked. Many people look for the magic bullet for building good credit; however, it’s the simple things like paying your expenses on time that make the biggest impact. There’s nothing better that you can do for your credit and credit score than paying on time each and every month.
5. Apply For New Credit With Caution – when you are seeking to get new credit, don’t go into a credit application frenzy and apply for many different cards or loans all at once. Although they don’t do as much damage as other credit factors, inquiries can cause your credit harm. Spread out the time that you apply for cards by a few months so that you don’t have a lot of credit inquiries in a short amount of time.

As you can see, there are simple things that you can do regularly to build good credit. They don’t take any money at all other than what you are already using to pay your bills. Aside from costing absolutely no money, each of these will only take you a few minutes and will guarantee that you build not only good credit but also a higher credit score.

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Just wanted to give you a quick and easy method to raise your credit score within a few days.  Many people complicate the process of raising their credit scores, and as you may know, the more complicated a thing is, the greater chance that it will never be done.

Here it is. Make sure you do it.

Call you credit card companies and ask for a higher credit limit.  Yes, that’s all you have to do.

Here’s why it works. The second category with the most impact on your credit score is your balance to credit limit, which accounts for 30% of your credit score.  The lower your balance compared to your limit, the better. 

Let’s say you have a credit card with $100 balance and a $200 limit.  You are at 50% of your credit limit, which hurts your credit score.  Again, the lower the percentage is, the better.  Once you call them and they agree to raise your credit limit to $500 for example, you have now lowered your balance to credit limit to 20%, meaning a higher credit score without lowering the balance on your card.

That’s pretty simple, isn’t it.  If you have several cards, this can really make a difference and substantially raise your credit score.

What are you waiting for, call your credit card companies!

If you want more tips like this to improve your credit score or fix your credit, click Raise Your Credit Score to get these tips sent to your email!

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Understanding how credit is scored is a powerful way to establish yourself and your credit scores. Many people want to maximize their credit, however, they really don’t understand the very basics, which will hinder then when it comes to improving their credit.

The first thing that you should understand is that there are three main credit bureaus — Transunion, Experian, and Equifax — and each of these three give you a grade, or score, on your credit-worthiness according to what your creditors report to them. The creditors that typically report this credit information are for the following types of credit; mortgages, car loans, installment loans, student loans, credit card companies, collection accounts, bankruptcy and other public information, and a few others.

While each of the three credit bureaus may use slightly different variables to get to your score, the FICO scoring model is still the major credit scoring model that is used today.

What is FICO anyway? FICO stands for Fair, Isaac and Company, the group that designed the model.

According to the FICO model, here are the factors that determine your credit score:

• 35% – payment history
• 30% – amounts owed
• 15% – length of credit history
• 10% - types of credit
• 10% – new credit

Knowing this will help you make better decisions when it comes down to actions that you need to take to fix your credit score.

Knowing the components of your credit score is helpful, however, you will need your own copy of your credit report in order to start taking any action to fix your credit score. So, how do you get your hands on your own credit report?

Getting a credit report is quite simple, especially considering that you are entitled to obtain a free copy of your credit report every 12 months. However, getting your credit score can be much trickier.

Make sure any company you pay to send you your credit report is also sending you the credit score, so you know the exact number that lenders are receiving. Credit companies that give you access to your credit report typically charge extra to include your scores in your report. This is a good investment though, because you’ll know the temperature of your credit!

One service that I recommend is using Credit.com. They will send you a free copy of your credit report with your credit report with a membership. If you don’t plan on keeping your membership with them for some reason, you have to remember to cancel your membership within their 30-day period, and you only receive one of the three bureau’s reports.

Hopefully, you now have a better grasp on the importance of credit and your credit score, and knowing these facts will definitely put you ahead of the pack!

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