Having a good credit score is vital if you want to live life to the full. Without a strong credit score, you will find it much more challenging to get credit cards or borrow money. That will mean you may struggle if you want to launch a new business or even just borrow some money to get you through to the end of the month. The problem is that improving an already low credit score can often take time and patience. However, you do have options. Having a low credit score is something that can be resolved, so here’s our guide to the options that are available if your credit score is lower than you’d like.
Will it take a long time to fix my credit score?
There are very few quick solutions to a low credit score. That’s because your credit history is built up over time and takes into account every payment that you make. It also factors in when those payments were due, so late bill payments will start to have a negative impact on your credit score. Those late payments will affect your credit score for years, but ignoring them will not make the problem go away. There are some faster ways to give your credit score a positive boost.
Registering to Vote
When you register to vote in the US, your credit score can get a very quick and natural positive boost. Ensure that all of the details on your voter registration form are correct (a mistake in your address will have the opposite effect). However, by registering to vote, you are declaring those facts to the US government, and that means your credit score will already be a more reliable reflection of you.
Checking for Errors
It’s easy to find out your credit score, and it’s something that you should do several times a year. That’s because it’s very easy for finance companies to make mistakes, and those mistakes could cost you your credit rating. If you’ve spent years building up a high credit score and an error undoes all of that hard work, you need to know about it. Always request an analysis of your credit score and go over it carefully to make sure that everything is correct.
Start Paying Your Bills on Time
It’s not a fast solution, but simply paying more attention to your bills can go a long way to improving your credit score. Of course, when money is tight, paying those bills on time can be very challenging. It used to be difficult to get a loan to pay off those bills if you already have a low credit score, but that’s all changing. Now, online loans are safer and more popular than ever, and you can apply on sites like Cashlady to get loans for bad credit score resolution. When you can pay your bills on time, your credit score will always start to show signs of improvement.
Check for Credit Links
Sometimes, your credit score is linked to someone else’s. That could be your husband, wife, or even a family member, but if they have a bad credit score, then you could have debt collectors knocking at your door when you think that your credit score is perfectly fine. Always make sure that you know who’s connected and linked to your credit score, and take the necessary steps to unlink them if they are harming your chances of getting a new credit card or business loan.
Manage your Money
Take your time to build it up slowly. It can take patience, but it’s very rewarding to see your credit rating go up every year. Even if money is very tight, you can always manage it more effectively and safely, and in ways that will not only boost your credit score but also allow you to start saving. Never underestimate the amazing feeling of having emergency money in the bank, especially as you watch your credit score grow. There are online tools and resources that will allow you to take more control of your budget, no matter how low that budget might be. This article by Lifehack highlights the best apps for money management. The more that you think about your spending, the more likely that you will be able to pay off what you owe.
Paying off Debts
You might have to take out a loan to do it, but paying off your existing debts is one of the best and fastest ways to improve your credit score. Look at all of your debts and if they seem overwhelming, consider looking at debt consolidation loans. These will allow you to bundle all of our debts into one, and although they at first make your credit score drop, they can quickly improve that score as long as you make your repayments on time. This type of debt process is very useful because it means all of your debts are in one place, so there’s less chance of forgetting to make a repayment.
Have some Debt
It might seem like the opposite of what you want, but having some debts might actually improve your credit score! That’s because credit history needs to see activity, and if you’ve never taken out a loan, then potential lenders will have less of an idea of how well you’ll pay one back. They will want to see evidence that you can pay back what you borrow and pay it back on time. So the fewer financial records you have, the lower your credit score can be. Start by taking out small loans to start building up your credit history, and your credit score will quickly grow.
You have plenty of options to consider if your current credit score is lower than you’d like. Look through and research all of those options, and fixing your credit score might be easier to achieve than you think. It can take time, but there’s nothing quite like the security of knowing that your credit score isn’t going to set off an alarm every time you walk into a bank.
