Raising your credit score isn’t difficult, and it can help you resolve a lot of the delinquent account problems you have had in the past. If the reason for your poor credit score is minor, you can raise it within a 3-month period. For more significant delinquencies, the time it takes to repair your credit score can be anywhere between nine months to one year. The most derogatory marks, however, can take seven to ten years before your credit score increases. There are various strategies you can take to improve your credit score and a few tricks of the trade that can help you get the boost you need.
If you’re interested in raising your credit score, you can work with a credit repair team that can provide plenty of helpful advice. Don’t let past mistakes drag your credit score down. Contact My Credit Repair Clinic for a consultation today.
Raise Your Credit Score By 200 Points
You can employ both short-term and long-term strategies to increase your credit score. You will have to try many different methods for a more drastic recovery.
What Factors Make Up Your Credit Score?
There is a wide range of factors that impact your credit score. These include the following:
- History of on-time payments
- Credit usage
- Age of credit accounts
- Mixed credit
- Credit inquiries
The on-time payment of loans is one of the most significant factors in credit recovery. Every time your payment is behind by 30 days or more, your score drops. These downward adjustments can remain on your credit report for seven years. Your payment history makes up about 35% of your credit score.
How much credit card debt you have is also essential. For example, using 70% of your collective credit lines would be considered a high credit card debt ratio. To improve your credit card debt ratio and your score, you can reduce your ratio to well below 70%. When your credit card ratio is low, you should receive a boost in your credit score. The credit card ratio makes up about 30% of your credit score as it impacts how much you owe.
The type of credit you use should be a mixture of different kinds of debts, which influences about 10% of your credit score. For example, a car loan, a mortgage, a loan payment for expensive laptops or phones, credit cards, and business loans would comprise a diverse mixture. Having a mix of different credit lines will improve your credit score.
Try to avoid getting new credit and stick with your old credit lines. New credit may not look as great on your credit history, and you can be penalized on your score for it. However, having old credit lines that you pay on regularly will keep your credit score looking great.
Avoid credit score inquires, if possible. Only allow a credit inquiry if it is necessary. Every credit inquiry can drop your score by up to ten points. Some inquiries are excused if they are bunched together and come from one type of loan. For example, this can occur when shopping for a car loan. However, too many credit inquiries in a short period of time will result in a dropped score.
How To Improve Your Credit Score
There are a large number of approaches you can take to improve your credit score. A well-rounded methodology will revamp your score in a shorter amount of time.
When Does Your Loan Issuer Report Your Account?
The way this works is to figure out when your loan issuer reports the payment history of your account. If the report date is on the 21st, for example, and your payment was due on the 5th, you can try to take care of your overdue payment before the 21st. This type of technically late payment won’t normally be reported to credit agencies.
Pay More Frequently
If you pay on an account twice a month instead of once a month, this will improve your credit score. This will make you look like a reliable person to loan to.
Pay Down Debt With A Strategy
You need to get organized if you have a ton of debts that are scattered across many different accounts. Start with the smaller obligations and knock those out. When you close those accounts, it will improve your credit score and provide momentum for paying off your larger loans.
Ask Your Credit Card Company to Raise Your Credit Limit
If you can’t pay off a credit card immediately, give your credit card company a call and request that they raise your credit limit. Doing this will improve your credit limit because the ratio of debt owed will be a lot smaller.
Get A Mixture Of Credit Lines
Make sure you have a variety of credit lines. If all you have is a mortgage and car loan, open up a credit card account and immediately pay off purchases you make. When you make your next big purchase on an item, instead of paying it in full, get a loan and pay it off on a monthly or bi-monthly basis. All of this will help improve your score and make you a low-risk borrower.
How Long Does It Take To Improve Your Credit Score by 200 Points?
Improving your credit score entirely depends on the type of debt you have and your history of payments. The time it takes to improve your credit score can be anywhere between 3 months to 10 years. You can raise your credit score in other ways, but the following activities will make it take longer to recover fully:
The Following Take 3 Months To Come Off Your Record:
- You applied for a new credit card.
- You maxed out a new credit card and repaid most of it.
- You closed a credit card account.
The Following Take 9 to 18 Months To Come Off Your Record:
- You were late on a mortgage payment for a 30 to 90 day period.
- You missed or defaulted on a payment past a 20 to 30 day reporting period.
The Following Take 7 years To Come Off Your Record:
- You have debts in collections,
- You filed for a Chapter 13 bankruptcy.
- You went through a foreclosure.
- You have late payments for an extended period of time.
The longest time it can take for your credit score to repair is ten years after filing for a Chapter 7 bankruptcy. Before these items drop off your record, work on your other accounts so that lenders can take into consideration how up-to-date you are on your other parents.
Find Out More Information
You can learn other great ways for how you can improve your credit score. Contact My Credit Repair Clinic for a consultation.