Fixing Your Credit Score

Your credit score—a three-digit number lenders use to help them decide how likely it is they'll be repaid on time if they grant you a credit card or loan—is an important factor in your financial life. The higher your scores, the more likely you are to qualify for loans and credit cards at the most favorable terms, which will save you money.

If your credit history is not where you want it to be, you're not alone. Improving your credit scores takes time, but the sooner you address the issues that might be dragging them down, the faster your credit scores will go up. You can increase your scores by taking several steps, like establishing a track record of paying bills on time, paying down debt and taking advantage of tools like Experian Boost™† , a new product that allows you to add utility and cell phone bills to your credit file will make it much more likely that you can get a good mortgage loan.

How Credit Scores Are Calculated

FICO Scores are calculated using many different pieces of credit data in your credit report. This data is grouped into five categories: payment history (35%), amounts owed (30%), length of credit history (15%), new credit (10%) and credit mix (10%).

Steps to Improve Your Credit Scores

1. Pay down revolving balances to less than 30%

Your aggregate debt and the amounts owed on all credit cards and all installment accounts make up about 30% of your credit score. The most common revolving balances are amounts owed on your credit cards. However, there is a big difference between the revolving balances of someone with a 780 credit score and a 680 credit score.

Credit score of 680 → revolving balances of 40%-50% of their credit card limits
Credit score of 780 → revolving balances of 15%-25% of their credit card limits.

Essentially, don’t worry too much about paying installment accounts. They have a low impact on your score. Instead, pay your revolving balances off as soon as possible. At the very least, aim to pay those balances down to less than 30%. This will help to improve your credit score in 30 days or less.

2. Pay Your Bills on Time

When lenders review your credit report and request a credit score for you, they're very interested in how reliably you pay your bills. That's because past payment performance is usually considered a good predictor of future performance.

You can positively influence this credit scoring factor by paying all your bills on time as agreed every month. Paying late or settling an account for less than what you originally agreed to pay can negatively affect credit scores.

You'll want to pay all bills on time—not just credit card bills or any loans you may have, such as auto loans or student loans, but also your rent, utilities, phone bill and so on. It's also a good idea to use resources and tools available to you, such as automatic payments or calendar reminders, to help ensure you pay on time every month.

If you're behind on any payments, bring them current as soon as possible. Although late or missed payments appear as negative information on your credit report for seven years, their impact on your credit score declines over time: Older late payments have less effect than more recent ones.

3. Get Credit for Making Utility and Cell Phone Payments on Time

If you've been making utility and cell phone payments on time, there is a way for you to improve your credit score by factoring in those payments through a new, free product called Experian Boost.

Through this new opt-in product, consumers can allow Experian to connect to their bank accounts to identify utility and telecom payment history. After a consumer verifies the data and confirms they want it added to their Experian credit file, an updated FICO® Score will be delivered in real time.

4. Apply for and Open New Credit Accounts Only as Needed

Don't open accounts just to have a better credit mix—it probably won't improve your credit score.

Unnecessary credit can harm your credit score in multiple ways, from creating too many hard inquiries on your credit report to tempting you to overspend and accumulate debt.

5. Don't Close Unused Credit Cards

Keeping unused credit cards open—as long as they're not costing you money in annual fees—is a smart strategy, because closing an account may increase your credit utilization ratio. Owing the same amount but having fewer open accounts may lower your credit scores.

6. Don't Apply for Too Much New Credit, Resulting in Multiple Inquiries

Opening a new credit card can increase your overall credit limit, but the act of applying for credit creates a hard inquiry on your credit report. Too many hard inquiries can negatively impact your credit score, though this effect will fade over time. Hard inquiries remain on your credit report for two years.

7. Dispute Any Inaccuracies on Your Credit Reports

You should check your credit reports at all three credit reporting bureaus (TransUnion, Equifax, and Experian, the publisher of this piece) for any inaccuracies. Incorrect information on your credit reports could drag your scores down. Verify that the accounts listed on your reports are correct. If you see errors, dispute the information and get it corrected right away.

How Long Does It Take to Rebuild a Credit Score?

If you have negative information on your credit report, such as late payments, a public record item (e.g., bankruptcy) or too many inquiries, you should pay your bills and wait. Time is your ally in improving your credit scores. There is no quick fix for bad credit scores.

The length of time it takes to rebuild your credit history after a negative change depends on the reasons behind the change. Most negative changes in credit scores are due to the addition of a negative element to your credit report, such as a delinquency or collection account. These new elements will continue to affect your credit scores until they reach a certain age.

Delinquencies remain on your credit report for seven years.
Most public record items remain on your credit report for seven years, although some bankruptcies may remain for 10 years.
Inquiries remain on your report for two years.
Rebuilding your credit and improving your credit scores takes time; there are no shortcuts. Start improving your credit by checking your FICO® Score from Experian data and reviewing the individual factors that are affecting your credit scores. Then, learn more about how to build credit to improve your scores. And if you need help with credit mistakes from your past, you can learn more about credit repair and how to fix your credit.

Establishing or Building Your Credit Scores

If you simply don't have a credit score because you have little experience or history with credit, you likely have a thin credit file. That means you have few (if any) credit accounts listed on your credit reports, typically one to four. Generally, a thin file means a bank or lender is unable to calculate a credit score because there is not enough information in a user's credit history to do so.

There are things you can do to fatten up your thin credit file, such as applying for a secured credit card, becoming an authorized user on someone else's credit card or taking out a credit builder loan.