Try to keep your overall utilization ratio -- and how to obtain free credit report Augusta the ratios on individual cards or lines of credit -- below 30 percent. Although it usually it how to obtain free credit report Augusta makes sense to pay down credit accounts with higher interest rates first, if you've tapped more than 30 percent of available credit on a particular card, bringing that percentage down first may help boost your score more quickly. Timing is critical. Even if you pay off your balance each month, showing a high utilization ratio at any time during the month could conceivably hurt your score if the statement balance is elevated when it gets reported to the credit bureaus. This is especially problematic for people whose credit limits were lowered after the recession began. A few suggestions:
- Spread purchases among multiple cards to keep individual balances lower -- while still paying off as much as you can each month, of course.
Make an extra payment midway through the billing cycle so your reported how to obtain free credit report Augusta outstanding balance appears lower. secure free credit report
Ask lenders to reinstate higher limits if your payment history has been solid -- but don't tap how to obtain free credit report Augusta the extra credit just because it's there. Be cautious with transfers. Transferring balances to a new credit card account to get a lower rate will ding your credit score by a few points -- although it won't take that long to recover. But, say you move a $2,000 balance from a card with a $10,how to obtain free credit report Augusta 000 limit to one with a $4,000 limit; you've how to obtain free credit report Augusta immediately gone from a 20 percent utilization ratio to 50 percent on the new card. Plus, if you then close the higher-rate card, you'll only compound the problem by both lowering your available credit and erasing a longer-term account from your credit history. how to check your credit Mix it up. People who demonstrate managing several types of credit earn higher scores, so how to obtain free credit report Augusta if your revolving (credit card) payments are under control and you don't have any outstanding installment loans (mortgage, car, student), consider taking out a small personal loan and paying it off on schedule. Just make sure the lender will report it to all three bureaus. A few other credit score-improvement tips:
- Make sure that credit limits on individual cards reported to credit bureaus are accurate. Don't automatically close older, unused accounts; 15 percent of your score is based on credit history. In fact, make occasional small charges on existing accounts (paying them off, of course) to make sure the lender doesn't close them out. Each time you open a new account there's a slight impact on your score, so avoid doing so in the months before a major purchase like a home or car. Pay off medical bills, as well as parking, traffic or library fines.
Once old, unpaid bills go into collections, they can how to obtain free credit report Augusta cause major damage to your credit. There are many good resources for learning more about what you can do to repair and protect your credit scores, including MyFICO.com's Credit Education Center, the FTC's Credit & Loans page, and What's My Score, a financial literacy program run by my employer, Visa Inc., which also features a free FICO® Score Estimator that can help you approximate your score. get my free credit report
