13 Feb Learn the Best Way to Improve Credit Rating
Learn the Best Way to Improve Credit Rating
There is no simple credit repair to getting your credit rating up to good or excellent. When you have poor credit you will be working to get it back in good standings. Therefore you need to know the best way to improve credit rating. If you do have a poor credit rating you need not feel ashamed. Millions of Americans and millions of people all over the world have poor credit. They find it difficult to get loans and when they are lucky enough to get a loan, they must pay high interest rates. The only way to guarantee lower interest rates is to improve your credit rating. Even people with good credit should try to get excellent credit rating just to improve interest rates.
Get Professional Help if You Can
When you have poor credit and want to begin to get it repaired, you should contact a credit counseling agency. They know all the ways to improve credit ratings so you can once again have good credit scores. They will help you contact creditors, they will check your credit report and they will work with you to be sure you pay your debts on time. Late payments are a major factor in poor credit ratings. You can find credit counseling agencies online and also listed on credit card bills. There is also the National Foundation for Credit Counseling that can help you out.
Look at Credit Report
If you want to discover the best way to improve credit rating on your own, you will need to start by getting a copy of your credit report. This will have all sorts of information that will help you to deal with delinquent accounts, late payments history and even errors that you may have on your credit report. Accidents can occur and often a creditor will list a late payment when it was actually paid on time. You will need to contact both the credit bureau and the creditor to dispute the error. Often if it is an easy fix and is less expensive to excuse than dispute, creditors will allow it to get fixed. You may also have to show proof that you paid on time. Keep track of when your payment was deducted from your checking account. You can tell when a check was cashed by the back of the check. It is a good idea to make copies of this so you will always have proof of payment on hand.
Don’t Apply for Any More Credit
When you apply for credit there will be a report made to the credit bureaus. This can affect your credit rating. Every time you apply there is a check on your credit. You shouldn’t be looking for more credit. You should be paying what you already have. The amount of debt you have is calculated into your credit rating. The more debt there is the lower your rating will be. Don’t allow anything to bring your rating any lower.
Pay Off Debts You Have
Keep on top of your monthly payments so you are not late but pay off the one with the highest interest. You can do this all at one time or by tripling up on your payments. Any money that is left after making the minimum payments should go towards paying off the loan or credit card that has the highest interest rates. It is also wise to pay off a debt all at once so you can save more interest on payments. You should consider selling personal belongings to come up with the money you need. This can be a disappointing thing to do but you will feel better once you have control of your credit rating again.
Talk to Your Creditors
It is important to call all your creditors to see if they are willing to work with you so you can improve your credit rating. You can call them instead of waiting for them to call you. There will be less hassle and more immediate help if you call them. Many creditors will have hardship programs that will lower monthly bills. This may be necessary until you are able to get in a better position financially. Creditors can also reduce interest rates and waive late fees if you ask them to. They will often do this to help you get caught up and to ensure you are able to stay on top of things.
Reminders to Make Payments
In order to stay on top of your loans and credit card payments, contact your creditors and ask them to send a reminder for payment every month. This will usually arrive around 10 days before payment is due. This gives you plenty of time to make your payment to avoid late fees. Remember that every late payment is reported to the credit bureau. This affects your credit rating and will bring it even lower. If you can’t get reminders from the creditors, write all your payments down on the calendar so you can make payments on time. Put the reminder in early enough the payment will arrive at the company before it is due. Then you should not have any more late fees to worry about.
Do Not Make New Charges
Don’t use your credit cards any longer. This only makes your debt worse and harder to get rid of. Use cash for the purchases you need to make. You can go without things to ensure you have money for essentials. Granted there are a certain amount of buying that will have to be done every month but you don’t have to spend on nonessentials. The amount of debt you have will affect your credit rating and can make it drop considerably. By using cash for all purchases you can reduce your debt and work to save your credit score from dropping.
Take Time to Get Credit Rates Lower
It will take time to get your credit rate to go up. Low credit ratings happened over years. There needs to be time for you to raise it up again. Don’t become discouraged when it takes months to see any difference. Keep working on improving your credit and it will improve. It could be a year or more before you see a real good rise in your credit score. It will be a few months before you notice any change. The best way to improve credit rating is with any of these methods. You can ask for help from a credit counseling agency, you can pay off debts that you have and you can prevent any further bills by stopping all charges. Remember that new charges adds up on your credit report and will make your rating drop. You need to prevent this from happening. Since the total debt you have affects your credit rate it is important to reduce that debt. Don’t be in a rush for a fix. There are no quick fixes to your debt problem and low credit rating. Expect it to take time and you won’t become discouraged. You can do this alone or with a professional. The main point is that it is possible for you to raise a low credit rating if you try. Go ahead and look for help or try to do it on your own. Remember that creditors don’t have to be the enemy. They can actually be of assistance at this time.