Like it or not, your credit score dictates everything from whether you’re approved for a credit card to what interest rate you’re offered on a mortgage or other loan. The better your score, the easier you will find it to be approved for new loans or lines of credit.

A higher credit score can also open the door to the lowest available interest rates when you borrow. If you’d like to improve your credit score, there are a number of simple things you can do.

This article is geared at helping you raise your credit score as soon as possible with some simple strategies. Let’s begin

• How Can I Raise my Credit Score 7 Points?
• How do I Get my Credit Score up 100 Points in One Month?
• How Can I Raise my Credit Score in 30 Days?
• What Are The 5 Factors That Add up to Make Your Credit Score?
• How to Increase Credit Score
• How to Increase Credit Score Quickly
• How to Increase Credit Score to 800
• Raise Credit Score to 100 Points Overnight
• 7 Strategies to Improve Your Credit Score
• How to Raise Your Credit Score 200 Points in 30 Days

How Can I Raise my Credit Score 7 Points?

If you’re struggling with a low score, you’re better positioned to quickly make gains than someone with a strong credit history.

And if you’re starting from a higher score, you likely don’t need a full 100 points to make a big difference in the credit products you can get. Simply continuing to polish your credit can make life easier, giving you a better chance of qualifying for the best terms on loans or credit cards.

Read Also: 5 Habits to Maintain a High Credit Score

Here are some strategies to quickly improve or rebuild your credit score as soon as possible

1. Pay bills on time

No strategy to improve your credit will be effective if you pay late. Why? Payment history is the single biggest factor that affects credit scores, and late payments can stay on your credit reports for 7½ years.

If you miss a payment by 30 days or more, call the creditor immediately. Arrange to pay up if you can and ask if the creditor will consider no longer reporting the missed payment to the credit bureaus.

Even if the creditor won’t do that, it’s worth getting current on the account ASAP. Every month an account is marked delinquent hurts your score. Fortunately, the impact of a missed payment fades over time. Showing lots of positive credit behaviors after a misstep can help offset the damage more quickly and eventually improve your credit.

If you’re simply not able to pay everything on time, know how to prioritize your bills. Look into financial assistance offered in response to the coronavirus pandemic.

2. Make frequent payments

If you are able to make small payments — often called micropayments — throughout the month, that can help keep your credit card balances down and improve your credit. Making multiple payments throughout the month moves the needle on a credit score factor called credit utilization. After payment history, this is another factor that highly influences your score.

If you’re able to keep your utilization low instead of letting it build toward a payment due date, it should benefit your score right away.

3. Ask for higher credit limits

When your credit limit goes up and your balance stays the same, it instantly lowers your overall credit utilization, which can improve your credit. Call your card issuer and ask if you can get a higher limit without a “hard” credit inquiry, which can temporarily drop your score a few points.

If your income has gone up or you’ve added more years of positive credit experience, you have a decent shot at getting a higher limit. Some issuers may also be willing to work with you during the COVID-19 crisis.

4. Dispute credit report errors

A mistake on one of your credit reports could be pulling down your score. Fixing it can help you quickly improve your credit.

You’re currently entitled to a free report every week from each of the three major credit bureaus: Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. Use AnnualCreditReport.com to request those reports and then check them for mistakes, such as payments marked late when you paid on time or negative information that’s too old to be listed anymore.

Once you’ve identified them, dispute those errors to get them removed. The credit bureaus have 30 days to investigate and respond. Some companies offer to dispute errors and quickly improve your credit, but proceed with caution before you choose this option.

5. Become an authorized user

If you have a relative or friend with a long record of responsible credit card use and a high credit limit, consider asking if you can be added on one of those accounts as an authorized user. The account holder doesn’t have to let you use the card — or even tell you the account number — for your credit to improve.

This works best for if you have a thin credit file, and the impact can be significant. It can fatten up your credit file, give you longer credit history and lower your credit utilization.

6. Use a secured credit card

Another method that can be used either to build credit from scratch or improve your credit is by using a secured credit card. This type of card is backed by a cash deposit; you pay it upfront and the deposit amount is usually the same as your credit limit.

You use it like a normal credit card, and your on-time payments help your credit. Choose a secured card that reports your credit activity to all three credit bureaus. You may also consider looking into alternative credit cards that don’t require a security deposit.

7. Keep credit cards open

If you’re racing to improve your credit profile, be aware that closing credit cards can make the job harder. Closing a credit card means you lose that card’s credit limit when your overall credit utilization is calculated, which can lead to a lower score. Keep the card open and use it occasionally so the issuer won’t close it.

8. Mix it up

If you have only credit cards or only loans, consider getting the type of credit you don’t have to improve your credit mix. Having both installment accounts and revolving credit, such as loans and credit cards, can boost your perceived creditworthiness.

How do I Get my Credit Score up 100 Points in One Month?

Here are 10 ways to increase your credit score by 100 points – most often this can be done within 45 days.

1. Check your credit report. Get a free credit report from each of the three credit reporting agencies (Equifax, Experian and TransUnion) once a year at annualcreditreport.com. Look for errors that lower your credit score and take action to correct them. Review the negative factors in the report and work on improving them, such as paying bills on time or reducing debt.
2. Pay your bills on time. Set up automatic payments using your bank’s bill pay service or sign up for e-mail alerts from your credit card company if you sometimes have trouble paying bills before the due date.
3. Pay off any collections. Paying off a collection will increase your score, but be aware that the record of a debt having gone into collection will stay on your credit report for seven years.
4. Get caught up on past-due bills. If you missed a payment, get current as soon as you can. A missing payment can lower your score by as much as 100 points. It may take a some time for this black mark to fade from your credit report, but take heart: your credit score usually depends more on your most recent activity than on past credit problems.
5. Keep balances low on your credit cards. A common rule of thumb is to keep the balance at or below 10 percent on each line of credit to improve your credit score. A balance close to or over the limit will significantly reduce your credit score.
6. Pay off debt rather than continually transferring it. While a balance transfer to pay zero interest or a lower interest rate on your debt can be worthwhile, make sure you pay down the balance before increasing your debt load. FICO says paying down your overall debt is one of the most effective ways to boost your score.
7. Don’t close paid-off accounts. Closing unused credit card accounts reduces your available credit and can lower your credit score. Keeping them open and unused shows you can manage credit wisely. And think twice before closing older credit card accounts, because a long credit history improves your score.
8. Shop for new credit over a short time period. If you are shopping for a mortgage, a car loan or a credit card, lenders typically pull your credit report to see if you qualify and to determine the rate they will charge. Too many inquiries over time can negatively impact your score, but if you cluster these applications within a few days or a week, the FICO scoring system will recognize that you are comparing rates for a single new loan or credit card rather than attempting to open multiple new lines of credit.
9. Have a mix of credit types. FICO prefers to see consumers with both installment loans and credit cards . If you are repaying student loans or have a car loan or a mortgage, then having one or two credit cards is also a good idea. While having too many credit cards can be a negative factor, you should have at least one to prove you can handle credit appropriately.
10. Apply for new credit sparingly. Only apply for new credit when you actually need it and not simply to boost your available credit. Opening several new credit accounts in a short time frame can lower your score.

How Can I Raise my Credit Score in 30 Days?

It’s unlikely you’ll be able to get your credit score to where you want it in just 30 days, but there are some actions you can take that can improve your score more quickly than others:

• Pay off credit card debt. Your credit utilization rate changes as your credit card and other revolving credit account balances change. If you have the means to pay down large balances in a short period—either with cash or via a consolidation loan—your credit score will be updated as soon as your lenders report the lower balance.
• Become an authorized user. If you have a family member who has a credit card with a positive history, consider asking them to add you to the account as an authorized user. Once that’s reported to the credit bureaus, the entire history of the account will be added to your credit reports, which can help improve your score.
• Use Experian Boost . Historically, only credit accounts have been reported to the national credit bureaus. But with Experian Boost, you can also add your utility, phone and even streaming service payments to your Experian credit file. To use this free tool, you’ll connect your bank account and verify eligible positive payments. Once they’re added to your Experian credit report, you’ll be able to see the results instantly.
• Dispute credit report inaccuracies. Rarely, creditors may report inaccurate or unsubstantiated information to the credit bureaus. Check your credit report regularly to make sure everything is accurate. If you find something that isn’t, file a dispute with the credit bureaus. If their investigation supports your claim, the information will be removed or modified and your credit score will reflect that change.

Again, improving your credit can be a long process, but taking these steps can give you a head start and give you the chance to see improvements early on in the process.

What Are The 5 Factors That Add up to Make Your Credit Score?

Protecting and building your credit is more important than ever, and how you handle the following five factors can make all the difference in determining your credit score.

1. Your Bill Payment History

Payment history determines 35% of your credit score. In fact, how timely you pay your bills affects your credit score more than any other factor. Serious payment issues, like charge-offs, collections, bankruptcy, repossession, tax liens, or foreclosure can devastate your credit score, making it almost impossible to get approved for anything that requires good credit.

The best thing you can do for your credit score is to make your payments on time each month.

2. Your Level of Debt Matters

Your debt level determines 30% of your credit score. Credit scoring calculations, such as the FICO score, look at a few key factors related to your debt. The amount of overall debt you carry, the ratio of your credit card balances to your credit limit (also called credit utilization), and the relation of your loan balances to the original loan amount.

As a guideline, you should keep your credit card utilization at 30% or less, meaning only charge up to 30% of any card’s available limit.

Having high balances or too much debt can heavily affect your credit score. The good news is that your credit score can improve quickly as you pay down your balances.

3. Your Credit History Age

How old is your oldest credit account? The age of credit is 15% of your credit score and considers both the age of your oldest account and the average age of all your accounts.

Having an “older” credit age is better for your credit score because it shows that you have a lot of experience handling credit. Opening new accounts or closing existing accounts can lower your average credit age. For that reason, it’s typically not a good idea to open several new accounts at once.6

4. Types of Credit on Your Report

Two basic types of credit accounts exist, revolving accounts and installment loans. Having both types of accounts on your credit report is better for your credit score because it indicates you have experience managing various types of credit.

It’s even better if you have loans for different types of assets, such as a car or a home, in addition to credit cards, and maybe a student or personal loan. However, the types of credit only constitute 10% of your credit score, so not having a certain type of credit, such as an installment loan, won’t devastate your score.7

5. Number of Credit Inquiries

Each time you submit an application that requires a credit check, an inquiry is placed on your credit report showing that you’ve made a credit-based application. Inquiries make up 10% of your credit score.

One or two inquiries won’t hurt much, but several inquiries, especially within a short period of time can cost you many points off of your FICO score. Keep your applications to a minimum to preserve your credit score.

The good news is that only those inquiries made within the last 12 months factor into your credit score. Inquiries completely disappear from your credit report after 24 months.

Note that checking your own credit report results in a “soft” inquiry, which does not affect your credit score.

How to Increase Credit Score

The specific steps that can help you improve your credit score will depend on your unique credit situation. But there are also general steps that can help almost anyone’s credit.

1. Build Your Credit File

Opening new accounts that will be reported to the major credit bureaus—most major lenders and card issuers report to all three—is an important first step in building your credit file. You can’t start laying down a good track record as a borrower until there are accounts in your name, so having at least several open and active credit accounts can be helpful.

These could include credit-builder loans or secured cards if you’re starting out or have a low score—or a great rewards credit card with no annual fee if you’re trying to improve an established good score. Getting added as an authorized user on someone else’s credit card can also help, assuming they use the card responsibly.

Additionally, you can sign up for Experian Boost to add positive utility, cellphone and streaming service payments to your Experian credit report. These on-time payments wouldn’t otherwise be added to your credit report, but using Boost means they’ll be factored into your Experian credit scores.

2. Don’t Miss Payments

Your payment history is one of the most important factors in determining your credit scores, and having a long history of on-time payments can help you achieve excellent credit scores. To do this, you’ll need to make sure you don’t miss loan or credit card payments by more than 29 days—payments that are at least 30 days late can be reported to the credit bureaus and hurt your credit scores.

Setting up automatic payments for the minimum amount due can help you avoid missing a payment (as long as you’re careful not to overdraft your bank account). If you’re having trouble affording a bill, reach out to your credit card issuer right away to try and discuss hardship options.

Staying on top of accounts that don’t generally appear on your credit reports (gym memberships and subscription services, for instance) can also be important. The on-time payments might not help your credit, but the account being sent to collections could still cause your scores to dip.

3. Catch Up On Past-Due Accounts

If you’re behind on your bills, bringing them current could help. While a late payment can remain on your credit report for up to seven years, having all your accounts current can be good for your scores. Additionally, it stops further late payments from being added to your credit history as well as additional late fees, derogatory marks

For those having trouble with credit card debt, talking to a credit counselor and getting on a debt management plan (DMP) could be a good option. The counselor may be able to negotiate lower payments and interest rates, and get card issuers to bring your accounts current.

4. Pay Down Revolving Account Balances

Even if you’re not behind on your bills, having a high balance on revolving credit accounts can lead to a high credit utilization rate and hurt your scores. Revolving accounts include credit cards and lines of credit, and maintaining a low balance on them relative to their credit limits can help you improve your scores. Those with the highest credit scores tend to keep their credit utilization ratio in the low single digits.

5. Limit How Often You Apply for New Accounts

While you may need to open accounts to build your credit file, you generally want to limit how often you submit credit applications. Each application can lead to a hard inquiry, which may hurt your scores a little, but inquiries can add up and have a compounding effect on your credit scores. Opening a new account will also decrease your average age of accounts, and that could also hurt your scores.

Inquiries and the average age of your accounts are minor scoring factors, but you still want to be cautious about how many applications you submit. One exception is when you’re rate shopping for certain types of loans, such as an auto loan or mortgage. Credit scoring models recognize that rate shopping isn’t risky behavior and may ignore some inquiries if they occur within the span of a couple of weeks.

How to Increase Credit Score Quickly

Below, we get advice from Triggs and a couple other experts on how quickly your credit score can increase and tips for making it happen.

1. Pay down your revolving credit balances

If you have the funds to pay more than your minimum payment each month, you should do so. Chipping away at your revolving debt can have a major impact on your credit score because it helps to keep your credit utilization rate low. 

“How quickly [your score can go up] depends on how quickly the individual creditors report the paid balance on the consumer’s credit report.” Triggs says. “Some creditors report within days of the payment, some report at a specific time each month.” 

Credit card companies typically report your statement balance to the credit bureaus monthly, but this could vary depending on your issuer. You can call or chat online with your card issuer to find out when they report balances to the bureaus.

The sooner you can pay off your balance each month the better. You can also make multiple payments toward your balance throughout the month so it is easier to track your spending, and it keeps your balance low. And although it helps to even pay off a portion of your debt, paying off the entire balance will have the biggest and fastest impact on your credit score.

2. Increase your credit limit

You can increase your credit limit one of two ways: Either ask for an increase on your current credit card or open a new card. The higher your overall available credit limit, the lower your credit utilization rate (as long as you’re not maxing out your card each month). Before asking for a credit limit increase, make sure you won’t be tempted to spend more than you can afford to pay off.

If you are considering opening a new credit card, do your research beforehand. How often you apply for and open new accounts gets factored into your credit score. Each application requires the card issuer or lender to pull your credit report, which results in a hard inquiry on your report and dings your credit score a few points.

“Usually the negative impact of those factors is much less than the benefit to your score of reducing your credit utilization ratio,” Triggs says. Just make sure you don’t apply to too many credit cards over a short amount of time and send a red flag to issuers.

It’s more important now than ever to do your research before applying for new credit because issuers may have stricter terms and requirements in wake of the economic fallout from coronavirus. Check to see what your credit score is beforehand.

Most of the best rewards credit cards require good or excellent credit to qualify, but there are some cards catered to those with less than stellar credit. The Petal® 2 “Cash Back, No Fees” Visa® Credit Card has no fees whatsoever, offers cashback, and allows applicants with no credit history to apply. The Capital One® QuicksilverOne® Cash Rewards Credit Card accepts fair or average credit and offers 1.5% cashback on all purchases.

3. Check your credit report for errors

One way to quickly increase your credit score is to review your credit report for any errors that could be negatively impacting you. Your score may increase if you are able to dispute them and have them removed. 

About 25% of Americans have an error on their credit reports, so it’s important to take the time to review. Some common errors to look out for include fraudulent or duplicated accounts, as well as misreported payments.

“Most of the clients we meet with have not reviewed their report within the past year, and are often surprised by what we find to discuss with them,” says Thomas Nitzsche, a financial educator at MMI. 

You can get a free credit report from the three major credit bureaus (Experian, Equifax and TransUnion) on a weekly basis by going to AnnualCreditReport.com now through April 2021.

4. Ask to have negative entries that are paid off removed from your credit report

You may have a series of late payments on your credit report, or perhaps an old collection account that’s since been paid off still shows up. If this is the case, ask to have them removed. (And if you do have a collection account that’s unpaid, make this a priority. Unpaid collection accounts can negatively impact your score.)

This step may take more time and effort on your end, but it could be worth it. Triggs suggests speaking to the collections agency, debt buyer or original creditor (depending on who now services your account) to remove a paid-off account from your credit report. 

“You’d most likely have better results using this method with collection agencies or debt buyers versus the original creditor,” he says. 

Try to convince them to not only show the account as paid, but to remove the account altogether, which could have a much bigger impact on your credit score. “Having even a paid collection account or paid charge-off on your credit report could deter creditors in issuing you future credit at all,” Triggs says.

How to Increase Credit Score to 800

Joining the ranks of the credit elite with an 800+ credit score can do much more than provide bragging rights.

To get into the 800+ credit score club, you’ll have to follow some of the best credit habits for a long time. Here are five ways to get into the elite club:

1. Pay Your Bills on Time – All of Them

Paying your bills on time can improve your credit score and get you closer to an 800+ credit score. It’s common knowledge that not paying bills can hurt your credit score, but paying them late can eventually hurt also.

“I think a lot of people don’t really understand that there isn’t a bill that’s really too small,” says Thomas Nitzsche, a certified credit counselor and financial educator with ClearPoint Credit Counseling Solutions, and the owner of an 800+ credit score.

If a bill goes unpaid long enough and the debt is sold to a third-party collection agency, that will be reported to credit bureaus, Nitzsche says. But being late can lead to fourth-level reporting parties, such as online searches, that credit bureaus can become aware of.

From late utility bill payments to magazine subscriptions or even $10 medical co-pays that people don’t think are important enough to pay on time, all bills should be paid on time.

“Any bill I get is treated as a serious situation,” he says.

Payment history counts for 35% of a credit score, says Katie Ross, education and development manager for American Consumer Credit Counseling, a national financial education nonprofit group.

2. Don’t Hit Your Credit Limit

If you want to get into the 800+ credit score club, be sure that you don’t use your credit card up to its full limit. Use no more than one-third of your credit limit if you don’t want to hurt your credit score, Nitzsche says.

For example, if your credit card has a limit of $9,000, don’t have a balance of more than $3,000.

Ideally, credit card utilization should be 10% or less. Jennifer Martin, a business coach, says she has a credit score of around 825, and that she tries to keep her spending to no more than 10% of a credit card’s available credit.

Outstanding debt accounts for 30% of a credit score, Ross says.

“If you are overextended and close to your credit limit this indicates overextension and you need to work at getting your credit card balances well below the limits,” she says.

3. Only Spend What You Can Afford

Don’t use a credit card to live beyond your means, or to roll over the costs of everyday expenses to the next month, Nitzsche recommends. This will only lead to spiraling debt that will be difficult to get out of.

People with an 800+ credit score don’t apply for more credit than they can afford and don’t spend more than they earn.

While using a credit card for everyday expenses is OK if you can pay the credit card bill off in full each month, while gaining awards points in the process, don’t let the accumulation of points convince you to spend more, Nitzsche says. And if you’re running to your credit card when your car, refrigerator or something else breaks down, start an emergency fund to pay for such repairs.

Bill Balderaz, president of Fathom Healthcare, has an excellent credit score and attributes it to his family living below their means. “As our income rises, we keep our spending flat,” Balderaz says.

They also pay off all credit card bills each month, pay off their vehicle loans early, and have paid off their mortgage early to help get them to an 800+ credit score.

Their excellent credit score has allowed them to get the most preferred loan rate. After three houses and eight vehicles, Balderaz estimates they’ve saved tens of thousands of dollars on loans by getting the lowest loan rates.

4. Don’t Apply for Every Credit Card

Too many credit inquiries in a short period of time can hurt your credit score.This can be difficult to avoid during Christmas, when it seems that every department store is offering you a discount for signing up for its credit card.

Applying for new credit card accounts can account for 10% of your credit score, which isn’t a huge number, but it can be enough to push you into the 800+ credit score club.

Holly Wolf, who with her husband has a credit score in the 800 range and is a chief marketing officer at Conestoga Bank, says she doesn’t open a lot of credit cards and often closes cards she may have opened to get a store discount.

“Honestly, this isn’t a lifestyle to which most folks aspire,” Wolf says. “The need to have a ‘nice car’ a ‘big house’ and all the accouterments of prosperity over having a high credit score. Living debt-free or with as little debt as possible has enabled us to save for retirement, get the best rates on loans, and be prepared for unexpected expenses when they arise.”

5. Have a Credit History

You not only want a good record of paying your bills and credit cards on time, you also want a long history of doing so. The older your credit accounts are, the better your credit score will be. You want to have credit accounts that have been open for 10 years or more.

Length of credit history accounts for 15% of a credit score, and closing old accounts can affect your credit score, Ross says.

Raise Credit Score to 100 Points Overnight

You can raise your credit score 100 points overnight if you’re a victim of identity theft. If that doesn’t apply to you, a reality check is in order. Gaining a 100 points overnight is unrealistic. You can expect this increase in 24 months by settling debts and paying bills on time.

How to boost your credit score overnight:

1. Dispute all negatives on your credit report
2. Dispute all excess hard inquiries on your credit report
3. Pay down your revolving balances (0 is best, 30% is decent)
4. Pay your bills on time
5. Have family add you to their cards as an authorized user

You can raise your score instantly if you’re eligible for credit repair. Removing falsely reported items and derogatory remarks is a quick way to boost your score (FAST). If you aren’t sure how to do it on your own, a reputable company like Credit Glory can make it easy!

7 Strategies to Improve Your Credit Score

Simply put, having a high credit score saves you money. Consider a mortgage loan: If you have excellent credit, you may be able to secure a mortgage loan that is as much as 1.5 percentage points lower than someone with marginal credit. That could save you hundreds of dollars every month–thousands every year. 

There are five primary factors that determine your FICO score: a 35% weighting is given to payment history, 30% to the amount you owe, 15% length of history, 10% new credit, and 10% types of credit use. You can spruce up your credit score by improving on any of these factors. Here are some ideas.

1. Fix Errors
Start by making sure there isn’t any incorrect information on your credit report. Most errors, such as duplicated information, incorrect addresses, or credit limit errors, don’t have a significant impact. 

But some can be bigger deals. Here’s a scary statistic: One in four consumers have at least one potentially material error on one or more of their three credit reports, according to a study by the Federal Trade Commission. 

Experts say you should check your credit report once per year. There are many websites that offer free credit reports, but www.annualcreditreport.com is the website the FTC recommends.

Start by checking the public records section of your credit report. If a lien or bankruptcy that isn’t yours shows up on your credit report, it’s probably having a severe impact on your credit score and you should go to the public agency to get it corrected as soon as possible.

If you find a less significant error, such as a mistake in the identifying information or credit accounts data, you can dispute the information with the credit reporting agency. Here’s how that works:

• Submit a written statement (100 words or less). You can use this sample letter from the Federal Trade Commission to get an idea of how to format your statement and what information to include.
• The credit agency has 30 days to investigate the matter and respond to you. When the investigation is complete, the credit reporting company will give you the results in writing and a free copy of your report if the dispute results in a change. 
• If the credit reporting company decides not to change the information in your report after your appeal, you can ask that a statement of the dispute be included in your file and in future reports. You also can ask the credit reporting company to provide your statement to anyone who received a copy of your report in the recent past. (The credit reporting agency will likely charge you to do this.)
• The credit agencies also have online tools you can use to dispute incorrect information: Equifax, Transunion, Experian.

2. Always Pay on Time 
This is pretty obvious, right? It bears repeating. The biggest factor affecting your credit score is your payment history. If you’ve had late payments in the past, they will affect your credit score less over time if you establish a history of dependable on-time payment. Stay on top of due dates by signing up for automatic bill pay if your credit card company has that option, or set a reminder for yourself a few days before your payment is due.

3. Don’t Borrow Too Much
The next biggest factor affecting your credit score is the amount you owe. Your credit utilization score is calculated by dividing the total amount of money you owe by your total credit limit. (For instance, if you owe $3,000 and your credit limit is $10,000, you have a 30% credit utilization.) Any percentage below 30% is considered good in terms of your credit score.

4. All Things Equal, Keep Longstanding Accounts Open
Another contributing element is the length of your credit history. Let’s say you decide you have too many credit cards and want to close one. You are deciding between one you’ve had since 2004 and one that you opened in 2016. All things equal, it’s better for your credit score to keep the card with the longer history of on-time payment open. Of course, though, this shouldn’t be the only factor driving your decision–if the older card has a higher interest rate or annual fee, it could make better sense to close it.

5. Understand the Effect of ‘Soft’ and ‘Hard’ Inquiries
Soft inquiries have no effect on your credit score. When you check your own credit score, or when an employer or landlord is conducting a background check, this is considered a “soft inquiry.”

Credit card preapproval offers are also soft inquiries. (Tip: If you really would love to stop receiving those, consumers nationwide can now freeze and unfreeze their credit free of charge; this was part of the Dodd-Frank repeal bill signed into law on May 24.)

6. Have a Mix of Credit Types 
A borrower with a long history of responsibly managing a mix of credit types—such as a mortgage, a credit card, and an auto loan, will likely have a higher credit score than someone with just one type, all else equal. 

7. Seek Out Smart Ways to Establish and Improve Credit
If you’re just starting out or you’ve had some credit missteps in the past, the options below could help you build good credit (provided you pay on time, every time). 

A secured credit card. A “secured” credit card is backed by a secured payment that’s used as collateral on the loan. Unlike a debit card, a secured credit card can help you establish and build credit. Make sure you understand the fees and conditions when applying for secured credit cards.

How to Raise Your Credit Score 200 Points in 30 Days

Here are our best tips and tricks for raising your credit score by 200 points and keeping it healthy for years to come. 

1. Check Your Credit Report

One of the first steps to repairing your credit score is to ensure that it reflects you and your financial history. Incorrect information on credit reports is one of the top complaints received by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

One study revealed that 1 in 5 people had an error on at least one credit report. Errors can affect your score and make you appear to be a risky borrower. This can, in turn, hurt your chances of obtaining credit or end up costing you more money.

Common mistakes to look for include:

• Personal Info Errors. Check for wrong names, addresses, and phone numbers. Make sure that all accounts listed on the report are, in fact, yours. If you have been a victim of identity theft, you might find accounts that do not belong to you. 
• Balance Errors. Verify that all balances and credit limits listed on the report are correct.
• Errors in Account Status. Ensure that the reports are accurately reflecting the status of your accounts. For example, you may find inaccuracies related to overdue and delinquent payments or closed accounts reported as open. You’ll also want to double-check that each debt is only listed once.

If you do find an error, the next step is to contact the credit reporting company to file a dispute. You can also file a dispute with the organization or company that supplied the information to the credit reporting bureau. 

2. Pay Bills on Time

Secondly, you’ll want to pay all of your bills on time. Payment history makes up a large part of your credit score— after all, lenders aren’t going to want to loan their money to someone who has past issues with not paying back what they borrow. If you have a poor track record with late and delinquent payments, consider taking the following steps to ensure it doesn’t happen in the future:

• Budget Your Money. Make sure you have the money every month to pay any bills. Construct a budget that correctly allocates your income to making the necessary payments and reducing debt. 
• Set Up Auto-Payments. Sometimes we make late payments simply because we forget. To avoid this, set up auto-pay on as many accounts as you can. You should still check in on your account every month to ensure monthly payments are going through correctly.

Paying your bills on time for one or two months won’t fix years of poor payment history, but it’s a great place to start and an essential step in building your credit back up.

3. Pay Down Debt and Maintain Low Balances

Since a poor debt-to-credit ratio can affect your credit score, it’s important to pay down student loans, auto loans, or whatever other obligations you have. If you have any revolving credit accounts like credit cards, try and keep your balances to a minimum. This task can be one of the most challenging aspects of boosting your credit score, especially if you have a large balance to pay off. Still, it’s vital if you want to raise your credit score by 200 points.

Not only does the amount of debt impact your credit score, but so does that number compared to your credit limit. When determining your likelihood to pay back a loan, lenders prefer to see a small debt-to-limit ratio, which is the amount you borrow over the total amount of credit that is available to you. Low utilization ratios show that you responsibly use your credit.

Because of this consideration, increasing the limits on your credit can boost your score. For example, if your credit limit is $1,000 and you use $200, your utilization is 20%. However, if you increase your credit limit to $2,000 and still use $200, the utilization rate is only 10%. Just be careful that when you raise your limit, you don’t increase your spending as well. 

4. Explore Secured Credit Cards Instead of High-Interest Cards

The type of credit that you have is less influential on credit score than payment history, but it’s still a factor. Debt with high-interest rates such as traditional credit card debt appears to be riskier than other forms of debt like loans or secured credit cards.

Read Also: What the UltraFICO Could do for Your Credit Score

Consider consolidating your credit cards or paying them off with a personal loan that has more favorable terms. This approach can also save you money if your new loan has a lower interest rate. 

Once you pay off those credit cards, don’t cancel them. That’s right— leave them open. This tactic goes back to that credit utilization factor we talked about earlier. If you have credit available but don’t over utilize it, it helps your credit score. 

Once you have a handle on your debt, a secured credit card is a good option for building a solid repayment history. It will also ensure that you don’t spend more than you can afford to pay back.

5. Limit Credit Inquiries

Each time you apply for a loan, mortgage, or credit card, lenders make what is known as a “hard inquiry” into your credit score. A high number of hard inquiries can be a red flag and cause your credit score to decrease, so you’ll want to limit your overall number of credit accounts. 

Other organizations – like utility companies, employers, and landlords – may also make a credit inquiry. However, these are known as “soft inquiries” and don’t affect your credit score.

6. Negotiate with Lenders

If collection agencies have bought your debt, there’s a chance that you’ll be able to negotiate your balance. Lenders may be looking to recoup any money they can get, and compromises may be possible.

Raising your credit score by 200 points won’t be easy or happen instantly. But don’t lose hope: it is possible with some smart money moves, a little bit of diligence, and a whole bunch of patience.