Hitting a point in life where you realize you need to repair your credit is a scary moment. We work all our lives and this one little score can make or break our futures. Luckily you do have ways to work on rebuilding your credit and getting back on track. In this article, we will look at some of the top ways to bring your credit score back to life.
You should repair your credit score because it increases your chances of getting a new job. Many employers use your credit score as a way to determine the trustworthiness of a new employee, or as a determining factor when picking between two choices for a promotion. This is especially true if you work in a government contracted company or in the financial industry.
Be careful about which collection accounts you pay off. With the current way the credit reporting system is structured, paying off a collection agency may actually lower your score because the date of last activity will be reset. A paid collection has no less of an impact on your score than an open collection. This resetting of the date of last activity also means the seven year reporting clock will restart. If you can wait out a collection agency, do it.
Should you find yourself needed to declare bankruptcy, do so sooner rather than later. Anything you do to try to repair your credit before, in this scenario, inevitable bankruptcy will be futile since bankruptcy will cripple your credit score. First, you must declare bankruptcy, then begin to repair your credit.
Opening an installment account can give quite a boost to your credit score. You are required to meet a monthly minimum, so be sure that you can make the payments. If these accounts are properly managed, they can provide a quick boost to your credit score.
When using a credit repair service, be sure not to pay any money upfront for these services. It is unlawful for a company to ask you for any money until they have proven that they have given you the results they promised when you signed your contract. The results can be seen in your credit report issued by the credit bureau, and this could take six months or more once the corrections were made.
An important tip to consider when working to repair your credit is to ideally keep your credit card utilization no more than 25 percent of the total credit limit. This is important because your credit card utilization is directly responsible for your credit rating. If your balance is high, aim to bring it down to no more than 70 percent.
As you can see, rebuilding your credit isn’t going to happen overnight. It requires effort and dedication to the task. Our credit scores are used in the decision making processes that affect so many aspects of our lives. Using these tips provided will lay the groundwork you need to be able to have those decisions start going your way.