"Improve Credit" and "quickly" don’t go together. Credit is based on history which will take time. There is no way around that. Anybody can do a good job for a short period; lenders what to see your performance over time.

1. Pay your bills on time. NEVER be late.
2. Don’t use more than about 30% of your available credit.
3. Don’t close accounts you’ve had for a long time (this shortens your history).

I stay at home with my kids and do not have an income – but I’d like to improve my credit score…. any ideas?

Put your name on any credit cards you use, as well as maybe putting some of the household bills in your name. Make sure they are paid in full and on time. that will help your score increase

I have never really bought anything but my credit score is low. This prevents me from being approved for things. How can I improve my credit without the help of a cosiner?

Here are a couple ways.

1) If your family trusts you and they are timely with paying their own bills they can add your SSN on to their account as a "co-applicant" not an authorized user. This means that you don’t get a card, and you dont get to go and charge money on the account, but when they make their monthly payments on time it will also mirror over to your credit file… Since they are simply paying their bills the way they always do and you aren’t borrowing any money or using the card you get to coat tail and get a little credit history built up… This works well for parents that want to get their children’s credit history built up before they are 18. My little sister is a co-applicant on my credit card – by the time she turns 18 she will have a 10yr old credit file… and will qualify for all sorts of loans and beter terms for things…

2) Passbook savings accounts & bank loan – this is an old trick that used to work well, however you may have a little trouble considering how rare passbook savings accounts are now. Here is what you do… go to your bank that you have a checking account with (if you don’t have a bank you check with- get one) if you are on good terms with them talk with a rep there and tell them that you want to get a loan for $500 – and simultaneously open a PASSBOOK savings account (where they issue you a passbook – like a passport that must be presented to deposit or withdraw from the account). Explain that they can place the loan funds into the passbook savings account AND hold the passbook as collateral. You simply want to make payments and have them report those payments to your credit file.
a. now you have a $500 loan which is reporting to your credit file, you also have a savings account where you place those $500 in funds. The bank is holding the passbook, so you arent going to be able to take the funds out and spend them.
b. make a $100 payment toward your loan 1 month.
c. make a $100 payment the following month
d. repeat
e. repeat
f. repeat

You have paid off your loan in 5 months, you also now have the passbook with the $500 in it and it ended up costing you $25 in interest… but on your credit file it will look like you paid a loan off early… and will be the positive mark that you need to be able to go out and get a credit card.

3) secured credit cards – you put $200 up to secure the use of the VISA or MC service label… so you are essentially making credit card purchases with money you already paid to the CC company- be careful of the fees and such that can be charged -there are a lot of sub-prime (low/no credit) lenders that are very predatory.

Best thing that you can do is find a good bank or credit union that you can be a part of, credit unions work well to help their clients and are valuable tools for people trying to establish themselves credit-wise. The better your account standings are (dont bounce checks, or overdraft, nsf, etc) the more services they will be willing to offer you as far as loans, credit cards, etc.

hope that helps.

I have 656 and don’t have any major credit cards open. I have a closed account with less than $3K balance that should be paid by December. Credit site recommended a major credit card. Should I really get one and use it for purchases only to pay off each month? How else can I improve score?

It doesn’t make sense, but the more open accounts you have (with no bad payment histories), the better effect it has upon your credit score. Part of the "calculation" includes available credit and the percentages outstanding. For instance, if you have 5 credit cards with $1000 limits, and you don’t owe anything on them, you have $5000 available credit, which has a favorable impact on your score. So in short, it’s not always the best thing for your credit score to close unused accounts. Leave them open — just don’t use them and get over extended!!

Other ways to improve your score are to always pay on time, and maintain stability in job and residency. Too many short jobs or short term residences have negative effects on the score.

I know that a negative mark on your credit report takes over 7 years to remove, but how can one improve their credit score in hopes to get a school loan, car loan, home loan, and business loans in the future.

If you have a credit card make sure you have at least 30% in available credit limit. If you have more charged then pay it down to the 30% mark, I have seen reports improve as much as 25 points in doing this. If you have limited credit, apply for a card and make monthly payments on this card on time each month to get current activity. If you have a negative mark on your credit you can contact that company and try to make a deal that if you pay them what you owe they will remove the debt from your credit. You will need to get this in writing. If they refuse to remove the debt then it would not be beneficial to pay an old collection because it would actually lower your score because the payment would spark recent activity on the account.

I have a 479 credit score. It sucks. I can’t do anything I want with my life to really improve a lot of things. How can I improve this quickly?
Oh, I am 26 yrs. old….

Sorry, but there is no quick way. First, pay anything that is past due (such as collection accounts) and get yourself current. Then, try to pay MORE than the minimum balance on what you owe. Rather than open new accounts here and there, establish what you have. Creditors will look at your financial relationship somewhere and take into account the length of time you maintained your account as well. Keep it up and your interested rates may lower too. DON’T FALL BEHIND ON PAYMENTS! DON’T JUST PAY THE MINIMUM BALANCE-PAY AS MUCH AS YOU CAN! Instead of splurging on those shoes that you don’t need, splurge on a credit card payment! Good luck!

I don’t have too many mortgages to pay. Just 1, for 700$/month. And i use my checking account to pay. My question is, if I start paying though my credit card, will my score improve? I have never paid any bills late, and credit report says, there is no positive record.
Please advice. thank you

I agree mostly with both of the first 2 posters, your mortgage should be a huge help as long as it shows on your credit report and if you use your credit cards every month for little every day thing, never exceed 30% of your credit limit in any given month and pay in full by the due date your score should shoot up fast.

I did this with 2 cards and my score went up over 150-points in 12-months.

Good luck.

im 18 i have a credit score of 530.is it possible to have a credit score of 750 in 2 to 3yrs?if not how long do u think it would take? thanks

Сredit repair workеd fine to fix my credit. They disputed and removed lots of bad items from my credit report. I used this service – freecreditreport.sinfree.net

Sorry, multiple part question: What is the highest credit score possible and what is the lowest possible? What can you do to improve it? And the myth that using your ATM Debit card as credit can actually improve your credit score, is it true?

Using your debit card as credit versus ATM does nothing for you. I don’t know the lowest score but 850 is the highest. The average american has a score of 675-700. Anything over 700 and you are in very shape, the top 20%.

if you are looking for the free credit score and report usa national site, check out this site

http://free-credit-report-national.com/

Here you can see your 3-in-1 Report from all three credit reporting agencies and your credit score.

I wish someone would have told me when I was younger all the things that would affect my credit score, and how important that is!!! So here’s my story…I moved out of an apartment before my lease expired, and I was charged aproximately $5k, which was rent for the remainder of my lease. I didn’t pay it, so it went to collections and was reported to all 3 bureau’s. In addition to that, I had about $2k more debt (medical) that also went to collections. I recently took out an auto loan (against a truck I already own) to pay off this debt, plus some other expenses that came up without warning. So, how long will it take for my credit score to improve now that my debts are settled? I have 3 credit cards that are paid on time (in full) every month, and my auto loan will be paid on time every month. The only other credit history I have is an auto loan that is paid in full (all payments were made on time). Currently my credit score is 545, I would like to see it in the 600’s ASAP!

It normally can take about 6 months for your credit score to start improving, many credit reporting agencies take at least 30-90 days to get it reporting on your report as paid, also you want to make sure you get proof of the debt being paid after you paid it and you also want to make sure they report it to experian, transunion and equifax as a paid collection. Honestly collections can stay on your report for 7 years, however if they are paid it will increase your score in time. You can also pull a credit report for free once a year from all three agencies to keep tabs on your credit report and to make sure it’s all showing paid and it won’t ding your credit because YOU are who is pulling it.