It is important for you to understand that trying to raise your FICO score is quite similar in nature to losing weight. There is no quick fix and it is absolutely going to take time. Quick fix efforts for improving your credit score can most certainly back fire if you are not careful. The best advice for you to follow is simply to manage your credit in a responsible manner over a period of time.

Tips for Payment History

1. Make sure that you are paying all of your bills on time. When you have delinquent payments or accounts in collection, you could be putting a serious negative strain on your FICO score over all.

2. If you have missed any of your payments, then you need to get current and you need to stay current. The longer that you manage to pay your bills in a timely manner, the better your credit score is going to be.

3. Understand that paying your collection account off is not going to remove it completely from your credit report. The delinquent collection account is going to sit on your credit report for a period of 7 years before it disappears.

4. Understand that if you are having trouble when it comes to making ends meet, legitimate credit counselors and working with your creditors may actually help you. You may not be able to improve your FICO credit score on an immediate basis, but you can begin to improve your management of your credit, paying on time, to improve your credit over time.

Tips for Amounts Owed

1. You need to keep your balances low on your credit cards and other types of revolving credit as well. When you have high outstanding debts, this can have a negative impact on your credit.

2. Make sure that you are paying debt off rather than simply moving it around. Pay your debt down and you will surely improve your credit score over a period of time.

3. Do not close out any unused credit card accounts because it is not going to raise your score in any way but rather may actually hurt you in the long run.

4. Do not open a bunch of new credit cards if you do not need them because this strategy is not going to improve your credit score. This approach could quite possibly backfire, lowering your credit score as a result.

Credit History Length Tips

1. If you have only been managing your credit for a short period of time, do not open too many accounts too quickly because too many new accounts will lower your average account age. This could have a serious impact on your credit score in a bad way.

Photo Credits: Darren Hester

Originally posted 2009-09-10 03:24:55. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

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