My FicoScore8 is currently 679 and I would like to know if anyone has steps to raise it to 750.
Yes, I do, pay your bills in advance, never be late on any bill. Pay more than you owe.
Thank you for the advise. I do pay my bills in advance, never late and pay then twice a month to ensure leaving a $0 balance.
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@marcdjones Do you have credit cards? If so, be sure to charge something every month and then pay the full balance. If you don’t have a card or haven’t been able to get approved for one, try opening a secured credit card where you put down a deposit as your line of credit. That will help you build a credit history and show that you pay on time. That will help raise your score.
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i use my credit card to pay my bills and pay it off at the end of the month that builds my credit score
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Thank you as I will try to do that
Along the topic of credit cards, there are also now some apps like Chime that allow you to open a Credit card that acts just like a debit card in that it uses the funds already in your account. It then just reports your monthly payments to the credit bureau.
There are quite a few factors that go into your credit score, I find it helpful to use a platform like Credit Sesame or Credit Karma to get a good idea of where my credit score needs improvement.
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You might be paying them off too soon. You usually want them to reflect a nonzero balance on your credit card statement and then pay it off in full. But really consistent use, paying on time, and keeping credit lines open long term are key. Do you have any loans at all? Sometimes having a mix of variable credit like cards can be boosted by having fixed payment types of borrowing like a small auto loan, home loan, student loan, or something newer nowadays called a credit builder loan (it’s like a secured credit card but a loan that you pay into first then get the distribution at the end). I’d be happy to chat more if you have questions or other ideas to bounce off of me.
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Thank you very much for your advise. I might have been paying them off to 0 balance too fast indeed. I am working on using my card for my normal monthly bills then pay them off accordingly each month after it post.
I do have a personal loan that I am paying office each month and auto loan (lease) as well.
Again, thank you so much for the information and always welcome any additional advise
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Paying your bills on-time is absolutely, positively the best way to increase your score over-time, as others noted – but if you’re already doing that, some other factors to think about…
Your available credit-line (total across revolving accounts) does play a role in two ways. First - just the total available credit and secondly, the percent of your available credit you’re carrying in in revolving accounts. On the second front - if you’re paying the balance each month, you’re already maxing that out, score-wise.
However, your total available credit does play a (small) role – the “good” benchmark is usually the 15k-50k range; 50k+ is generally the biggest boost (anything beyond 50k is pointless for score purposes).
One thing I do annually is request credit line increases on all my cards - this should especially be done if you’ve always paid on-time AND your income increases year-over-year. Almost all banks will do this WITHOUT a hard-pull - so you won’t be adding any inquiries. Discover will do it in real-time. Chase makes you call for the request. It can’t hurt - but might help.
It’s not something I’d do if I were NOT paying off monthly - but if you are? It might make sense to take the short-term score hit on a new card, especially if your spending matches up with particularly good rewards (i.e., do you eat out a lot? Grocery shop a lot? What does your budget say about your spending?). Places like Mint.com and Nerdwallets are particularly good places to find matching offers/cards for your spending habits. I would stress, however - if you’re looking at a major purchase soon (a home, new car), I would NOT go this route… but - if such major purchases are a ways off? It can make sense to add a card just to get your revolving line total available into the good or excellent available credit realm… However - definitely explore credit line increases on your existing cards first. Keep in mind - your score will obviously take a short-term and small hit with any hard inquiry, so understand that going in.
Of course - you should ALWAYS annually get a free credit report (https://www.annualcreditreport.com/index.action). You can get a free report from each reporting agency all at once - but most people spread them out (i.e., Say, in march - use your free transunion… in July, get your free experion… in October, get your free equifax). There could always be something wrong or unexpected.
All that said, be patient and maintain good habits. If you have some old missed payments or other derogatory marks - all you can really do is wait for them to roll off.
Building your score into the 750+ range can be a long-term journey - and it can take time, but you can get there. Stick with the plan and play the long game. Plan any score-affecting events not in months, but years, to the extent you can.
