How To Improve Credit Score in the New Year

March 13, 2009

by Matt Douglas

Its 2009! A new year means a new beginning, and is a perfect opportunity to improve your credit score. As a result of the sub-prime credit and lending crisis, lenders now want a spotless credit report to approve new credit.

That means that it is more important than ever to focus on increasing your credit score. So, lets get started on your road to raising your credit score.

First, to improve your credit score, its important that you understand how your credit is calculated. Your credit report contains data including your payment history, debt total, and available credit.

This data is placed in a mathematical formula, and then calculated to generate your credit score. The determined number is a prediction of how likely you are to pay your bills.

The best credit score is 850 and the lowest is 300. The average American has a score between 600 and 800. To really benefit, you must raise your credit score so it is at least in the average range.

The next and most important step is to increasing a credit score is disputing credit information that damages a good score. This includes collections, late pays, repossessions, charge-offs, bankruptcy, and judgments.

25% of all credit reports have an error that is serious enough to keep a consumer from being approved. And, a large amount of reports contain mistakes that force a consumer to pay higher interest rates on big ticket items like a mortgage or a car loans.

By improving your credit score, youll save money, time and embarrassment. Errors can end up on your report for any number reasons, including: mistaken identities, identity theft, and administrative mistakes.

Regardless of the reason, if you want to improve your credit score, you must dispute any errors you find. When you find an error, you should create a letter to send to the credit bureaus and ask them to investigate.

Thanks to the unstable economic times, its more important than ever to raise your credit score.

By taking the steps listed above, youll be on your way to a great score, and a better quality of life.

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  4. Getting Your FICO Score Up Quickly
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