Improve Credit Score Fast!

A few years ago I wasn't working and the lease on my car was up. I had a perfect credit score, but without a job, getting a loan wasn't a possibility.

My husband was going to have to buy the car for me. No big deal, right?

WRONG! When we pulled his credit we were shocked to find that his score was a 575.

OUCH!

We needed some serious credit restoration! (We only had 30 days on my lease!)

Luckily, I found some great information and we were quickly able to get his score up to a 707.

And because of this, I BECAME THE PROUD OWNER OF A BRAND NEW BMW CONVERTIBLE!

When you need to improve credit fast, knowledge is power.

- Pay your credit cards off! (Or at least get them below 30% of your available credit) Believe it or not, paying off installment loans doesn't help much, so focus on your credit card debt.

-Pay your bill IN FULL (if you can) before the statement cut date, not the due date.

Say you have a credit card with a $2,500 credit limit. You use this for business and max it out just about every month. But, you pay it in full before the payment due date. So this is a good thing, right?

WRONG! If you pay on the due date, the lender is going to report that you owe the FULL amount that you charged that month! You need to pay it before the statement closing date for the lender to report it as a zero balance!

-If your credit file isn't very old, see if you can become an authorized user with a parent or a spouse. (We were able to get my husband added to some accounts that I have had since 1989 and this was a huge boost to his credit!)

-Check your report and make sure that your creditor is reporting your available credit correctly! If not, dispute this and get it fixed!

-If your account is in good standing, call your lender and see if they will increase your credit limit.

-Stay away from cards like American Express and Capital One if you can't pay in full before the statement closing date. The reason for this is that they do not report your credit limit. This is a disaster when it comes to how the credit bureaus figure your percentage of revolving utilization.

How does in 48 hours sound?

If you are like most people, this sounds great, but too good to be true!

Well, the truth is that it can be done just not by you!

If you are working with a mortgage company or a bank, you can ask them to file what is called a Rapid Rescore.

This is where they go directly to all three credit bureaus with verification that an item is not reporting correctly.

This will only work if you have proof from the original creditor, or some other documentation like a bankruptcy discharge or judgment satisfaction.

Now, it isn't cheap. It will cost you $30 per tradeline per bureau plus another $15 just to get your file looked at. But it is fast and can save you big time by scoring you a lower interest rate!

Add Items to Your Credit File!

The more positive accounts you have in your credit file the better! This is especially true if the accounts have some age to them and they are not maxed out credit cards.

But what can you do if you have accounts that are not reporting?

The first step is to call the lender and find out why. Sometimes they will report your account to the credit bureau.

If this does not work, you will need to deal with each of the credit bureaus directly. You can either contact them on line or call them. Let them know that you would like to report an omission.

The credit bureaus will attempt to verify the information. It is very helpful if you can provide them with documentation.

With any luck, you will have new positive credit on your report within 30 days!