5 Ways to Improve Credit Score

An interesting news published at CNN on September 21, 2005 on how to improve credit score catched my attention today. It may be old, but the value of the information listed on the site provides information to the general public about the value of credit score in relation affecting your ability to apply for loans and other benefits such as special promotion for service subscriptions.

So I will be adding another set of tips that helps you in improving your credit score based on the article published at CNN.

5 Ways to Boost Your Credit Score

• Pay your bills on time. Delinquent payments can have a major negative impact on your score and the longer you pay your bills on time, the better your score. For example, someone with an average credit rating of 707 can raise their score by as much as 20 points by paying all their bills on time for one month.
• Keep balances low on credit cards. High outstanding debt can affect your score. Maxing out your credit cards could lower your average score by as much as 70 points.
• Don't open a number of new credit cards that you don't need. New accounts will lower your average account age, which could actually lower your score by up to 10 points.
• Have credit cards - but manage them responsibly. In general, having credit cards and installment loans (and making timely payments) will raise your score. Someone with no credit cards, for example, tends to be higher risk than someone who has managed credit cards responsibly.
• Closing an account doesn't make it go away. A closed account will still show up on your credit report and may be factored into the score.