Here are some tips to improve your credit and maintain a good credit rating.

1. Pay your bills 2-3 days before they are due.  Paying them on the due date (especially through online banking) will make you 1-2 days late.  This is recorded on your credit bureau and will definitely lower your score without you knowing it.
2. Do not carry balances on credit cards or personal loans month over month.  This means your credit is revolving and will automatically drop your score.
3. Resist the urge to have a lot of open credit cards, even if they have zero balances.
4. You must have some credit.  If you had previous bad credit and are now just using cash, you are essentially handcuffing your future.  Without re-establishing good credit, the banks will decline you every time.
5. Property taxes and support payments in arrears can also drop your score once they are reported.
6. Mortgage and vehicle payments in arrears, once reported (which usually happens after 60 days) are a major hit to your score.  Please try to avoid this.

Christine’s Tip:

Some merchants, banks, or small financial institutions say that they will “only do soft hit” to your credit when trying you to convince you to buy.  Please do not get fooled by this.  There is no such thing as a “soft hit” or a “hard hit” to your credit bureau.  If they have your verbal consent, (even if they don’t have your social security number) when they adjudicate a consumer credit request, they WILL hit your credit and it WILL adjust your score.  Be careful……and please don’t get fooled by an overzealous sales rep.