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How to Improve Your Credit Rating
By Beth Derkowitz
The best way to keep your credit rating high is to spend within your means and to pay off your bills promptly. But if your credit rating has taken a little dip, there are ways to bring it back up again.
Keep up with those bills
A lot of people don't realize that the check that goes to a billing company needs to be in their hands by the due date and that anything that arrives later is considered late. When you make late payments, the company can then report this to a credit reporting agency and your credit rating can plummet. It's best to send in your bill well before it is due to avoid any problems or convert to online bill paying so that you never have to find a stamp.
Lower those balances
While credit card debt is bad to begin with, there is some that is worse than others. The general rule of thumb is to keep credit card balances lower than 50% of your total limit on the card. This shows that you can use credit cards wisely.
If your credit cards are higher than that, you will want to start making a plan to get those balances lower. And that starts with paying more than the minimum balance on your credit card each month. Try to pay as much as you possibly can on the higher interest rate cards so that you don't have a cycle of debt that never ends.
Keep your cards
While it might sound as though you should throw away your credit cards, this isn't necessarily true. Without any credit history, you can't have a credit rating. So what you need to do is start building a credit history that shows you are responsible. Only charge small amounts on your credit card and pay them back immediately each month.
The longer you have credit cards is better for your credit rating. It shows that the company has faith in you and has a good relationship with you.
Look over that credit report
The point of being able to get your credit report once a month is to allow you to see where there might be fraudulent accounts in your name, ruining your credit. You might want to make sure that any errors are corrected immediately and get that credit rating back up. Even if it takes time, you can always explain the problem to a lender when they inquire—but only if you take the time to find out why your rating is low.
About the Author
Beth Derkowitz recommends Find Credit Cards for finding a Morgan Stanley credit card application. See http://www.findcreditcards.org/issuer/morgan-stanley.php for more information.
Article Source: http://www.simplysearch4it.com/article/23513.html
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| Some other articles by Beth Derkowitz | |
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