Hello, beautiful people from across the lands. Your credit score could be a tool helping you move in your financial goals or a setback. Maintaining a good credit score could be difficult and stressful. At the beginning of this journey, I started in the 500 club close to four with my credit score. My credit is slowly repairing itself but the struggle is real! I wanted to share a few things I found that could help boost your credit score. Some of them I have tried and seen the results while others I am striving to get to and utilize to get my credit to where I can at least get a store card! Pray for me ya’ll.
Experian Boost
I am a Podcast Junkie and came across this new tool listening to Journey to Launch called Experian Boost. Experian is one of the three credit bureaus your credit history is reported on. Experian is now allowing you to add monthly bills like telecom and utilities to your credit report. Paying these bills on time did not have any effect on credit score before this tool.
What is really cool about this is that it will not count missed payments. It will only report payments made on time so there is no risk of it being used against you. More importantly, it’s free to use! Within the first 2 months of using this tool, my credit score boost up 15 pts! There is also a dispute center that makes it super easy to dispute an item on your credit. I was able to use this and have collections and missed payments removed from my report. Trust this tool is worth your time!
Making on-time payments on credit barring accounts (i.e car, student, home loans)
Your credit score is formulated by 5 areas credit mix, credit inquiry, length of credit history, and payment history. Payment history affects 35% of your score. I had no awareness of this when I decided to ignore my student loan payments for three years when they came out of forbearance. Ignorance can be expensive! Taking this step will take time before you start to see any results. Depending on the level of negligence making those on-time payments for 6 to 12 months will begin to undo the damage that was done. Keeping up with payments is an important behavior that needs to become second nature on this debt-free journey.
Secured Credit card
A secured credit card is an introductory card to having a credit card. What makes a secured credit card different from a regular credit card is that your money is used as a refundable security deposit. This deposit becomes your credit limit preventing you from overspending and not keeping payments. It’s a more secure approach to credit to show the credit bureau’s you can be trusted with real credit eventually. It is commonly advised to use this card toward your smallest bill setting up auto-pay to paying the card in full every month. Set it and forget it! This is not an everyday expense card, simply use this as a tool to build your credit. Now the way my credit history set up due to open collections on my report I can’t get one (big eye roll). I am working to change that don’t judge me ya’ll it’s a process.
Use Credit as A Tool
Credit can be a tool to build you up or down financially if not utilized the right way. I know some see no need for credit while others see it as a tool for your financial advantage. I’m a little torn between the two as I’m learning more about my personal finance journey. I personally have never had a credit card because I always remember horror stories of how it caused so much debt.
Remember I’ve always been somewhat money conscious but not fully educated on money. The fact remains that credit can impact where you live, interest rates, and even employment. Yes, some jobs have the nerve to run credit reports! What does that have to do with anything?! Anyways, figure out how your credit will impact you and use this tips boost your credit score making a change for the better.
Until next time dream, believe and achieve.
