How to improve a credit score

Improving your credit score is a worthwhile process. With a higher score you will enjoy lower interest rates and have an easier time obtaining credit.

Before you get started with any score improvement program, it will be helpful to check Credit Karma’s Free Credit Report Card to see what your score is, what factors are contributing to your credit score, and how you might best be able to improve your score. You can also use Credit Karma to track your score as it increases over time.

Next, you should access your free credit report from AnnualCreditReport.com. Review the information on each of your reports thoroughly so that you may dispute any inaccuracies with the three major credit bureaus, Equifax, TransUnion, and Experian.

A good place to start improving you credit is to pay down credit card debt to lower your credit card utilization percentage. A low debt-to-credit ratio can have a strong, positive impact on your credit score.

If you‘ve missed credit card or loan payments because you‘ve forgotten, you might want to set up automatic reminders on a calendar to make sure you build a history of on-time payments. Your payment history is one of the main contributing factors to your credit score.

Continue to monitor your credit score with Credit Karma. Before you make any major credit decisions, try simulating them with Credit Karma‘s Credit Simulator. You‘ll have a better sense of how your actions affect you and how to most effectively improve your credit score.