The Top Three Ways to Raise Your Credit Score Without Losing Your Sanity

The Top Three Ways to Raise Your Credit Score Without Losing Your Sanity
by: Charrissa Cawley



A critical part of your success as a real estate investor is your ability
to obtain the financing you need to fund your real estate activities, so
it’s imperative that your credit score be as high as possible. Regardless
of what your score is right now, it can almost always be higher. Here are
three powerful ways to quickly boost your credit score and increase the
likelihood that you’ll always be able to get your loan applications
approved, without losing your sanity:

Pay Your Bills on time – The most important thing you can do to increase
your credit score is to pay your bills on-time. Your FICO score is an
up-to-date snapshot of your creditworthiness, so it changes almost daily.
Today’s late payment may not seem like a big deal, but it can have a
dramatic impact on your ability to get loan approvals when you need them.

By making it a practice to always pay your bills on-time, you are setting
yourself up for continued financial success. Good credit isn’t an
accident that just happens. It takes work, effort, and attention to
detail. Make the commitment TODAY that from now on you will ALWAYS pay
your bills on or before their due-date. Nobody’s perfect, but by putting
on-time bill payment at the very top of your financial agenda you will
steadily see your credit score increase. A few points can save – or cost
– you a small fortune in late fees and missed investing opportunities.

Spice Up Your Credit Life – It’s been said that variety is the spice of
life, and the same is true of your credit mix. While it’s great that you
have a credit card or two in your wallet, it’s more important that you
have – and utilize – a variety of different kinds of credit.

Most of us have at least one mortgage loan, but it’s also important that
you utilize installment and revolving credit accounts. An example of an
installment loan would be your auto loan. You have a fixed number of
payments over a specific period of time in order to pay off that loan.
With revolving credit, the balance can go up or down each month depending
on how it is utilized. For instance, a credit card is a prime example of
revolving credit. One month you might not have a balance at all; the
following month could see several thousand dollars in new charges. Mix
things up and make sure you use different types of credit regularly for
best results.

Find the Credit Accounts You Like – and Keep Them – Some people like to
play musical chairs with their credit accounts. We all know someone like
this; you may even be one of them. While shopping, they see a sudden
opportunity to save 10% off their purchases simply for applying for a
credit account.

Unless you have every intention of opening and using a credit account,
save your time and your credit score. When you open credit accounts that
you don’t use – only to close them a month or two later – your credit
score will actually drop. So settle on the credit accounts you’re going
to have – and then keep them.

This doesn’t mean you should never take advantage of that great zero
percent financing offer you got in the mail. What it does mean, however,
is that if you’re going to take advantage of an offer like this, utilize
it – and then keep the card for the long haul. The longer you’ve had a
credit account, the greater the impact on your credit score. Rather than
close a credit card account with a seven year track record of on-time
payments in order to save a few dollars in interest charges, keep that
account open. It’s doing you a lot of good.

These may seem like simple steps, but they can have a profound impact on
your credit score – and the size of your investing portfolio. Put this
simple three step process into effect today and watch your real estate
investing career grow by leaps and bounds!

---

About The Author
Charrissa Cawley offers accurate and proven strategies to investors of
all different levels and is the founder of http://www.reiconferences.com, one of the fastest growing real estate
investment training organizations in the US in addition to http://www.rewexclub.com , the top rated Real
Estate Investor Community on the web today.