Monday, November 19, 2007

Helpful Tips to increase your Credit Score!?!

Pay off debt rather than moving it around. Since the ratio of your credit card balance to your credit limit is key, closing out an account and transferring the balance simply means you increase that ratio, which is likely to lower your score. In other words, say you owe a total of $2,000 on four credit cards, each of which has a $2,000 limit. Your total credit limit is $8,000, of which your total balance ($2,000) accounts for 25 percent. If you transfer all your balances to two cards and cancel the other two, your total credit limit is reduced to $4,000, and your $2,000 balance now accounts for 50 percent of that limit.

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Don't close unused credit card accounts near loan time. If you have several credit card accounts but are only using a few of them, you'll only raise your balance-to-limit ratio if you close the unused ones. You also shouldn't open new accounts when applying for a loan if possible. If you have a short credit history or very few accounts, opening a new credit line may lower your score since you don't have a proven track record, said Jan Davis, an executive vice president at TransUnion. What's more, a new account will lower the average age of your accounts, another factor in your FICO score.

For more info and to order your credit report with FREE credit score please visit www.reliacredit.com

Tuesday, November 6, 2007

What elements are the most important factors of a credit history?

The list below details the approximate value of each aspect of your credit report that is used to generate a credit score. These percentages should only be used as a guide:

  • 35% - your payment history
  • 30% - total amount owed
  • 15% - length of credit history
  • 10% - types of credit used
  • 10% - new credit
For more info and to order your credit report with FREE credit score please visit www.reliacredit.com

Helpful Tips to increase your Credit Score!?!What elements are the most important factors of a credit history? ~ ReliaCredit.com - How's Your Credit? - Blog