MIchelle M asked:
I am trying to improve my credit scores, I have a credit card, but I have heard different ways of using that can help you credit (not going above 50% of limit, paying it off right away, not paying if off just making payments). Which is the best way to go?
http://1mortgagecalculator.info
I am trying to improve my credit scores, I have a credit card, but I have heard different ways of using that can help you credit (not going above 50% of limit, paying it off right away, not paying if off just making payments). Which is the best way to go?
http://1mortgagecalculator.info
Debit card ditch the credit card that will cost a packet in the long run.
Always pay it off every month.
The two best ways are what you stated, pay it off every month, but if you have to have a balance on it make it only a small portion of the credit limit, best bet is under 30%. But if at all possible keep paying it off every month.
I agree using the debit card is the best way to go… but at the same time if you are looking to building up your credit.. use it wisely do not over spend what you can pay… when the bill comes in be sure to make a payment and get it in before the due date… I always pay more then the min amount due… depending on what I spent that month I try to pay at least $100…. if the credit card has a high interest rate you might want to think about paying it off in full to prevent the extra charges. By making payments any amount on time every month helps build your credit score.
Things that bring it down are:
Proportion of balance to high credit on bank rev or all rev accounts
Too many accounts with balances
Too many inquires in past 12 months
Number of accounts with delinquency
So make sure you never let anything go delinquent and you should start seeing your credit score raise up.
Just remember never spend more then you know you are able to pay… and once you start building the credit try to use debit more then saying CHARGE IT…. you will be grateful in the long run.
Best of luck!!
throw it away. improve your credit score with little cost to you by getting a 1000 dollar cd and use it secure a thousand dollar loan for 12 months. pay it off in six months. repeat the process. each time your score will increase without paying 18-25% int. your int. should be one% above what you earn on the cd
any way you want. pay it all of by the end of the 0% interest fee period.
Most debit cards are not reported to the credit agencies, unless your bank has a special policy, but most do not, so if you are looking to build your credit history, a traditional credit card is a start.
The main thing most credit companies are looking for on your report, is to see how you use credit. Just because you have a $10,000 limit doesn’t mean you need to use all of it. That shows poor responsibility and it’s reflected in your score.
It is always best to pay off your outstanding balance before any interest is charged, but if you do keep a balance, keep it well under 50% of the limit, in some instances, around 35% of the limit.
Never change more than you can handle in payments, keeping in mind the interest and fees, if any. So that if you have an unexpected incident, you can comfortable make at least the minimum payment.
FICO scores are based partly on how many cards you have (you don’t want more than 2 national ones) and the ratio of your monthly balance to your credit limit (as low as possible, which means yes, you need to pay as much of it off every month as possible), your payment history (on time), and how long you’ve had the account (the longer the better).
Make more than your minimum payments on time and keep it that way!
You should really go to the website below and read ALL of it, especially the section titled “how credit scoring works”! This site has great infromation and it is adding new information all the time so get the RSS feed!
My credit rating was a miserable 480 and I now have a credit rating of 709 in one year with the help I got from here! They have great sponsored link referrals too but remember, if your using the services from the referrals, like credit applications and you have damaged credit, you need to begin repairing your credit!
Otherwise your just sending your new credit line chasing your negative items around on your credit reports!
You should sign up for a credit report monitoring service like the one you see in the section Titled “credit monitoring”. There is a great deal from Equifax and once you get it you can check your credit reports all the time as much as you want without affecting your own score!
Once you start doing this, you will become addicted to doing everything you can to make your score go higher and this is a great thing!! You are developing good habits that can make you rich in your lifetime by managing your credit the best way you can!
I did it and you can too! Don’t delay, start today! It is hard to explain how much easier your life becomes when your credit is good or better even when you don’t go into debt just because you have lines of credit available to you!
Try not to use more than 30% of available credit.
You have a lot of goof advice so I am going to share what worked for me.
I use 3 credit cards for everyday things never exceed 30% of my limit in any given month and pay in full before the due date.
In 2 years I raised my score over 150-points.
Here’s the best strategy to both improve your credit and maximize your rewards for your normal spending:
1. Get the rewards card(s) that will pay you the most for your normal spending (i.e. what you’ll have to buy in the normal course of life — groceries, gas, utilities, restaurants, etc.)
2. Funnel most/all of your normal spending through those card(s) without max’ing out any cards
3. Pay your credit card balance(s) in full every month
In doing that you will:
1. Build your credit quickly
2. Avoid credit card interest
3. Earn great rewards (e.g. cash back)
To see which rewards card(s) will pay you the most for your normal spending, you can use this rewards calculator:
That’s how to build your credit and earn rewards doing it.
Now, if you want to “spruce up your FICO score” — for example, in preparation for getting a mortgage (because better FICO scores enable you to get better mortgage rates) — then you should think about what percentage of your available credit you’re using, but only long enough to get what you want (good mortage rate), then go back to the strategy above.
The reason is that 30% of your FICO score (150 points) comes from your current utilization % of credit lines. So using zero (or perhaps very little) of your available credit lines will probably earn you all of those 150 possible points.
If you’re interested in all the gory details of how the FICO score is calculated, see the June 30th blog posting at
By the way, making payments instead of paying off your balance in full is never a useful thing to do. It’ll just cause you to pay interest on your debt and it won’t help your FICO score.