| Millions of Americans are currently suffering with | | | | matter what your situation may be, to do your best to |
| financial difficulties in their lives. For the majority of | | | | keep all of your bills current. |
| these individuals, their current financial situation was not | | | | Pay down your debt |
| their fault. Job losses, cutbacks, layoffs, or unexpected | | | | Responsible for 30% of your score, paying down your |
| medical problems may have resulted in extra bills and | | | | debt is the second biggest step that you can take in |
| payments that you just didn't plan for. | | | | repairing your credit score. Lenders are interested in |
| The bad news is that all of these financial difficulties will | | | | not only how well you can repay debt but also in the |
| affect your credit score...which, in turn, can affect your | | | | amount of total debt that you have. As a side benefit, |
| life. A low credit score may prevent you from being | | | | paying down your balances will make your monthly |
| able to get that new house, new car, or even that | | | | payments on any type of revolving accounts, such as |
| new job you've been looking for. | | | | credit cards, smaller...making them easier to pay on |
| The good news is that a bad credit score doesn't | | | | time |
| have to last forever. There are many simple steps | | | | As you can see, paying down your debt combined |
| you can take now to start to fix your credit score and | | | | with paying your bills on time accounts for 65% of |
| improve your life. | | | | your score. The great thing here is that these two |
| Let's take a quick look at what your FICO score is and | | | | steps are under your control - by doing both of them, |
| what you can do to repair it. | | | | you can have a major impact on your credit score |
| Your FICO score is a mathematical calculation based | | | | and rebuild your credit very quickly. |
| on the 5 main areas of your financial background listed | | | | View your credit report |
| in your credit report. These are: how well you pay your | | | | Your credit history accounts for 15% of your score. |
| bills on time, the amount of debt that you have, your | | | | Since your score is calculated based upon the |
| credit history, any new credit recently applied for, and | | | | information held by the credit bureaus, your credit |
| the different types of credit that you may have. | | | | report and score go hand in hand. Having a good credit |
| In this article, we are going to look at the first 3 | | | | report will give you a good score...while having a good |
| categories...as they are responsible for 80% of your | | | | credit score tells the lenders that you have a good |
| score and are items that you actually have control | | | | report. |
| over | | | | If your score is low, it's an indication that there is |
| You can improve each of these areas and raise your | | | | something in your credit report that is bringing it down. |
| credit score by following these tips | | | | One of the main steps to credit score repair is for you |
| Pay your bills on time | | | | to get a copy of your credit report in order to see |
| Paying your bills on time is the most important step you | | | | why your score is what it is...and what items may need |
| can take to fix your credit score. Doing this...or not | | | | to be worked on to improve your credit history. This is |
| doing this...will have the biggest effect on your score as | | | | easy to do as there are now a number of sites that |
| how well you pay your bills on time accounts for 35% | | | | offer online credit reports. |
| of your FICO score. You want to make sure, no | | | | |