| It is almost always possible, regardless of your current | | | | impact your credit score. If you come across any such |
| financial situation, to take certain steps to improve your | | | | marks that you believe are erroneous you need to |
| credit score. In this article I'll cover a simple three step | | | | contact the credit bureau in writing and inform them of |
| formula for raising your credit score. | | | | the mistake. If you do not find any errors you may |
| The first step is to procure copies of your most recent | | | | move on to step three. |
| credit reports. The agents which maintain credit | | | | In the third step, you're need to request more credit -- |
| records -- Equifax, Transunion, and Experian -- are | | | | either from your existing creditors or open a new |
| known as credit bureaus. Under United States' law you | | | | account or two that are free of annual fees. Now I am |
| are entitled to a copy of credit report for free upon | | | | not recommending that you go out and make charges |
| request. You can request this report free of charge | | | | with the newly discovered credit. Instead, you will |
| once every year. | | | | change the data in the formula which is used to |
| The reports will probably not include reference to your | | | | ascertain your credit report. Part of the data that are |
| credit, or FICO, score itself but will contain a history of | | | | run to produce this score are based on your ratio of |
| the credit accounts you have opened. To obtain a | | | | debt-to-credit. |
| copy of this report, I recommend that you visit your | | | | For example, if you only own one credit card that has, |
| local and enter the terms "free credit report." | | | | let's say, a $1000, limit and you're carrying, let's say, |
| Once you have obtained a copy of each report, you | | | | $496 in debt, the debt-to-credit ratio would be about .5. |
| need to move on to step two. Next you need to scour | | | | We're going to want to lower that. Let say that you |
| the report for any factual inaccuracies. It is surprising, | | | | open another four accounts and each grant you $1000 |
| and somewhat alarming the frequency with which | | | | of credit. If you maintained a balance of $1 on each |
| errors appear on these reports. | | | | you'd effectively lower your ratio to .2. |
| A negative item on your credit report will negatively | | | | |