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Advice on how to establish credit and raise your score - The Bills.com Blog
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Advice on how to establish credit and raise your score
Question: I have a past account of 1 year that I am paying and I have a deferred school loan that I pay when i am done with school? I have tried to get retail cards, gas cards and bank credit cards but I get declined. I live with my sister that has bad credit as well, my parents is deceased and one disabled. How can I establishcredit and rise my score?
Answer: Building and maintaining a good credit score requires diligent effort and a long-term commitment to financially sound living. There are several steps you can take to help improve your credit rating.
First, you should obtain a copy of your credit report from each of the three major credit bureaus?Experian, Equifax, and Transunion. You can request free copies of your reports by visiting www.annualcreditreport.com
Once you obtained copies of your reports, you should carefully review them to make sure that all the accounts that are listed there, especially the listings appearing in the ?derogatory? category, belong to you and are being reported accurately. Credit reports are notoriously inaccurate, with consumers frequently finding listings of derogatory accounts that never belonged to them
or that were paid off years ago. If you find any inaccurate listings, you should dispute them with the appropriate credit bureau. The Federal Trade Commission provides a comprehensive guide to disputing items on your credit report, available at: FTC.gov . Clearing up inaccurate derogatory accounts may significantly improve your credit score, depending on the number of inaccurate listings you find on your reports.
Next, you state that you have a past due account, you should try to pay off that account as soon as possible. While paying off this account will not make it fall of your report, it should improve your credit by reducing the amount of delinquent debt reporting to the bureaus and preventing the accounts from continuing to be reported as delinquent.
Finally, if you do not already have a long, positive credit history, you
should begin to build one. You can start by opening a few small credit card accounts, making charges on them, and paying off most, if not all, of the balances each month. By doing this, you will show yourself to be a responsible user of credit, and your credit score should improve with each month you continue to show a positive payment history. If you find that you cannot obtain a traditional credit card because of credit problems, a secured credit card, in which you deposit cash in an account as collateral for the credit line, can help build a positive credit history.
To learn more about credit and strategies to improve your credit score, I encourage you to visit the Bills.com Credit Solutions and Resources page .
I hope that the information I have provided helps you Find. Learn. Save.
Best,
Bill
www.bills.com
Also, make sure to get a free financial health check-up with Bills IQ!
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Bill has answered all sorts of questions and has been able to provide those in need of financial guidance with helpful and valuable advice and information on their specific financial area of interest. If you need specific guidance on any of the above mentioned financial areas, feel free to Ask Bill your financial questions and get better informed. Also, make sure to get a free financial health check-up with Bills IQ!
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