4 Easy Ways to Boost Your Credit Score
Upwardli was created to help those new to credit build their credit score. Credit building can be especially tough for those new to the U.S. personal finance system, so Upwardli makes it easy. There is no credit check, so it doesn't matter if you have no credit history or a poor credit score. And you don't need a Social Security number either.
Upwardli is a great place to start your credit journey, and these 4 easy ways to boost your credit score can help you continue along your way.
Pay bills on time
On-time payments are the most significant factor in your credit score, responsible for 35%. The fastest way to drop your score substantially is to miss or make a late payment.
There are two easy ways to make sure you're never late. Set up auto-pay through the vendor or your bank account. Just be sure you have the cash flow to make the payments. If several bills are clustered together in the month, you may be able to change some of the due dates so they're more spread out and manageable time-wise.
Set an alert on your phone two days before each bill is due. Be sure to set it for a time you'll be able to complete the payment, during your lunch break, for example. If you know you will be late paying a bill, call the creditor and explain the situation. They may be able to adjust the payment date or accept a partial payment so there won't be a late or missed payment reported to the credit bureau.
Report more payments
As mentioned above, on-time payments are the most important factor in your credit score, so the more you have, the better. But not all payments are reported to the credit bureaus.
You can't report your own payments, of course, but there are services that can do the job for you. Experian Boost reports things like cell phone, utility, and streaming service payments. The service is free to use, and while it only reports to Experian, the average user will see a 13-point boost to their credit score.
Most landlords and property management companies do a credit check on potential renters, and the better your score, the better your chances of renting a home. But rather unfairly, rental payments are rarely reported to the credit bureaus. There are services that will report those payments; some the renter pays, some the landlord pays, and some are free to use.
Increase your credit limit
The second biggest factor in your credit score is utilization, how much credit you're using compared to your credit limit. For example, if you have two credit cards, each with a $500 limit, you have a $1,000 credit limit. If you carry a balance of $150 on each card, your utilization is 30%.
Potential creditors want to see a utilization rate no higher than 30% but the lower, the better. There are two ways to lower utilization, reduce your balances or increase your credit limit.
Of course, the better option is to pay down your credit cards. Credit card interest is expensive and can lead to an amount of debt that takes years to pay off and can even result in filing for bankruptcy. But you can also call your credit card company and ask that your credit limit be raised. If you've been a customer in good standing, they may grant your request. If your limit is raised, it increases your total credit limit and lowers utilization.
Use all your credit cards
If you've been researching ways to boost your credit score, you may already know that you shouldn't close credit cards that you've paid off. Doing so hurts your credit score in two ways, it increases utilization and lowers the age of your credit, another factor in your credit score. The longer you've had credit, the older your credit is, and older is better. It means you've had experience managing credit.
What you might not know is that if you don't use a credit card every once in a while, the issuer may reduce your credit limit or close the card. This hurts utilization and the age of your credit. Rather than close a card, put a monthly charge on it like a gym membership or your Netflix payment and set up autopay.
Your credit score on easy mode
Building credit doesn't have to be hard! With Upwardli and these 4 easy ways to boost your credit, it's your credit score on easy mode.