2.9.17

5 Ways To Improve Your Credit Score

Thank you Capital One for sponsoring this post! All opinions are my own and were not directed by Capital One. To learn more about CreditWise from Capital One, visit: www.capitalone.com/creditwise

I remember the first time I realized how important good credit was. I was in my early 20’s (hey, not everyone learns this early!) and it was the first time I really had to pay a lot of bills myself. I didn’t know a lot about credit, finances, or the importance of good credit scores. I pretty much had to figure it out for myself and teach myself about the importance of good credit and how to improve my own score. Having a baby in a few days really makes me think a lot about different things I learned growing up and what I want to do differently. I really want Andrew and I to instill a good understanding of finances and financial responsibility in our son. So today I am partnering with CreditWise® from Capital One® to show you five ways to improve your credit score. You can thank me later!

5 Ways to Improve Your Credit Score

Get Familiar with Your Credit Report: I highly suggest getting familiar with accounts you have open. If you’ve never looked at your credit report, NOW IS THE TIME! I can’t tell you how eye-opening it was to look at my credit report for the first time – you never know if there might be errors or discrepancies. Having a mistake on your credit report can REALLY hurt you in the long run. And that’s where CreditWise comes in. With the CreditWise app, you have unlimited access to a weekly VantageScore 3.0 credit score and your TransUnion® credit report. Talk about useful information as I plan for my family!

Monitor Your Score: Next you want to continuously monitor your credit score. CreditWise is a 100% free tool that allows anyone – Capital One customer or not – to track their credit score. I can check it as often as I want and always know my score – for me, it’s just as important to know my credit score as it is to know the balance in my checking and savings accounts.

Understand What Actually Impacts Your Score: Know what opening or closing a line of credit might do to your credit score, know what skipping payments might do to your credit score, know what paying a card off or a loan off completely might do. CreditWise actually has a credit simulator so you can see what certain actions might do to your score long-term. When I was playing around, I found that applying for a credit card could maybe actually hurt my score – it’s important to know these things before you take action!

Stay Alert: Another great feature of CreditWise is that it stays on top of your credit activity and notifies you automatically if your TransUnion report changes. We all get busy and weeks or even months may go by where you might forget to look at your credit score/report (hey – we’re only human). If anything major changes on your credit report, you get an alert – SO helpful.

Make Adjustments – and Stick to Them: Once you understand your credit score and are on top of checking it, you can focus on behaviors to improve it. Maybe you commit to paying all of your bills on time, or lowering your account balances – maybe on Sundays you log in just to make sure everything looks good. Whatever it is, make a plan and commit to improving your score. This will give you some financial peace of mind and lower your stress.

It makes me nerd out a bit, but I personally love monitoring my score and watching it go up. Once you get into the habit and see your hard work pay off it’s really fun.

Did you find my five ways to improve your credit score helpful? Leave YOUR credit tips in the comments, below. And make sure to download the app now to start monitoring your credit today!

44 Comments

  1. I had no idea how to take care of my credits (not quite ready to adult here, haha), thank you for the guide!

    Charmaine Ng | Architecture & Lifestyle Blog
    http://charmainenyw.com

    Published 2.9.17
  2. When my husband and I got married he had the worst credit – so we signed up for a credit card together and then a few months later he bought a brand new truck. His payments are really high on his truck payment but it is amazing how just a few things can impact his score so much. I have always had really good credit – thanks to my dad always putting my name on my cars even though he was paying for it, so almost a year later Timmys credit score is almost as high as mine and even though we don’t plan on borrowing anymore money in the immediate future it is nice knowing he can go get a loan without me if need be!

    Published 2.9.17
  3. Chelsea wrote:

    I had to learn the hard way about credit score. Not fun!!

    Published 2.9.17
  4. Kiara wrote:

    One of my problems was not monitoring my credit score! I didn’t realize how important it was. Thanks for these tips!

    Published 2.9.17
  5. candy wrote:

    Understanding what impact my credit score was eye opening to me. Great information on increasing credit score which is very important.

    Published 2.9.17
  6. Jaime wrote:

    We also pay our credit cards on time – and pay more than the minimum. Right now we do have one car loan, but the only other debt is our mortgage. Everything is paid on time. I think that’s key. And keeping our debt to a minimum is also important to us.

    Published 2.9.17
  7. Abbey wrote:

    Great tips that a lot of us don’t think of! It’s so important to figure out what you can do to improve it and to stick to that! We make sure to charge something to our credit card each month (like groceries or gas) and then pay it off at the end of that month! We would buy it anyway, so we know we have the money, but this way we get a little more benefit out of it! 🙂

    Published 2.9.17
  8. Great tips! Being aware of your score and what is affecting it is a huge part of the battle! That basically tells you what changes to make.

    Published 2.9.17
  9. Belle wrote:

    These are great tips and a lot of people would find this very helpful!

    Belle | One Awesome Momma

    Published 2.9.17
  10. These tips are incredibly helpful! I know I’ve been needing to fix my credit score, but I wasn’t sure where to start. Thank you!

    Published 2.9.17
  11. Nellwyn wrote:

    This sounds like such a useful app! I know credit scores are really important here in Toronto if you’re ever looking to get a new apartment. Real estate is super competitive right now so having a good credit score can really make a different in whether or not you get the apartment you want.

    Published 2.9.17
  12. I definitely need this this year as I work to rebuild good credit. Thanks for the tips!

    Published 2.9.17
  13. Anita Anderson wrote:

    These tips are on point. I filed for bankruptcy and it is very important to understand how credit works. Not paying your bills on time can affect your score. Be wise with your money and all those goals you set for yourself can be achieved.

    Published 2.9.17
  14. LizZ Holla wrote:

    A good credit score is sooo incredibly important! Once you loose it, it’s really hard to gain back. I learned that the hard way. Thanks so much for the wonderful reminders and tips.

    Published 2.9.17
  15. Krysten wrote:

    I really need to start watching my credit score more, especially now that I am a mom. You need it for everything!

    Published 2.9.17
  16. Amanda wrote:

    I am thankful to have had a self-awareness about credit before I was even 20! My husband has had a few medical bills go to collections, but I manage both of our credits very well (in my opinion) and I love watching my credit score (especially when it rises).

    Published 2.9.17
  17. This is the sort of thing I wish they’d teach us in school 😉 I’m going to have to look into CreditWise. I haven’t paid too much attention to my credit scores – I’ve just made sure I pay my bills on time mostly. But becoming a SAHM has meant putting more on cards and I know I need to start paying attention to my score now.

    Published 2.9.17
  18. Lisa wrote:

    Great advice here. Monitoring is really one of the most important steps. This way you can catch potential problems quickly.

    Published 2.9.17
  19. This is great advice! I didn’t realize how important monitoring was until my husband and I applied for a mortgage. Now I’m more careful and monitor regularly

    Published 2.9.17
  20. CourtneyLynne wrote:

    These are some great tips!!! The year before we bought our house we had to fix my hubbies credit score and did a few of these.

    Published 2.9.17
  21. Knowing what’s on your credit report is SO important. You can hurt yourself by not checking if things are wrong and it does happen.

    Published 2.9.17
  22. I love using Captial One for banking, but don’t worry much about my credit score.

    Published 2.9.17
  23. This is so helpful! I was in the DARK on my credit score for years, mostly because I had a credit card in college that took years to pay off and I knew it wasn’t good news. When I went to lease a car a few years ago, it was a rude awakening. Since, I’ve improved my credit score by a whole bunch but definitely knowing whats on there and tracking it are really great tips!!

    Published 2.9.17
  24. Jenny wrote:

    Capital One is my bank of choice and I love this feature. I also use Credit Karma too haha

    Published 2.9.17
  25. Sharon wrote:

    Yes!! Credit reports are sooooo important. I totally agree that you need to be aware of your score wayyy before you plan to need it. I’ve heard of so many people who had to wait to buy a home because they didn’t know how poor their score was. No bueno.

    Published 2.9.17
  26. Liz Mays wrote:

    Everyone should really keep keep these things in mind and start as early as possible. Having a good score makes a lot of things easier!

    Published 2.9.17
  27. Rachel wrote:

    Really great tips, Neely. Credit is such a complicated thing!

    Published 2.9.17
  28. This is great information. This is something they should really be teaching kids before they leave high school!

    Published 2.9.17
  29. Tami Qualls wrote:

    I admit I do need more understanding of what affects my credit score. I am making a commitment to get these facts straight and move forward with improving my score.

    Published 2.9.17
  30. Kate wrote:

    Very helpful tips! A great credit score is so important!

    Published 2.9.17
  31. What a great idea to make adjustments and stick to them. That seems to be the hardest part for my husband and I.

    Published 2.9.17
  32. Good reminders. I really need to educate myself more because I really don’t know much about it at all.

    Published 2.10.17
  33. Great tips! I don’t think people realize how easy it is to improve your credit and maintain it!

    Rachel | The Confused Millennial

    Published 2.10.17
  34. Kim wrote:

    This is basically the steps I took! I had NO credit starting out, because neither of my parents believed in it. Imagine my surprise when I couldn’t even get an apartment by myself lol. Now, I have great credit, but only because I have to! Thanks for sharing!

    Published 2.10.17
  35. I actually have a really high credit score, which I was NOT expecting at ALL…I just had no clue what really did affect it versus not!

    Coming Up Roses

    Published 2.10.17
  36. Great tips! I think just education yourself about the importance of a credit score and how it’s determined is super important.

    Published 2.10.17
  37. These are really good tips! It’s always important to keep an eye on that!

    http://www.deboradahl.com

    Published 2.10.17
  38. val wrote:

    My husband is ALL over our credit scores – great tips!

    Published 2.10.17
  39. Rochelle wrote:

    I love these tips. I really need to start keeping up with my score more often. I try to stay away from credit !

    Published 2.11.17
  40. The worst you can do is stop paying your minimum like I did a few months ago. I totally screwed up my high score!

    Published 2.11.17
  41. Great list of tips. People always say, I need to make more. But the truth is you can pay down debt and improve your score by making adjustments.

    Published 2.11.17
  42. Crystal wrote:

    You don’t realize how important your credit score is until you’re a grown up. I was shocked how many different instances require checking your credit. Definitely something to pay attention to.

    Published 2.11.17
  43. Fred Thompson wrote:

    Nice write up, my credit score was 5­10 a friend recommend­ed me to some guys he met online and fe­w weeks later my scor­e shot 760  it sounds­ fake but I can assur­e you it’s magical  t­hier services are aws­ome  [email protected] will be thankful­ for my referal.

    Published 5.23.17
  44. helen betty wrote:

    Have always wanted a big home for me and my family,but my bad credit score wont let me get one,have tried all i could and have worked on
    getting mortgage loans and bank loans as well as cars but i cant because of my credit score,so one lucky day i was browsing on an online blog
    qoura where i saw a recommendation about [email protected] helping someone fix a bad credit score within a week,i tried him out also and
    he was good he helped me get my score to a level at which i could get all have always wanted with no trace from the IRS data base
    [email protected] his really a professional with dealing with credit scores

    Published 7.3.17

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