4 Baller Tips For Boosting Your Credit Score

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By now, you should be fully aware that you and everyone around you have credit scores. Depending on where you stand on the credit scale, which ranges from 330 to 830, you may or may not be able to buy a car, take out a mortgage on a home or take out school loans. How well you manage your money and pay your bills on time affect your credit score, among a million other things. So, if your score isn’t where you want it to be, here are four helpful tips on how to climb that scale in no time.

1. Look out for errors.

If you have access to monthly credit score reports, which you can get through free websites like Credit Karma and apps like Mint, read thoroughly. Sometimes, reports can be wrong, and you may notice errors like an “unpaid bill” when you actually paid it on time. These errors could negatively impact your credit score, so reporting them could help your score rise in a matter of days.

2. Raise your credit limit, if possible.

You may be paying down the balance on one card, but there’s another trick to helping your credit score rise. Ask your bank if they can raise the credit limit on a card you use frequently. Though you have to be careful not to adjust your spending to the higher limit, this trick could help you avoid getting too close to reaching your current limit. Higher limits = lower likelihood of reaching it and getting penalized for it.

3. Ask a stable relative or close friend if you can become an authorized user on one of their accounts.

This tip is tricky because one of your loved ones will have to agree to this, but you can ask to become an authorized user on one of their accounts. What that means is that you’re connecting yourself to a particular card your loved one is using, and you can gain credit automatically through that loved one using, and paying off, the card. You’re basically leeching off someone’s good credit without hurting it in the process. It’s a total shortcut move, but if someone’s willing to let you join in on the fun, why not give it a try?

4. Underspend on your credit card.

Though there’s a reason for a credit limit (you can technically spend up to that limit every month as long as you can pay off your balance), you shouldn’t be spending more than 20 to 30 percent of your total limit. Banks and credit card companies look at your spending patterns and consider how responsibly you behave with your money. If you’re rushing to spend to your limit every month, your score will reflect that. If you take your time and spend sparingly, paying off your balances perfectly each month, you’ll be in much better shape.