30 day action steps to improve credit

Here is a brief guide to improve credit over the next 30 days with some simple ACTION steps.  Follow these and you will be well on your way to taking control of your finances and improve credit.  First, you need to correct any inaccuracies on your credit reports and check your personal information for inaccuracies such as your social security number, employer information or addresses.  Next, review any negative credit information and correct the errors immediately.  The credit reporting agencies have 30 days to investigate and respond to your inquiry.  If they cannot verify the discrepency within 30 days, then they must remove it from your credit report. Also, avoid too many inquiries about your credit report because inquiries lower your credit score, and do not open up several credit cards at once.

Make sure you keep all your credit card balances under 35% of the total credit limit available.  For example, if you have a $10,000 credit limit, then carry no more than a $3,500 balance.    There are 3 ways to lower balances under 35%.  You can ask your creditors to raise your credit limits, pay down your balances, or spread out the balances over all your cards to get below 35%.  This will make a marked improvement in your credit score.  Next, ask your creditor(s) to lower your interest rate(s).  This will lower your payment and slow the accrual of your debt too, allowing you to pay it off sooner.  Along with that, have your creditor(s) remove any fees, late fees or over limit fees etc.  Every penny counts when you are trying to remove this albatross from around your neck and improve credit. 

Also, pay every month and on time.  Paying on time with no missed payments for 6-12 months will raise your credit score.  Once you have acheived this good payment record call the creditors and request removal of delinquent information because deleting negative items will immediately raise your credit score.  If you are currently in collections and can pay nearly all or all of your debt, some creditors will delete the collections from your report.  Not having collection(s) activity on your credit report is a big boost to your score.  Once you do all of these actions you need to make sure that you monitor your credit history or use a credit monitoring service to do so.  These simple steps are well within your reach, and if you follow the concepts and guidelines outlined here you could have glowing credit in 30 days!  Go through the process and do little steps everyday to reach your goal to improve credit because the benefits will be rewarding and lasting.