Five Tips that Will Boost Your Credit Score

A poor credit rating can affect your ability to buy a house or a car. As a result, it's important to stay on top of your score and keep it high. You can do so by learning what type of activities lower and increase it.

Most of us know that unpaid and late bills will decrease our credit rating. However, we don't truly know what will increase it. So here's a little help. Below are five ways to increase and maintain your credit score. Use them and watch your buying power soar.

Tip #1 - Use automatic payments. By using an automatic payment plan, you can increase your score up to 100 points. Starting one is easy to do. You can use the system set up by your bank or go through another avenue like www.checkfree.com.

Tip #2 - Avoid red flag lenders. If you sign up for store credit cards, you can lower your score by five points. This can occur by just completing an application. So avoid these types of credit and stick with the major cards like Visa and MasterCard. For discounts at your favorite store, focus on coupons. If you sign up on their mailing list, you'll get them regularly in the mail or by e-mail.

Tip #3 - Don't close out accounts. It may sound smart to close out a credit line you don't use. However, it could hurt you in the long run. Every time you close out credit, you lower your score. Therefore, it's better to keep an old card open that shows you have a history of paying your debt on time.

Tip #4 - Make your requests for new credit at the same time. Get loan quotes in a 14-day period, so lenders can count them as one. If you do it over a longer period, banks will think you're looking for a lot of borrowed money. As a result, your credit score will go down.

Tip #5 - Get a copy of your credit report. This last point is one stressed by every financial expert. As a whole, many people don't know what's on their credit report. As a result, they miss out on opportunities to correct information that may be wrong. Since the incorrect information can lower your score, it's important to get a copy of your report at least once a year.