Are you trying to raise your credit score fast?
Unfortunately, there’s no silver bullet that’ll raise your credit score overnight. But there are a few ways you might be able to improve your credit over time if you manage your credit well.
The truth about raising your credit score fast
While a lucky few may be in a situation where they can raise their credit score quickly, the bottom line for most of us is that building credit takes time and discipline, especially if you’re trying to rebuild bad credit. That’s because your credit score is complex and made up of several interconnected factors (more on that below).
So trust us: While some credit repair companies may promise to raise your credit score fast, there’s no secret that will help boost your credit score quickly.But if you start developing healthy habits now, you can build credit over time all by yourself.
5 factors that affect your credit score
As we mentioned above, there are several factors that go into determining your credit score.
- Payment history makes up the biggest chunk of your credit score. That’s why it’s so important to make on-time payments each month if at all possible. Late payments can haunt your credit history for up to seven years.
- Credit usage, or credit utilisation, is another important factor. This measures how much of your available credit you tap into at any given time. We recommend you keep this to less than 25%.
- The length of your credit history has some impact on your credit, though not much. This factors in the ages of your oldest and newest credit card accounts, as well as the average age of all your accounts. The older your credit, the better, because it shows lenders you have more experience managing credit.
- The length of time you’ve been registered on the electoral roll at your current address. To lenders, your time on the electoral roll helps prove your presence at the address on your applications and suggests responsible behaviour that is less likely to result in non-payment.
- The age of the oldest active account on your credit report. Lenders like to see how long you’ve been managing active credit for. The more financial history you have, the more chances to prove that you can meet your obligations and organise your finances responsibly.
Tips that can help raise your credit score
Because credit is so complex, building your credit score takes time. Depending on your individual situation, there may be ways to raise your score quickly — like paying down all your debt in a very short span of time.
But if you’re starting out with bad credit, even a drastic measure like that may not have the immediate effect you’re looking for. No matter what, the most impactful thing you can do for your credit is to create some consistent habits.
Here are some tips that can help you raise your credit score over time.
1. Check your credit report on a regular basis to track your progress
No matter where you turn for your credit check-in — your bank, Credit Karma or one of the major credit reference agencies — it’s important to keep an eye on your credit report and score.
And if you find any mistakes or inaccuracies, we can help you file a dispute. If your dispute is approved by the credit reference agencies, you may see the error corrected as soon as within 30 days, which can help raise your credit score.
2. Sign up for free credit monitoring
Credit Karma offers free credit monitoring to help alert you to important changes in your report, so that you can check for suspicious activity.
Fraudulent activity can weigh down what could be an otherwise good credit score, so it’s important to dispute any details you identify as inaccurate. If the credit reference agency rules in your favour, the fraudulent activity will be removed from your credit report, which can help raise your credit score.
3. Figure out how much money you owe
Gather all your bills and come up with a plan to pay them off. The snowball method focuses on paying off the lowest balances first, while the avalanche method focuses on paying off the balances with the highest interest rates first.
If you have too many credit cards to keep track of, you could also consolidate your credit card debt into one balance transfer card to make it easier to manage your monthly payments.
All three strategies could help you pay off your credit card debt more quickly, lower your credit utilisation and raise your credit score. So, choose the plan that works best for you, and stick with it.
4. Set up a Direct Debit so you never forget to make a credit card payment
This could help you develop a consistent payment history over time. It might not help you raise your credit score fast, but it could protect your score from declining fast, which will likely happen if you miss a payment.
5. Negotiate a lower interest rate
A lower interest rate can help you pay off your balance faster, because more of your payment can be applied to your principal balance than interest. Lower balances can mean a lower credit utilisation (and a lift in your score).
6. Ask for a credit limit increase
A higher credit limit is another way to help reduce your credit utilisation ratio, which can help raise your credit score. Keep in mind though that credit issuers will perform a hard credit check when you request a credit limit increase, and that additional amount of credit can cause your credit to dip.
7. Get on the electoral register
To lenders, your time on the electoral register helps prove your presence at the address on your applications and suggests stability, which means your loan is less likely to result in non-payment.
The longer you’re registered to vote at an address, the more this factor will improve your score. After six and a half years at the same address, you’ll have the optimal contribution to your score.
Pitfalls to avoid when working on your credit score
When it comes to building credit, it’s easy to get overly focused on ways to raise your credit score fast. The truth is that building credit takes time. So take a step back and make sure your strategy doesn’t do more harm than good.
Here are a few “don’ts” to keep in mind.
- Don’t apply for a bunch of new credit cards just because you want to increase your credit utilisation. Even though this might help lower your credit utilisation, it could also make you look like a risky borrower thanks to the new hard inquiries on your reports.
- Don’t carry a balance on your credit card just so you can build credit. Carrying a balance can lead to unnecessary interest charges, and it might actually hold your score down by increasing your credit utilisation.
- Don’t cancel your credit card after you pay it off — unless you have a good reason to do so. Closing your credit card will hurt your length of credit history, so it’s better to leave it open, even if you’re not using it anymore. Of course, if having a card tempts you to spend more, or it comes with an expensive annual fee, you might want to rethink this conventional wisdom.
What’s next?
There are a lot of credit repair companies out there that promise to raise your credit score fast. Be wary. Rebuilding your credit score takes time, and you can help improve your credit by yourself.
There are a few steps you might be able to take to raise your credit score relatively quickly, like paying off credit cards with high balances and disputing errors.
You might also consider working on building your credit score with Credit Karma. In our app, you can easily track your progress and get clear, personalised insights on how to keep your credit score moving in the right direction.