In this post, we talk about the top 5 factors for a huge credit score Increase.
Growing up I remember always asking all my teachers does this X subject matter? Will we ever use this in the real world? Now that I’m all grown up, I can now say that x+y = dog poop.
Sorry to say this but unless your studying to be a mathematician or scientist most of these skills aren’t transferable to the real world.
Sure, understanding the fundamentals of math, reading, and social studies are the pillars of educating the youth. But it’s not the only subject that’s important.
After graduating highschool I found myself a job. I saved some money and put it in a bank account to save it all.
At the age of 18, I felt ready for the real world. One thing I wasn’t ready for was a credit card.
In fact, I didn’t get a credit card until I graduated from college.
What kept me from getting a credit card was fear, fear of debt, and fear of the unknown.
I had so many friends telling me the crazy high numbers they owed on their current balance it sort of scared me away.
If you know anything about credit cards, that owed balance only increases with a percent rate of compound interest.
After all, I already had some student loans racking up. What was the point of adding more debt to it?
I knew nothing about interest, how credit cards worked, or where credit score even came from? The only thing I did know was x+y = dog poop.
It’s the reason why I’m writing a post on the top 5 factors for a huge credit score Increase. These tips aren’t common knowledge.
It baffles me as to why we’re not being taught this in school.
It’s also the reason why so many Americans struggle to increase their credit scores and why there’s huge industry made just to fix it.
First Factor: Revolving utilization
To start number one out of the top 5 factors for a huge credit score Increase is revolving utilization.
It’s simply the total amount owed on your used/utilized accounts. This factor on average contributes to 30% of your credit score.
An example of this would be if I had a credit limit of $6,500.00 on my account and I used $238.00 of this limit my percent utilization would be 4%.
This example I used is based on one card. So, if you had more than one credit card, you’d add what was owed on all those cards.
Then divide them by the combined limits found on your cards to get percent score.
An excellent range to stay in is between 0-9% and the worse is anything pass 75%.
Second Factor: Length Of Credit
The length of credit is another important factor for a huge credit score increase.
The longer your credit history the better. Lengthy credit history is something that influences your Fico Score.
This sounds a little counterintuitive, but if you keep on top of payments and maintain a healthy balance it really does increase your score. Below is a small list of what they consider.
- The age of your oldest credit account
- The age of your newest credit account
- The average age of all your credit accounts
My personal fact, I noticed your credit score could be built off the length of your student loans.
In my case, I got my first credit card at 23, a few years before that I took out some loans to pay off my college tuition.
Soon after I started to make little payments on that loan before it accumulated with interest after graduation.
Technically I began to garner a credit history off those small installments.
So, by the time I got my first credit card, not only was credit score high but my limit was to.
Third Factor: Missed Payments
Missed payments are another element to consider if you’re trying to boost up your credit score.
If you don’t pay your payments on time can impact you big time. On average Missed Payments contributes to 35% of your credit score.
It’s also the factor that people struggle with the most.
The gift of credit cards is that you can pay for something now and worry about it later but that’s also a curse.
Just paying the minimum balance isn’t going to cut it either.
You got’s to pay it in full every month for it positively impact your score. Yes, it will dramatically raise that score up no if, ends, or buts about it.
Fourth Factor: Total Accounts
The fourth important factor for a huge credit score increase is the total number of accounts you have.
Creditors consider the type of credit cards being used on reported installment loans and revolving accounts.
Your total number can include both open and closed accounts. If you think about it makes a whole lot of sense.
Creditors want to know how well you can manage all your accounts. Can you handle a mix of different credit card types? If so, how well are you managing them?
It’s a gage on how responsible you are, on average it attributes to about 10% of your score.
Fifth Factor: Hard Inquiries On Your Fico Score
Hard inquiries are based on the number of times you inquire to get a credit card or a loan.
Lenders do hard inquiries; these inquiries are good indicators of credit card seeking activity.
In general, you don’t want too many of these seeking activities or inquiries in a short period of time.
It’s a small factor but over time it can pack a powerful punch. Inquiries on your credit are unsuspecting.
It can start with a simple question from a car salesman. Do you want to use your credit score to see what the interest will look like on your car payments?
I had a question phrased this exact way across multiple dealerships.
It’s no harm to them but it can cause some serious damage if reply with “yes” every single time.
To Conclude
Folks, the data and research are based on a myriad of different sources. So, of course, the numbers seen in this post are not completely accurate.
I hope this post gives you some insights and ballpark numbers to think about when evaluating your credit score.
I believe knowledge is power and as always it’s always, good to stay educated on finances.
Check out some of the other posts below tones of good stuff to read here.
Also, we have a link to a great credit card payoff calculator
