1. Keep an eye on your credit balances
Plain and simple: keep your balances low. Just the mere fact that you have credit cards impacts your credit score. It can actually make your score worse if your balance is 35 percent or more than your available credit on each card—even if you pay more than the minimum due and pay on time.
You can pay your bills twice a month so it doesn’t look like you’re maxing out your card if you have some large payments to take care of.
2. Stick to a few main cards
Pick one or two go-to credit cards to use all the time. Maybe try one cash back card and one airline rewards card, but try to keep the number of active cards you have low. Charging amounts to many different cards can hurt your score, since it considers how many of your cards have balances.
3. Pay off small balances on all cards
On a similar note to what’s stated above, if you do have a bunch of cards you don’t often use, paying off the small balances on each of them can help. But don’t go closing all those accounts after you pay the balances, instead tuck them away in a safe place and just go back to using your major ones.
Even if some of your accounts are inactive or no longer being consistently used, you’re still rewarded for having a history with the creditor.
4. Some debt is good debt
If you were in debt from paying off low-interest loans, like student loans, car payments, or a mortgage, don’t bother calling your credit card company to try to get them removed from your report. Once paid, if proven that you made timely and consistent payments, that chunk of debt actually makes you look good—it shows that you handled it responsibly and it’s better for your score
5. Do you really need to apply for a new card?
Your favorite stores and airlines will constantly tempt you to sign up for their credit cards, usually offering an on-the-spot discount on the merchandise you’re buying or some bonus miles. But make sure you have control over which cards you really need versus which cards just sound like a good deal at the time.
Also make sure you read the fine print and find out exactly what fees you’ll be charged and what your interest rate will be before singing on the dotted line.
6. Fact-check your credit reports
Hooray for easy things! All you have to do here is review all of your credit reports and scan them for errors or outdated information that might be affecting your score. Simply call your credit company and start a dispute if you see something wrong; it typically takes only a couple of weeks to have the problem cleared or corrected.
7. Pay your bills on time
Okay, we get it, this one sounds glaringly evident—but since late payments are the single most common piece of information associated with people’s negative credit reports, it’s a super important piece of the puzzle.
If you know there’s a larger than usual payment coming your way, it makes sense to try to put money aside and save up for it rather than charge the whole thing at once, knowing you can’t pay it off. An easy way to make sure you pay on time every month is to set your account to auto-pay.
