Raise Your Credit Score 100 – 200 Points Really Fast

Lots of people have situations where their credit score takes a hit. Many of these people are looking for ways to boost their credit score quickly. This article will help explain how you can boost your credit score.

We’ll cover what it means to boost your credit score, what goes into a credit score, and different ways to cause your credit score to go up as quickly as possible. Use this information to get your credit score to a better place. Don’t let a low credit score undermine your ability to get valuable loans and lines of credit prevent you from getting the job or home you’ve always wanted.

Understanding Your Credit Score

The credit scoring process is something of a mystery to many people. There are lots of different factors that go into your credit score. Understanding these factors is the key to figuring out how to boost your credit score quickly.

That’s because everyone’s credit report is different. What works for some people won’t work for others. As a result, the first step to making your credit score go up is understanding the different things that go into your credit score.

What Goes in to a Credit Score?

There are 5 primary factors that influence your credit score. This section will give a brief explanation of each factor.

Length of Credit History

The length of your credit history is surprisingly important to your credit score. That’s because the more credit history you have, the more information credit reporting agencies have to give you a score. Credit scores work differently than other scores. If you open your first credit card and make a payment on time, you don’t start with a perfect score. The longer your history, the higher your score will be.

Credit Utilization

Credit utilization is the second largest factor in your credit score. This looks at how much revolving debt you have available compared to how much you’re using. Revolving credit is things that you can use repeatedly, like credit cards or lines of credit. That’s different from loans which you get in a lump sum. Those are known as installment debt.

The less of the credit you utilize, the better your score. If you have a $10,000 limit on your credit card and you use $5,000 of it, then you’re using 50% of your credit. The more credit you’re using, the greater the risk that you’ll default on your obligations. That’s because high credit utilization is a strong signal that you are having money problems.

Payment History

Your payment history makes up the biggest part of your credit score. In fact, 35% of your credit score comes from your payment history. Making consistent on-time payments is the best way to ensure that your credit score goes up in the long run. Missed payments will bring your score down.

However, a missed payment will affect everyone differently. The way credit score math works, people are pushed towards the middle. If you have a 780 credit score and miss a payment, then your score could go down by 100 points or more. However, if your score is a 640 and you miss a payment, you might only lose 10-20 points.

New Credit

Looking for new credit is also a signal that you’re having money issues. This is also known as credit checks, credit pulls, and credit inquiries. There are two kinds of credit checks, hard checks and soft checks. A soft credit check doesn’t impact your score at all. A hard credit check is what you get when you officially apply for new credit, and it causes a dip in your score. The dip isn’t much, but it can impact your score.

This area can be a bit tricky. That’s because one of the best ways for most people to boost their score is by raising their total available credit. That lowers their credit utilization. However, raising your available credit usually requires a hard credit check. That’s why it’s important to understand what your score is and why you’re getting that score. Otherwise you might do more damage than good to your score by using the wrong methods to boost it.

It’s also important to understand how credit reporting agencies evaluate credit checks. Agencies understand that people want to shop around to get the best deal on credit and loan products. That means they treat multiple checks for a similar product as one credit check.

For example, if you apply for a personal loan with 5 different banks, all of the checks will appear on your credit report. But your credit score will treat these as one credit check, not 5.

However, if you apply for a personal loan with 3 banks, a student loan with 2 banks, and apply for a new credit card with 5 banks, the credit agencies will treat this as three different credit checks, as you’re looking for 3 different types of products.

Credit Mix

Finally, credit reporting agencies look at the mix of credit that you have on your report. Creditors want to see that you can handle multiple different kinds of debt and credit. If you only have a credit card but no loans, then your credit score won’t be as high as it otherwise would be. The same goes for people that have loans but don’t have a credit card. Showing that you can handle lots of different types of credit and debt will increase your score.

How to Boost Credit Score

You can boost your credit score by understanding the factors that go into making it. You should concentrate on the things that have the biggest impact on your score. The top two items are credit utilization and payment history. There’s no way to quickly affect your payment history. However, you can do things about your credit utilization.

You can also take other steps to boost your score in the long run. Understanding how the five different factors play into your credit score can let you plan to make smart financial decisions. IT can tell you when it’s ok to take on dew debt and when you should avoid doing so.

We’ll go over some of the best ways to boost your credit score quickly below.

Boost Credit Score Overnight

Before we get started, it’s important to understand how long it takes something to affect your credit report. Most lenders and creditors send information to the credit reporting agencies every month. Therefore, it’s hard to move your score up in a day or two. Boosting your credit score quickly means increasing it over the course of 3-6 months.

Also, you need to be careful about which methods you use to boost your score. Before you use any of these methods, you should make sure that you understand your credit report. Your report will tell you what factors are affecting your score.

For example, if you have a lot of collections entries from the past, but don’t carry a credit card balance each month, then taking steps to raise your credit limit won’t necessarily boost your score. In fact, taking out new accounts could lower your score from the credit checks.

It’s also important to realize that there are lots of scams and illegitimate actors when it comes to credit and lending. Make sure you don’t fall for a scam. If someone says they have a way to increase your score quickly in 24-48 hours, you should be very suspicious. After all, if it were that easy to raise your score that fast, then everyone would be doing it. There are no credit secrets or credit hacks that can cause your score to jump overnight.

Raise Your Credit Limit

The first way to raise your credit score quickly is to ask your credit card company for a higher credit limit. It’s important to note that this only works if you don’t use the increased limit you’re asking for.

This method works because 30% of your credit score comes from your credit utilization. Remember, that’s the amount of credit you have available compared to the amount you’re using. If you increase the amount of credit you have available without using anymore more of it, then your credit utilization goes down. As a result, your score will go up.

Every company has a different procedure to raise your credit limit. Also, they all have different requirements and qualifications. Usually you can’t raise your limit within 6 months of getting a new card. You also can’t get your limit raised within 3 months of getting your limit raise.

It’s also important to note that most companies will run a credit check on you to raise your limit. Usually this is a soft credit check, so it won’t impact your score. However, some companies use a hard credit check when determining whether or not to approve a request for an increased limit. If that’s the case, then this can cause your credit score to go down. That’s especially true if you get denied for the credit limit increase. Your credit card company will tell you what kind of checks they do for approval on a limit increase request.

Open a New Account

It may seem counter intuitive, but you can also boost your credit score by opening a new credit account. This works the same way as raising your credit limit does. IF you open a new revolving line of credit, then your total credit limit goes up. The credit reporting agencies calculate credit utilization from the total amount of credit available, not on a per-card basis.

Many people seek credit accounts at specific stores to boost their credit score. For example, taking out a credit account with a department store will raise your overall credit limit. As long as you don’t carry a balance on the card your score will go up.

However, you should keep in mind that this method will cause your score to drop a bit at first. That’s because a new account will require a new credit check. This credit check will be a hard credit check, so it will impact your score.

Become an Authorized User

Another popular method for increasing your credit score quickly is to become an authorized user on someone else’s card. This works as long as that person doesn’t carry a large balance and pays their bills on time.

Becoming an authorized user can help in several different ways. First, it lowers your credit utilization. That’s because the credit limit for the card you’re authorized on gets added to your available credit. As long as the primary account holder doesn’t carry a balance, your utilization will drop, causing a score increase.

Second, this method can help by increasing the average length of your credit history. This can only happen if the account you’re added too has been open for longer than the average account currently on your credit report. However, if it is, then your credit history length will go up, boosting your credit score.

Third, this method will help your payment history. Remember, payment history is 35% of your total credit score. As long as the primary account holder pays the bill on time you’ll be able to benefit from their history of on-time payments.

Challenge Negative Entries

The next step you can take to quickly boost your credit is to challenge negative entries on your credit report. You can dispute the entry, or you can request verification for the entry. For example you can file an Experian credit dispute online.

Credit reporting agencies are run by people. People make mistakes all the time. Therefore, if you have errors or false information on your credit report, it could be brining your score down. That’s why it’s important to take advantage of your right to see your credit report for free 2 times per year.

The credit reporting agencies aren’t the only people that make mistakes. Sometimes your creditors or lenders will accidently enter the wrong information for your account. Checking your credit report regularly will allow you to catch these mistakes and get them corrected before they damage your score.

Additionally, the law is on your side here. The Fair Credit Reporting Act states that any credit report entry that can’t be determined to be 100% true must be removed from your report. Therefore, if there was a paperwork mess up or records got lost, you can get rid of negative report entries.

Letters of Goodwill

Your next option to boost your credit score quickly is to write letters of goodwill to your creditors. This is different than a credit dispute letter in that these letters are a way of asking your lenders and creditors to remove negative entries from the past. The letter is a request for mercy. Most people point out their record of on-time payments since the delinquency and request that the lender remove the negative entry.

These letters can help you remove negative items that are bringing your score down. Lenders and creditors are under no obligation to honor these letters. That means you might get mixed results from them. Some lenders are more willing to honor these requests than others.

Additionally, for some forms of debt, lenders are forbidden from removing negative entries for a goodwill letter. Specifically, there are laws in place that regulate how student loan lenders must respond to late or missed payments. As a result, you may or may not be able to get your negative information removed from your credit report using this method.

Pay Balances Before Your Statement

This next step can go a long way in boosting your credit score within a month. In fact, some people can see a credit score increase of 100-200 points quickly from doing this.

Your credit utilization is a large part of your credit score. Creditors don’t update reporting agencies in real time on payments. Instead, they report to the credit reporting agencies whenever you have a statement.

That means if you use your credit card a lot, and then pay it off every time you get a bill, you’re not getting the full benefit. That’s because the credit card company is reporting how much credit you’re utilizing when they generate the statement. They don’t report that you paid off the whole balance each month. Instead, they just report a successful payment.

Therefore, if you pay your credit card bill before your statement comes out, the credit card company will report a lower utilized balance to the credit reporting agencies. That can really boost your score, given how big an influence credit utilization is on your overall score.

In order for this to work, you need to know when your statement comes out. It should come at the same time every month. Additionally, payments can take time to process and apply. That means you need to send your payment in 3-4 days before your statement will come out. That will give your card company enough time to process your payment and credit your account. As a result, they’ll report lower utilization to the credit reporting agencies.

Focus on Revolving Debt

The next step to boost your credit score is to focus on revolving debt. Making extra payments is a great way to get out of debt. However, if you’re more concerned about your credit score than your overall debt burden, then you should focus your extra payments on your credit cards.

That’s because credit reporting agencies don’t look at your total amount of installment debt. They only look to see if you’re making your payments as agreed on that debt. However, credit reporting agencies do take your credit utilization into account for your credit score.

That means you should be sure to send extra payments you’re making to your revolving debt accounts first. That includes things like credit cards. However, it also includes things like store-specific credit accounts, medical credit accounts, and so on. Making extra payments to these debts will quickly lower your credit utilization.

Don’t Close Unused Cards

While you’re making extra payments on your credit cards, you should avoid closing the account. All too often people make the mistake of thinking that closing a credit account shows that they’re responsible with money and should make their score go up.

However, closing credit accounts can cause a huge drop in your score. That’s because closing an account will lower your average age of credit history. As a result, your score will go down.

You should keep credit accounts open even if they’re carrying a zero balance. The one exception to this might be closing an account to avoid an annual fee. If you’re going to close an account, it’s better to do so sooner rather than later so the drop in your credit score is minimal.

As you can see, there are some options available to you to boost your credit score quickly. However, you need to have a sound understanding of your specific credit report. If you don’t understand what’s lowering your score, then you can do more harm than good with some of these methods.

However, if you understand what goes into a credit score, and you understand why your credit score is suffering, then you can take steps to fix your credit. Use the information in this guide to target your approach to be most effective towards your situation. Keep in mind that different factors influence your score different amounts.

No matter what your credit score is, carefully monitoring it will help you improve it. For most people, the biggest thing to quickly boost their credit score is lowering their credit utilization. That’s because credit card debt has such a huge impact on your score, and lots of people with a low credit score have problems with credit card debt.

With careful planning and smart interventions, you can take the right steps to quickly boost your credit score 100-200 points. You just have to understand the right way to approach your specific credit score situation.

FAQ

From the previous sections, you see that your credit rating does not merely go up and down arbitrarily. To learn more about increasing and decreasing credit scores, below are the answers to the most common questions about the topic. 

Increasing Your Credit Score

Whether you have a specific timeline or not, increasing your credit score is always done by improving on the different factors affecting its computation.

Credit Inquiry and its Effects on You

Credit inquiry comes is called by many names and comes in two forms: soft credit inquiry and hard credit inquiry. In this section, we explain the effects of both on your credit.

Credit-related Actions/Removal and its Effects on Your Credit Rating

Many actions involving credit and your finances affect your credit rating positively or negatively. The corresponding increase or decrease on your score is determined by its gravity and by how long it has been on your record.

Reasons Your Credit Rating Dropped

All your actions related to credit affects your score, with the actual number determined by a single action or a series of small yet negative ones.

FAQs About Credit Rating

There are many misconceptions about the nature of credit rating, and here, we clear them up.

Emma Higgins

Emma has been helping people improve their credit scores for the past ten years and has written a number of credit repair companies reviews for us. Prior to that, she worked as a credit repair specialist and consultant for several of the best credit repair firms. She got into the credit repair industry after graduating with a degree in Finance before getting her MBA.