Free Credit Tips to Increase Your Credit Score

Do you have a low Credit Score?  Are you paying really high interest rates because you don't qualify for lower rates, all because of you have a low Credit Score?  Do you need some tips on how to raise your Credit Score quickly? 

Well you have come to the right place.  With the free tips available on this page, you can fix your credit report yourself, and keep it high for the future.  Remember, whatever time or money you spend on increasing your Credit Score and keeping it high will pay for itself many times over because of the lower costs on your home, car, credit cards, and even insurance.

The steps on this page are real steps that can help increase your Credit Score.

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Why are Credit Scores so important?  Credit Scores effect many financial transactions you do including buying a home, car, applying for credit cards, sometimes even getting a job.

Getting Your 3 Credit Reports and Scores - The Crucial First Step:

If you have not done so already, you will need to current copy of All 3 of your Credit Reports and Scores to get started.  Based on the information you find there, you will need to decide how to best approach raising your Credit Score. 

Without this key information, you won't know what your scores are, how to possibly increase them, or even what to dispute if you find inaccurate data.  Remember, removing inaccurate information Credit Report or doing certain other actions (paying down debt, increasing credit limits) can dramatically affect your Credit Scores. (more on this later)

How to get Your Credit Reports and Scores

We highly recommend using Citi® Credit Monitoring Service .($12.95 / Month, first 30 days free).  We really like Citi® Credit Monitoring Service  because you get access to all three Credit Reports (Experian, Equifax, and Transunion) and all three Credit Scores from these agencies.  As long as you remain a member, you will also get any updates to your Credit Report monthly without having to pay each time to check for updates that have been posted. Citi® Credit Monitoring Service is not a credit agency themselves, so they have access to all three Credit Reports and Scores.  (Many Credit Report offers only give you access to one Agency)

Another great feature of Citi® Credit Monitoring Service  is that it comes with a "credit analyzer", which will analyze your credit report information and tell you how doing certain things (paying back debt, applying for a new car loan, getting a new credit card, etc.) might effect your Credit Score.  The analyzer also tells you what items in your Credit Report are effecting your score in a positive or negative way. 

The first 30 Days are Free, so you really have nothing to lose if you don't like the service.  We really believe that this is the most important tool you need to have in order to effectively understand your Credit Score.

(You can also get your credit report free once a year from the government, however it wont include your credit score or any analysis, and since it's only once year so you can't monitor how things are changing)

How Credit Agencies Determine Your Credit Score

The three credit reporting agencies are Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax.  Since some lenders only report to one of these three companies, you will probably have three different credit scores based on the different information each one has about you. 

Your credit score is determined by the following estimated % breakdown:

• 35% Payment history

• 30% Outstanding debt

• 15% Length of your credit history

• 10% Recent inquiries on your credit report

• 10% Types of credit in use

Below is a table showing a sampling of possible different score ranges and how they can affect a mortgage payment:

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Once you've received your credit report, look at the percentage breakdown above and focus on the things that will help you increase your Credit Scores such as payment history, negative items, and outstanding debt.  

Professional Credit Repair Agencies

If you are thinking of hiring a professional Credit Repair Agency, we really recommend getting your Credit Reports first, and then seeing how much work you need to do to.  If your score is low because of high debt levels, a credit repair agency is probably not a good idea since they cannot help you.  However, if your Credit Score is low because of late payments, derogatory items, etc. then instead of doing the work yourself you may want to hire The Lexington Law Firm

We highly recommend using The Lexington Law Firm to increase your Credit Score if you are a situation that warrants it.  Why choose them over anybody else?  The Credit Repair business received a bad reputation, so you need to be careful about who you hire.  The Lexington Law Firm has been around since 1991, has over 300,000 satisfied clients, and is the industry leader in this field.  Their fees are very reasonable, and again will pay for themselves many times over once they have increased your Credit Score. 

It's like mowing the lawn, you can either do the work yourself or pay a landscaper to do it for you to save you the time and hassle. 

Internet E-Books

A word of caution: There are many Internet sites that charge you a small fortune for a book that will tell you "secret ways" to increase your Credit Score.  What you need to understand is that they all try and fix your Credit Score the same way, mainly by disputing and removing negative items.  Some of them will even tell you do things that are illegal, like setup a new Tax ID number.  You should avoid these tactics. 

However, if after reading this page you think you need ever more detailed help in increasing your Credit Score, (example dispute letters, even more secret credit tips, etc.) some of these books can be very valuable if you don't want to pay for professional Credit Repair.  

We have compared a number of these E books and really think Credit Secret Bible gives you the best bang for you buck.  Most of these E-Books are somewhat helpful, however the Credit Secrets Bible gives you most content for the price.  You can take a look at it here.

Back to Our Free Tips

Some lenders will look at the scores from all three reports, while some might only look at one.  Remember, you don't lose any Credit Score points for checking your own Credit Report.  You will lose some points if there a number of credit inquiries over time for applications such credit cards, auto loans, department store credit cards, etc. that you have initiated.  You will lose some points if there a number of credit inquiries over time for applications such credit cards, auto loans, department store credit cards, etc. hurt your overall credit score. Think about this next time you get an offer for 10% off your purchase just for signing up for a store credit card, and just say no!  You should never apply for credit if you are not very confident that you will get approved. You might save $20 now, but you could lose much more than that later due to a worse credit score.  Plus if you forget to make payments, it will really negatively effect your credit, and you might be charged late fees, etc.

Also, if you are shopping for a car or mortgage, try and keep all the inquiries to within two weeks since credit scoring companies will only treat all these as one "inquiry" on your credit report, instead of multiple inquiries.

Another key thing to remember is your Credit Score is not based on how "clean" your Credit Report looks.  You may have many things on your credit report that drag on for years, but remember these are good things since they show credit history.  As long as they don't show very late payments, they are adding points to your score since you have proven to be a reliable consumer who can pay back debts in a timely matter. 

Don't contact these vendors and close accounts since it might hurt your score.  The items you are very interested in are late payments, judgments, delinquencies, etc.  You can close accounts that are less than a year old, however we recommend focusing our energy on things that can really make a big difference.

Once you've received your credit report, look at the percentage breakdown above and focus on the thing that will help you increase your score, such as payment history and outstanding debt.

View Your 3 Credit Reports and Scores Online Instantly - Free for 30 Days with enrollment

Need More Credit Tips?  Get More Credit Secrets Online Instantly

Own a Home?  Consolidate Your Debt and Save $1000's - Bad Credit OK

How to Dispute Items on Your Credit Report

First thing is to make sure everything on your credit report is right.  If you see something wrong, make sure you dispute it with the agency. You can dispute it by way of phone, letter, online or via email. 

If you need to dispute something with Experian, use this link to the online Experian dispute site. If you need to dispute something with either Equifax or TransUnion, use this Credit Dispute PDF form.  Make sure that you mail the form via USPS and get a receipt that it was delivered and what date it was delivered, however don't force the agency to sign it.  If you are going to use the above PDF form, use your own handwriting to write since it usually helps the Agency determine that the letter is a real dispute letter and not a computer generated form letter.

How Credit Disputes Work

By law, the creditor must prove the accuracy of what you are disputing within 30 days. If they don't, it simply is removed from your Credit Report. If you have evidence that something is wrong, then submit the evidence and they will have to remove the inaccurate data within 30 days or prove that it's accurate.  Even it you don't remember if it's 100% accurate, dispute it since the creditor will have to prove that the information is accurate.  Many times they can't do this since they might have lost the records, etc.  A good time to dispute is around any holidays, where the vendor may not have the time to respond since they are busy with selling new stuff, not worried about some debt from 3 years ago.

Negotiating with Creditors and Collection Agencies

Our advice is to offer to pay 40% of your debt and negotiate upwards from there, however only if they remove you bad credit history off your Credit Report. (Not Just have it Marked Paid, very important!)  Make sure you get this in writing, most agencies will take the opportunity to collect the bad debt and happily remove the bad credit history from your report, instantly helping to increase your Credit Score. Settling a 2K debt for 1K, which will then dramatically increase your score, is well worth it since you will be saving some much more money on future interest costs with a higher Credit Score.  Negotiate hard with these agencies, but remember your goal is to get the bad credit history removed from your report, not just mark paid.  Just remember to get everything in writing.

Removing these items will dramatically increase your credit score since derogatory items are weighed heavily in your Credit Score calculation.

Note:  If you have already paid off these derogatory items, sometimes disputing it with the agency or original creditor again may work since it will be their burden to prove the bad credit history, and they usually wont bother disputing it since it's already been paid off and it's even more work for them.  However, we really recommend taking care of the issue before you pay off the debt, when you have the most negotiating leverage!

View Your 3 Credit Reports and Scores Online Instantly - Free for 30 Days with enrollment

Need More Credit Tips?  Get More Credit Secrets Online Instantly

Own a Home?  Consolidate Your Debt and Save $1000's - Bad Credit OK

Other Ways to Boost Your Credit Score