Keep your credit card usage below 30% of your overall limit.
Ask your financial institution to increase your credit limit without making a “hard inquiry”.
Increasing your credit limit while maintaining or lowering your balance will often improve your credit score.
If you have multiple accounts with small balances, like $20 or $30, pay them off right away.
The agencies usually take into account how many of your credit cards have a balance; Carrying too many small balances can affect your credit score.
Ask a family member or friend with an excellent payment history to add you as an authorized user on their credit card, especially if they have a zero balance or 0% financing.
Limit the number of loans and credit applications you apply for in a single 6-month period. The only exceptions to this rule are home, auto, or student loans.
Agencies generally don’t care if you’ve applied for many of these types of loans, even within a two-week period.
Use your old accounts from time to time to keep them open; creditors sometimes close inactive accounts. If your old credit cards are closed, you will lose a significant part of your credit history, which can lower your score.
Agencies like to see that you have had lines of credit open for many years.
Dispute any negative or inaccurate items on your credit report. Maintain a healthy mix of accounts, such as credit cards, store cards, and installment loans.
Request new accounts only when necessary. Transfer your credit card balances to a card with a lower interest rate.
Taking this action may increase your score and your overall credit limit. Ask the credit bureaus to update any credit accounts that you have paid off but still show an outstanding balance.
Ask the credit reporting agencies to report any “accounts in good standing” that don’t appear on your credit report.
Ask your creditors to forgive you for late payments. Question any “canceled” accounts, late payments, and collection items on your report that don’t belong to you.
Dispute any negative items on your report that are more than seven years old. Ask your financial institution to increase your credit limit by doing a “self-inquiry”.
In other words, they can view your report as if you provided them with a copy.
If you are an authorized user of a card with numerous late payments and a high balance compared to the general limit (over 30% is high), call your creditor and ask them to remove your name from this account.
Scan your report for unauthorized “difficult inquiries” and discuss them with the credit bureaus.
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