700 Credit Score

A couple of years ago a 700 credit score would have been a good credit score to have. In fact most of us would have been very happy and our friendly bank managers would have had no problem lending us funds.  But life has changed and with the current economic crisis, most financial companies are becoming very chosy over who they say yes to when granting new loans.

The good news is that if you can increase your credit rating, which is relatively simple to do once you know how, you can benefit from lower interest rates, lower auto and home insurance rates and you may even land that dream job.  So how do you go about improving your records?

You should contact each of your creditors and ask them to review your account to see if they could reduce the charges you are paying.  If you have been a good client and have made regular payments, you may be pleasantly surprised. In this difficult economic period, a lot of people are falling behind on their payments. These clients make the credit companies a lot of money but cause them hassle as well.  So often they will reduce the charges on the accounts of good customers.  It doesn’t hurt to ask and you could save money.  But perhaps more importantly, lower charges means that the money you do repay reduces the balance oustanding quicker and this will improve your score.

If you are struggling to meet your payments, then you should try to negotiate with your creditors to see can you come to an arrangement where you pay a lower amount for set period of time. Alternatively if you have a lump sum available, perhaps after having a garage sale or selling stuff on an auction site, you could ask if they would be prepared to accept a lump sum debt settlement figure.  If they say yes, ask them to confirm this in writing before you make the payment.  Just be aware that debt settlements can cause tax issues and may also affect your future credit rating although it should have less impact on your score than falling behind on payments or having judgements registered against you.

While a 700 credit score is not a bad result, it is easy to improve it by following these steps.

* Always pay your bills when they fall due.  This is the easiest step to get that credit score rising.

* Review your credit reports from the three agencies, in particular looking for dormant accounts. These are accounts where you applied for credit but have never activated the account. You may be surprised to know that they will have a negative impact on your credit rating so if you do find any, ask for the account to be closed immediately.

* Don’t make more than one application for credit at a time and never do it unless you actually need the new account. Too many applications will send your score rocketing downwards exactly the impact we are trying to avoid.  If you think you want to apply for a new lending facility ask yourself if you really need it.  Perhaps there is another way for you to raise the cash by working extra hours or perhaps selling your services online. You can earn funds by writing, proofreading etc.  If you are in a clerical role you would be pleasantly surprised at the number of opportunities that the internet has to offer to allow you earn extra dollars.

* If you think you are going to be late with a payment, contact your creditor immediately and let them know. Most will be happy to work with you and will probably not file a deliquent report. They like their clients to remain in contact particularly if there is going to be a problem.