- Learn what your current credit score is and what appears on your credit report. Equifax Score Power gives you immediate access to your credit report and includes your current Beacon Score.
- Don't open new credit cards that you don't need just to increase your available credit. This approach could backfire and actually lower your score.
- Try to keep your total account balances as low as possible. High outstanding debt may negatively affect your score, as you have a greater chance of missing payments.
- Correct any incorrect information that might be appearing on your credit report. Visit www.equifax.ca for more information.
- If your credit is severely damaged, or you have a very short credit history, there are still ways to improve your credit over time. Consider opening new accounts responsibly and paying them off on time.
- If you fall behind on paying a bill because of illness, unemployment or family issues, write a short explanation to the credit reporting agencies. They will add it to your credit report. Also, call your creditor to explain the circumstances and if possible, work out a payment schedule you can meet.
- If you need to help build credit from scratch or re-establish credit after a bankruptcy or consumer proposal, consider taking advantage of a secured credit card.
- To minimize the number of inquiries on your credit report, don't apply for multiple credit cards over a short period of time, or for a card you are not likely to get. Apply for new credit accounts only as needed.
- Make all your payments on time. If forced to miss a payment, be sure to pay the following month. Accounts more than 60 days past due will be indicated on your credit report.
- Pay or settle any unpaid collections or write-offs that may appear on your bureau. If these have been paid, obtain copies of the receipts or settlement letters and send to Equifax to have the collections or bad debts marked as paid or settled with a balance owing of zero.
Quick Credit Score Fixes
Let's say you have a credit score of 664.
You have a concentration of credit card debt on one card; let's say $17,000 on a card with a $20,000 limit. At the same time, you have four or five additional credit cards, all with a zero balance. If you distribute the debt over the cards that you have available to work with, this will change the ratio of debt to available credit limit, and can cause the credit score to pierce through that magical threshold of 680 (excellent credit).
If any credit cards are above their limit, pay them down immediately - as even one dollar over limit will negtively impact your credit score by as much as 70 points!
Another thing to take into consideration is the percentage that each of the five factors weigh in on your resulting credit score. Let's say you have a credit high (the maximum debt allowance on all cards, combined) of $20,000. You have one card that is used for business purposes that is pushing the limit. Get two new cards, each with a $4,000 limit and once again, spread the debt out over the available credit leaving a 30 percent margin of available credit on each. Yes, this will affect the factor of credit history, but this specific factor only affects your overall score by 15 percent. The big diffrence once again, is the resulting impact on the credit balance factor, which has a 30 percent influence on the overall score and can cause the overall caculatinos to pierce through the next level on our chart.
Keep your credit card accounts open. Don't close existing credit card accounts, even if they are at a zero balance. Some people think they are doing themselves a favor by having fewer cards, and they lose out on the credit history factor. Even if you don't have a good rate on those old credit cards, you are rewarded for having the long-term credit history on these accounts.
A new debt will drop your credit score temporarily, but once the first payment registers as "paid" the score will begin to recover.