1. Use 1 credit card as your primary card…there is a deduction in your credit score for carrying balances on multiple credit cards.
2. Keep your credit cards open, even if you have a zero balance and are not using them…if you close the account, you are hurting your credit score by closing available credit and therefore raising your overall debt ratio.
3. Keep your overall percentage of credit in use as low as possible…ideally, keep the balance on your primary credit card under 15% of the credit limit, while keeping the balance on any additional credit cards at zero.
4. Make sure to use your credit cards at least once a year, otherwise the creditor may close them due to inactivity, which will affect your score as described in tip #2.
5. Make sure to pay the balance on your credit card before the statement close date each month…by doing this, your credit card will report with the payment reflected and therefore a lower balance…if you pay after the statement close date, the account will report with the balance before the payment was applied…so by simply adjusting your payment date by a few days in some cases, you can keep your debt utilization reporting lower.
Thanks for the tips, I’ll start working on that ASAP!!
I really liked your blog! It helped me alot… Awesome. Exactly what I was looking for. Thanks!
Just left Triple Play convention and what you posted on credit cards are what they were teaching at the one class. I will post a blog later on the ratio’s. Thanks Ed
This really does work Im doing it now and it has helped a gret deal