1) Pay your bills on time.
2) Reduce the amount of outstanding debt you owe.
3) Don’t keep applying for new credit cards (don’t cancel the ones you have, just stop using them and pay them down).
4) Make sure to look at your credit report once a year to keep an eye on it, this helps you correct mistakes and keep an eye out for possible identity theft. A good way to watch your credit is to pull up just one of your free credit reports every three months that way you are rotating your free reports and can see how things are progressing.
5) If you have a limited credit history and feel this could be working against you, you can get what is referred to as a secured loan or a credit building loan. This basically means that you give the bank $1,000 and they then loan you $1,000. Seems odd perhaps but this is a valid way of building up your credit history.
6) Get a credit card – but only do this if you have no credit history at all. Sometimes it is easier to get a store credit card so this may be a good route. Charge a very inexpensive item and pay for it over time. Only buy something for like $50 because you’re trying to improve your credit score not pay huge amounts of interest. Be sure to make all your payments on time, because even one late payment can have a negative impact.
