A poor credit score can have a negative impact on many areas of your life, including your employment prospects and ability to access loans, credit cards, and mortgages with low-interest rates. Unfortunately, repairing your credit score can’t be done overnight. There is often a three-month lag between arrears or settlements registering on your credit history. In this article, we are going to present 5 tips to help you maintain a good credit rating.
#1 Limit your credit applications.
Too many applications for credit during a short period of time will set off alarm bells for lenders — you will be classified as a high-risk borrower. The type of finance you apply for makes no odds, nor does the total amount of extra credit you request — every application shows ups as a “hard search” on your credit report. Try to limit new credit applications to quarterly occurrences ie. once every three months max. They will provide you with money but rates will be higher than traditional lenders.
#2 Close any unused account.
If you have access to a large amount of unused available credit, lenders will be hesitant to offer you more. Think about closing credit accounts you haven’t used for years. Read more here about the pros and cons of closing dormant credit card accounts.
#3 Avoid defaulting and delinquency.
Default accounts refer to accounts that have multiple missed payments, while delinquent accounts happen when a borrower falls behind on payments. Both will significantly negatively impact your credit score.
#4 Don’t borrow more than you realistically afford.
Unmanageable debt can lead to CCJs, IVAs, and even bankruptcy according to https://ivaplan.co.uk/. All of the aforementioned are events that will stay on your credit report for years and significantly impact your credit rating.
#5 Look out for fraudulent transactions
Monitoring your credit report on a regular basis for fraudulent activity can help to safeguard your score. The sooner you report such activity the better. If you notice a sudden spike in your total outstanding debt balance or entries for credit applications you did not initiate, it’s possible you could be a victim of fraud. As long as you can prove the activity was fraudulent, the negative data should be removed from your credit history.
