Mortgage Financing - Articles & Advice

How to Improve your Credit Score Quickly

If you are like lots of people these days, you are thinking of shopping for a new home or new vehicle. Why? Because interest rates are still the lowest they have been in 40 years, and now is a better time than any to get financing. I just bought an RV myself, and I remember the nervous feeling while they pulled my credit score at the dealer. 668 *whew*. Not bad as it turns out.

Many people don’t plan ahead when shopping for a loan to get the best credit possible. A lower credit score (one below 620 or even 650) can mean the highest interest rate and highest monthly payments. A score of above 720 means the lowest rates possible. Having the best credit score you can have means saving thousands of dollars over the life of your loan. How can you raise your credit score in a quick period of time, and save?

There are several ways to improve your credit score in a week or less. One is called the "rapid rescore" process, offered through your mortgage officer only, by a company called Access. With this system, you must do legwork to change your credit report contents yourself, within a week. So for instance, you might have to pay off certain collections or liens within a week to change your credit report contents. The rapid rescore process gives your credit score a second look at the end of a week so any improvements will show on your second credit score. The drawbacks of this process if you can only do it through a mortgage broker, and also, you must have something that you can improve quickly on your report such as paying off a collection or a card balance.

Another way to improve your credit score quickly is to use techniques to temporarily "bump up" your credit score. I talk about these in my ebook "Improve Your Credit Score In 24 Hours". I also provide special phone and fax number info. Depending on which creditors and credit bureaus you use you can many times cause your credit a temporary "boost". Techniques like this are a great "survival skill" in your credit career.

For "do-it-yourself" credit repair, here are some tips: first, pay off your collections. Even the smallest collection item like a $40 parking ticket can bring your score up 15-30 points. Get a letter from your creditor that says "collection paid" or "collection deleted". Fax the letters to the bureaus if possible, talking to them on the phone and coordinating a quick change in your scores. Second, you should have 3 unsecured lines of credit but no more, so if you have extra credit cards you’ve been meaning to close, close them. You’d be surprised how these can boost your score as well.

People are getting more financial savvy these days with gurus like Suze Orman telling folks about their FICO score (another term for credit score). I think it is good because having credit knowledge before you make large purchases like for homes or cars can save you thousands of dollars and put more money where it belongs, your investment future.

L. K. Hughes is the author of "Improve Your Credit Score In 24 Hours".

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