{"id":556,"date":"2011-01-05T08:20:27","date_gmt":"2011-01-05T15:20:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lorismith.biz\/blog\/?p=556"},"modified":"2011-01-05T08:20:27","modified_gmt":"2011-01-05T15:20:27","slug":"improve-your-credit-score","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/lorismith.biz\/blog\/2011\/01\/05\/improve-your-credit-score\/","title":{"rendered":"Improve Your Credit Score"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"letter-spacing: normal ! important; width: 400px ! important; padding: 0pt 40px ! important; font-family: Arial,sans-serif ! important;\">\n<ul style=\"letter-spacing: normal ! important; list-style: none outside none ! important; margin: 0pt 0pt 30px ! important; padding-left: 0pt; float: left; width: 485px; font-family: Arial,sans-serif ! important;\">\n<li style=\"letter-spacing: normal ! important; font-family: Arial,sans-serif ! important; display: block; vertical-align: baseline ! important; padding: 30px 0pt ! important; border-bottom: 1px solid #ebf0f2 ! important; color: #777777 ! important; font-size: 12px ! important; line-height: 20px ! important; float: left; width: 400px;\">\n<h3 style=\"letter-spacing: normal ! important; font-family: Arial,sans-serif ! important; float: left; width: 373px; margin: 0pt; font-size: 16px ! important; font-weight: bold ! important;\"><a style=\"color: #16a8d3!important; text-decoration: none!important;\" href=\"http:\/\/buyandsell.houselogic.com\/articles\/7-tips-improving-your-credit\/\" target=\"_blank\">7 Tips for Improving Your Credit<\/a><\/h3>\n<p style=\"letter-spacing: normal ! important; font-family: Arial,sans-serif ! important; margin: 0pt; float: left; width: 373px;\">Here\u2019s how to clean up your credit so you get the least-expensive home loan possible.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"letter-spacing: normal ! important; font-family: Arial,sans-serif ! important; display: block; vertical-align: baseline ! important; padding: 30px 0pt ! important; border-bottom: 1px solid #ebf0f2 ! important; color: #777777 ! important; font-size: 12px ! important; line-height: 20px ! important; float: left; width: 400px;\">\n<h3>1. Know your credit score<\/h3>\n<p>Credit scores range from 300 to 850, and the higher, the better.  They\u2019re based on whether you\u2019ve paid personal loans, car loans, credit  cards, and other debt in full and on time in the past. You\u2019ll need a  score of at least 620 to qualify for a home loan and 740 to get the best  interest rates and terms.<\/p>\n<p>You\u2019re entitled to a free copy of your credit report annually from each of the major credit-reporting bureaus, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.equifax.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Equifax<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.experian.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Experian<\/a>, and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.transunion.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">TransUnion<\/a>. Access all three versions of your credit report at <a href=\"http:\/\/www.annualcreditreport.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">www.annualcreditreport.com<\/a>. Review them to ensure the information is accurate.<\/p>\n<h3>2. Correct errors on your credit report<\/h3>\n<p>If you find mistakes on your credit report, write a letter to the  credit-reporting agency explaining why you believe there\u2019s an error.  Send documents that support your case, and ask that the error be  corrected or removed. Also write to the company, or debt collector, that  reported the incorrect information to dispute the information, and ask  to be copied on any materials sent to credit-reporting agencies.<\/p>\n<h3>3. Pay every bill on time<\/h3>\n<p>You may be surprised at the damage even a few late payments will have  on your credit score. The easiest way to make a big difference in your  credit score without altering your spending habits is to diligently pay  all your bills on time. You\u2019ll also save money because you\u2019ll keep the  money you\u2019ve been spending on late fees. Credit card or mortgage  companies probably won\u2019t report minor late payments, those less than 30  days overdue, but you\u2019ll still have to pay late fees.<\/p>\n<h3>4. Use credit carefully<\/h3>\n<p>Another good way to boost your credit score is to pay your credit  card bills in full every month. If you can\u2019t do that, pay as much over  your required minimum payment as possible to begin whittling away the  debt. Stop using your credit cards to keep your balances from  increasing, and transfer balances from high-interest credit cards to  lower-interest cards.<\/p>\n<h3>5. Take care with the length of your credit<\/h3>\n<p>Credit rating agencies also consider the length of your credit  history. If you\u2019ve had a credit card for a long time and managed it  responsibly, that works in your favor. However, opening several new  credit cards at once can lower the average age of your accounts, which  pushes down your score. Likewise, closing credit card accounts lowers  your available credit, so keep credit cards open even if you\u2019re not  using them.<\/p>\n<h3>6. Don\u2019t use all the credit you\u2019re offered<\/h3>\n<p>Credit scores are also based on how much credit you use compared with  how much you\u2019re offered. Using $1,000 of available credit will give you  a lower score than having $1,000 of available credit and using $100 of  it. Occasionally opening new lines of credit can boost your available  credit, which also affects your score positively.<\/p>\n<h3>7. Be patient<\/h3>\n<p>It can take time for your credit score to climb once you\u2019ve begun  working to improve it. Keep at it because the more distance you put  between your spotty payment history and your current good payment  record, the less damage you\u2019ll do to your credit score.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div style=\"float: left; width: 485px;\">\n<p style=\"letter-spacing: normal!important; font-family: Arial,sans-serif!important; margin: 0 0 12px!important; color: #000!important; font-size: 12px!important;\">\n<p style=\"letter-spacing: normal!important; font-family: Arial,sans-serif!important; margin: 0 0 12px!important; color: #000!important; font-size: 11px!important;\">Copyright 2010 NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS\u00ae<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>7 Tips for Improving Your Credit Here\u2019s how to clean up your credit so you get the least-expensive home loan possible. 1. Know your credit score Credit scores range from 300 to 850, and the higher, the better. They\u2019re based on whether you\u2019ve paid personal loans, car loans, credit cards, and other debt in full [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,1],"tags":[174,51,46,209,39,175,89,211,210,269],"class_list":["post-556","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-real-estate","category-uncategorized","tag-blog","tag-buyers","tag-colorado","tag-credit-score","tag-estes-park-buyers-market-home-sales","tag-estes-park-real-estate","tag-first-time-home-buyers","tag-home-buyers","tag-improve-your-credit-score","tag-real-estate"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/lorismith.biz\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/556","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/lorismith.biz\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/lorismith.biz\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/lorismith.biz\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/lorismith.biz\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=556"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"http:\/\/lorismith.biz\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/556\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":618,"href":"http:\/\/lorismith.biz\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/556\/revisions\/618"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/lorismith.biz\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=556"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/lorismith.biz\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=556"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/lorismith.biz\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=556"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}