Whether you need a mortgage, a loan or just want to open a bank account, companies that you apply to, are going to reference you with credit agencies to check your credit worthiness. Therefore it is extremely important that you maintain a good credit rating.
5 of the best ways to fix your score are –
Voter registration
Did you know that just by the simple act of registering to vote you can raise your credit score by up to 50 points! So even if you have no interest in voting, make sure that you are at least registered to vote.
You can use the government website to register www.gov.uk/register-to-vote
Keep applications to a minimum
Don’t make too many applications for finance, every time you make an application it goes on your credit report, too many and it could suggest financial trouble to lenders.
If you don’t make any applications for at least 6 months, it could add 50 points to your credit score!
Don’t miss payments
If you feel like you are going to miss a bill payment, speak to your lender about a payment holiday, don’t ignore it.
An arranged payment holiday won’t affect your credit score, but a missed payment can negatively affect your score by over 100 points!
Use a credit builder credit card
Credit builder cards are a great way to boost your credit score, unlike traditional credit cards, these cards have lower limits and higher interest rates, but if used sensibly they will allow you to rebuild or if you don’t have much credit history, build up a credit score.
Check your credit score
If you are about to apply for a financial product, why not check your credit score yourself, it is simple and cheap to do and could save you from being rejected.
A simple mistake like a mobile payment being wrongly stated as not payed, or a previous address being wrong could see you not able to get credit.
If you find a mistake, you could contact the company responsible for the error to rectify it, or use the credit reference agency to contact them on your behalf, the credit reference agency then has 28 days to deal with the dispute.
Fixing one simple mistake could make the difference in getting a loan application approved, and boost your score.
Credit reference agencies –
