6 Ways to Boost Your Credit Score — Fast (2024)

Another trick that can help lower your utilization: Ask your card issuer to increase your limit.

Issuers are generally willing to raise credit limits once a year, says Jeff Richardson, spokesman for VantageScore. Of course, you'll have to avoid increasing your spending — and thus your card balances — to see a positive outcome from higher card limits. The issuer won't likely grant a large increase, however. And if it does, it may check your credit report, causing a "hard" inquiry, says Ulzheimer. A hard inquiry may shave a few points from your score.

This strategy can have an especially strong impact on a young person with a thin credit file. If, say, a parent adds a child as an authorized user on a credit card account, that account and its history will pop up on the child's credit report as long as the issuer reports it (most do).

If the parent has had the account for several years, keeps utilization low and pays the bills on time, the child may see a quick and positive effect on his or her credit score. Card companies typically allow a cardholder to add anyone — not just a family member — as an authorized user.

Collection accounts, bankruptcies and other black marks can heavily damage your score, so clearing such derogatory information from your credit reports could give your score a fast and substantial lift, especially if the information has been on your report for less than two years, says Gerri Detweiler, credit expert and education director for Nav, a site offering credit scores and information for businesses.~

First, check your credit reports. You can get a free report every 12 months from each of the major credit agencies — Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion — at www.annualcreditreport.com.

If you find an account that you don't recognize, it could be the result of an identity thief using your name to get credit, or a lender may be reporting the account in error. If a fraudster is at work, you can take steps to block the fraudulent information from your credit reports. If the negative account is the result of an error, contact the lender or whoever furnished the information in question, and file a dispute with each credit agency whose report lists the account.

If you missed a payment once but otherwise have a long and perfect payment history, you may be able to persuade the biller to stop reporting the delinquency by writing a goodwill letter explaining your uncharacteristic slip-up.

Plus, the length of your credit history makes up 15% of your FICO score. As the average age of your credit accounts lengthens, your score benefits. "You won't max out in that category until you've had credit for decades," says Ulzheimer, who didn't see his own score hit 850 with regularity until he'd had credit accounts for about 25 years. According to FICO, consumers with scores of 800 or higher have an average account age of 11 years, and their oldest account was opened 25 years ago.

If you close a credit card, the account will still appear on your credit report and factor into the age calculation for about 10 more years. Opening a new card, however, lowers the average age of your accounts.