Five Tips to Improve Your Credit Score

It pays to improve your credit score—literally. But it takes time. Industry experts state that it’s possible to increase your credit score in just a few months, depending on where you’re starting from. Scores typically range from 300 to 850. So if you’re planning a major purchase that will involve taking out a loan, start improving your financial behaviors now. Here are five tips.

1. Check your credit report for mistakes, which happen more often than you might think. You can get a free credit report from each of the three credit-reporting bureaus—Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion—at annualcreditreport.com. As of 2025, you can now request a free report from each bureau once a week, thanks to a permanent extension of the program that began during the COVID-19 pandemic. This makes it easier than ever to monitor your credit for errors or signs of identity theft. You can still space out your requests to monitor your credit throughout the year, or check all three at once.​
2. Always pay your bills on time. Your on-time payment history accounts for 35% of your score. It’s the single biggest step you can take to raise your score, and has the most impact.
3. Pay down or pay off your credit card balances. Credit bureaus like to see that you’re using less than 30% of your available credit. For example, if you have a $10,000 limit on a particular card, keep the balance under $3,000 if you want to see your score improve. Better yet, use the debt avalanche or debt snowball to pay off the card entirely.
4. Ask for a credit limit increase. This strategy works best when your credit score has started to improve, or is already good and you’re looking to make it even better. Increasing your credit limit means that keeping your balance owed under 30% will be easier.
5. Once your credit score has started to improve, borrow money using a different kind of credit. Credit diversity, aka credit mix, is a factor in determining your score, and credit bureaus like to see that you can handle more than one type of debt, such as credit cards (revolving credit) and an auto or home loan (installment loan). Again, this is something you want to do only after your score has started to rise.

Having a great credit score means that you’ll pay less in interest rates when you do borrow money, either through making purchases with a credit card or buying a car or home. It does take time, but it’s well worth the effort.Articles Cited

Articles Cited

• FTC Consumer Advice: Free Credit Reports
• FTC Consumer Alert: Permanent Access to Free Weekly Credit Reports