By Brett Cole


There is no doubt that credit rating can definitely have an influence on one's life. If it good, there interest rate is low and you are more likely to get approved for certain loans. The opposite is true if your credit score is poor.

Knowing your credit score is the first step. Before approaching any lender, you should first pull your own credit history and review it carefully.

Often people will discover that there is a mistake and their credit is worse than it should be. Scrutinize everything very carefully and ensure that you understand and agree with the entire history.

If you find any errors, you should dispute them and get them removed from your credit history before shopping for a loan. Depending on the nature of the error, you could raise your credit score considerably by getting them removed.

Once you know your credit score, you will have a better idea of what you need to do in order to improve it. If your credit score is already fairly high, such as over 760, then it is unlikely that anything you do to further improve your score will factor heavily into improved financing terms. However, if your score is lower, raising it even a few points could be advantageous in terms of financing rates.

Paying down any credit lines can be help to raise your credit score. Start doing this as far in advance as possible, so that you ideally have at least two months between when you pay them down and when you start looking for a loan.

If there are any credit cards that you can close, do so. Refocus your attention on the ones that require a lot of money, and ensure you pay off each bill that comes from these every single month - on time.

One trick is to always hold onto the credit card you've had the longest. Another good idea is to shift the balance around your cards, minimizing the debt across cards rather than having it all on one, but the best idea is to not have much on any.




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