6 Tips for Boosting Your Credit Score in 2016

Your credit score affects your financial life in many ways. Car insurance premiums and your interest rate on home and auto loans are determined, in part, by your credit report, and plenty of employers actually check it when deciding whether or not to hire a candidate for employment. With that in mind, it's in your best interest to not only know your credit score, but to improve it.

Here are six tips for improving your credit score for a fresh financial start in 2016.

1. Pay Your Monthly Bills on Time
Paying monthly bills is a necessary chore that has a definite effect on your credit score. According to the FICO scoring model, your payments account for as much as 35 percent of your total score. Create reminders for due dates or establish a calendar for yourself to ensure you get everything paid on time.

2. Reduce Your Debts
Got credit card debt? Start paying it off now. Part of your credit score is based on the amount of available credit you have, known as your credit utilization ratio. So if you're carrying high balances, you'll want to lower them as soon as possible. Create a personal budget with a goal of reducing your spending so that it's lower than your income. Then, use any monthly surplus for your credit card debts until they're gone for good.

3. Limit Credit Inquiries
Looking for a new apartment? What about a mortgage? In either situation, try and group your applications together as much as possible. Applications for new lines of credit will generate a "hard pull" on your credit, and having too many of them in a short period of time can lower your score. However, credit reporting agencies usually consider a group of applications within a short period of time as one pull, as long as they're in the same category.

Similarly, limit yourself to opening up no more than one or two credit cards per year, which also generate hard pulls. Even if you get a ton of offers in the mail for stellar sign-up bonuses, they're likely to be offset by the damage to your credit. FICO reports that new credit and credit inquiries account for 10 percent of your total score.

4. Don't Cancel Old Cards
Have a card you don't use anymore? Don't close it. This can negatively affect your score as it lowers your amount of available credit. Instead, use it about once per month and don't forget to pay the bills in full, and on time.

5. Request Credit Limit Increase
If you only have one card and you're constantly approaching your spending limit, call the bank and ask for an increase in your credit line. This will raise the amount of available credit, which will eventually improve your score.

6. Take Care of Late Payments Before They Hit Your Score
If you do happen to miss a payment, contact the card issuer immediately. If you have good history built up, the company may agree to not report your late payment. Even if you can't avoid a late-payment fee, be sure to get your account up to date as soon as possible so you can limit the damage.
Your credit score is yours to own. It reflects your financial history and helps lenders predict how you will manage your finances in the future. Due to the lingering effects of credit, you don't want to waste any time to improve your credit.

8 Credit Card Tips That Will Last a Lifetime!!!

8 Credit Card Tips That Will Last a Lifetime!!!

Credit card tips can change with the wind — or as you enter different stages in life. If you’re young and trying to build credit, start with a low credit limit. If you travel a lot, consider an airline or hotel credit card. If you have a lot of debt, it’s a good time to put those cards on ice. Great credit? Look into what rewards you might qualify for. All this advice can, at times, get a little overwhelming. Fortunately, there are certain credit card habits that will always apply. Here are 10 basic credit card tips that will last your lifetime.

1. Try to Pay Your Statement Balance in Full

Paying interest increases the cost of everything you purchase with your credit card, so you should try to avoid carrying a balance as often as possible. If you do have to carry a balance, try to keep it below at least 30% (ideally 10%) of your available credit limit. Doing so will help keep your credit score intact. You can come up with a payment plan to get rid of any existing credit card debt you have here.

2. Never Make a Late Payment

Late payments can result in costly fees, damaged credit and sky-high penalty annual percentage rates. Fortunately, there are many tools that you can use to make on-time payments including e-mail and text alerts or automatic payments that you can initiate with your issuer.

3. Carefully Examine Every Statement

Credit card users enjoy robust protections against fraudulent transactions, but you may have to report the activity to your issuer to take full advantage of them. Regularly reviewing your credit card statements can help you spot fraud as soon as it occurs. Calling your issuer immediately to dispute the charges and have the card replaced can help ensure you’re not on the hook for them.

4. It Never Hurts to Ask

If you have ever made a late payment by accident, then you’ve probably incurred a late fee. But if you take the time to ask for the fee to be removed, many card issuers will do so. You can also try asking for annual fees and foreign transaction fees to be waived, for your interest rate to be lowered or for your credit limit to be raised. (Keep in mind, the last two may result in a hard inquiry on your credit report, which could ding your credit score.)

5. Read Your Terms and Conditions

It’s important to thoroughly read the terms and conditions associated with any credit card you are using or are thinking of applying for. You’ll want to know, for instance, what fees will be imposed and when, if an APR change may go into effect and what your rewards programs entails. You should also check your privacy agreement and whether your card is subject to an arbitration clause.

6. Keep Track of Your Credit

The most important way to ensure that your credit card spending habits are in line is to regularly check your credit. Some credit card issuers now offer free monthly FICO credit scores on your statement. You can also request free copies of your credit reports each year from CreditcheckTotal.com and view your credit scores for free each month on Credit.com.

7. Regularly Re-evaluate Your Credit Cards

The only constant in the credit card industry is change, so it’s important to regularly take a look at the credit cards that are in your wallet. Then, examine the market to see if there are newer products available that will better meet your needs — which may have changed since the last time you comparison-shopped for cards.

8. Avoid Cash Withdrawals

Nearly all credit cards impose cash advance fees and very high cash advance APRs, so you should avoid using your credit card for cash at all costs. Remember, it’s always better to use your ATM card when you need cash.

Top 10 Tips for Improving Your Credit in 2016

1. Be sure to pull your free credit report from each of the major credit bureaus at least once a year. Review them to ensure there is no inaccurate information, and report it immediately if you find any.
2. Make sure to always pay your bills on time. Being 30 days late on just one mortgage payment can lower your score by as much as 100 points!
3. Everyone should have at least one credit card open. Having access to that revolving credit and using it responsibly counts for 30 percent of your total FICO score. Just remember, only purchase things that you have cash on hand to pay for, and pay off the entire balance in full every month.
4. If you’re shopping around for a mortgage, loan or anything else that involves a credit check, make sure to do it in a close time span. Multiple inquiries hurt your score, but inquiries that are grouped close together count as just one. Your FICO score will ignore multiple inquires made within 30 days of scoring, while the newest lending software gives you 45 days. However, older software gives you just a 14 day window to shop around.
5. Don’t close out old credit accounts or credit cards. Debt that has been paid in full is good for your report. Plus, the length of time you’ve had credit open helps your score: the age of every account is averaged together, and the older your credit history, the better. In fact, age accounts for 15 percent of your score.
6. Use less than 10 percent of your credit card limit at any given time. Using it sparingly will help to increase your credit score.
7. Negotiate with creditors and collection agencies if you are having difficulty paying off any of your current debts. Be proactive and determine if there are payment plans available that are more realistic for your current financial situation.
8. Eliminate any small balances that remain on your credit accounts, the number of credit cards with balances on them affects your credit score, the fewer you have with a balance, the better
9. Pay your credit card bill in full before the statement goes out. Most credit card companies report to the credit card bureaus at the same time statements go out, so lowering your credit utilization ratio by paying off your cards in advance will impact your score in a positive way.
10. Convert outstanding credit card debt to personal loans if you don’t have the means to pay it down quickly. Credit card debt is more damaging to your credit score, and it can have a higher interest rate, making it harder to pay down.