How to Repair Your Credit Score – From a Personal Experience
Your credit rating is an important part of your financial background and these days a lot of people have a less than average credit score, even those that are high earners and those with no debt can suffer from a poor credit profile. The last few years haven’t helped either especially with the economic climate falling and countries going into recession, individuals have lost jobs, houses and have had to live of their savings which in many circumstances has seen bills being paid late or not at all and defaults or CCJ’s being marked to your name. These can seriously affect your credit rating, so what are the 3 best ways to bring your credit rating back up?
Below are 3 methods that you can use to help rebuild your credit, and I would advise steering clear of agencies or companies who claim they can turn your score round overnight. With a lot of financial elements you need to be patient and work at it, if you abide by this rule it will benefit you in the long-run and within 6 months you will notice a difference.
I myself had a bad credit rating when I last checked in March 2009, and at that point decided to do something about it but not put myself to far into debt that I couldn’t cope. I applied for a prepaid credit card with APS cashplus and added their credit builder feature, applied for a bad credit credit card with Capital One and I was also successfully approved for a £1,000 loan. The loan was taken out mainly to help build history as I knew the APR would be sky high due to my circumstances and I knew I would be paying back a considerable amount more. However I hadn’t taken out a loan before and I could manage to repay this comfortably.
Along with these 3 new additions to my credit history I simply made sure to pay off mobile phone contracts, and any balances in full at the end of each month. The last time I checked my credit report was mid October 2009 and found that it had rose by over 100 points and was now balancing on the poor – fair. So the way I see it, is another 6 months of paying on time and building my credit history through the loan, prepaid card and credit card should see another marked improvement.
I would suggest being careful with something like this though as you don’t want to risk huge amounts of debt. The credit card I applied for has a £100 limit and I use about £50-60 each month so it’s easy for me to pay off each month, and the loan taken out was a small amount, again easy for me to pay off each month. As for the prepaid credit card add-on that costs me just £4.95 a month. Both the loan and prepaid card are also a 12 month period which end April 2010 and July 2010 respectively.
Above all, make sure you are on the electoral roll as this is a major influence on credit reports.
