5 Ways to Impact Your Credit Score
Understand what goes into a credit score to help guide your financial strategy.
- Monitor your credit score
- Use a mobile banking app.
- Get a free credit report annually at annualcreditreport.com. Review the information and address any errors.
- Pay on time, every time
- Payment history accounts for 35% of your score.
- Set up automated payments.
- Use your credit, but don't max it out
- Keep your utilization rate below 30%—this is the percentage of credit used compared to the total limit.
- Going above 30% can have a negative impact on your credit score.
- Avoid opening or closing new accounts
- Each hard inquiry reduces your score by a few points.
- Keep existing accounts open to improve your utilization rate.
- Minimizing existing debt
- Don't simply move debt from one card to another.
- Focus on paying down your overall balance.
Try these credit card payoff strategies
Avalanche method
- Focus extra funds on paying down the card with the highest interest rate.
- Pay the minimums on all other accounts.
As you pay off one card, roll the payment on that card to the card with the next highest rate.
Snowball method
- Focus extra funds on paying the card with the smallest balance.
- Pay the minimums on all other accounts.
- As you pay off one card, roll that payment on that card to the card with the next lowest balance.
Banzai Coach Session
Create your own plan to pay off debt through the snowball or avalanche method.
