5 Ways to Impact Your Credit Score
- 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.