Applying for a Mortgage or a Loan Soon? Here Are 3 Ways You Can Give Your Credit Score a Last-Minute Boost!
You’ve been house hunting like it’s your second job. You and your real estate agent have gone through seemingly dozens of homes and you’ve finally found the one.
But after your mortgage application has been filled out and sent out, you can’t help but wonder if there’s anything you can do to tip the scales in your favor a little bit more.
Or maybe that’s not you. Maybe you’re starting a business or consolidating a debt and you’re getting ready to apply for a personal loan.
Unless you’re a member of the perfect 800 club, always room for improvement when it comes to your credit score.
Here are 3 ways that you can improve your credit score, wow lenders with your incredible financial management, and raise your chances of a successful application.
Just keep reading to find out more.
1. Pay Down Maxed Out or Nearly Maxed Out Credit Cards
Depending on your overall credit mix, it’s possible to have a solid overall credit score even if some of your credit cards are teetering on the fine line between “heavily-used” and “too close to the maximum”.
And that’s not even the worst of it.
If a credit card is borderline maxed out, interest charges and annual fees can put it over the credit limit. And when you’re trying to show lenders that you’re creditworthy and responsible, those overextended balances are the last thing that you want them to see.
Bringing down those balances not only looks better on your credit report, but it can also improve your credit score in a relatively short amount of time.
2. Ask For More Credit on Your Current Cards
This idea might seem a little odd at first.
After all, if lenders want to see reasonable balances, how does adding more credit help improve your credit score?
Well, the answer to that ultimately boils down to what’s known as a credit utilization ratio.
This is a number that looks at the amount of credit you owe against the amount of credit you have access to. And because your credit utilization ratio accounts for 30% of your credit score, an improvement to this number usually means that you’ve made an improvement to your credit score.
One way that you can improve your credit utilization ratio is by simply increasing the amount of credit you can spend.
If you’ve been good about making your payments on time to date, your credit card issuer may be more willing to increase your credit than you think. Give them a call and try.
3. Stay Away From Making New Credit Applications . . . at Least for the Next Little While
Credit checks can be a bit of a catch-22 for many American.
On the one hand, they’re necessary if you’re applying for credit. But at the same time, just a few too many in too short of a time can lower your credit score without you knowing it.
Seemingly regular behaviors like applying for a new grocery store credit card, purchasing new items in instalments, or getting ready to move into a new apartment can result in more credit checks than you bargained for. And when you have a big application for a mortgage or a personal loan coming up in the near future, you don’t want your potential lender to see a flurry of new applications on your credit report.
If you can avoid taking on new debts or getting into situations where a credit check might happen while you’re prepping for your major application, that can pay off for you in a big way.
Conclusion
Playing the waiting game when you’re hoping to make a loan application in the near future isn’t easy. It always feels like there’s something else you could have done or some other detail you might have overlooked.
One thing that you know mortgage specialists and lenders will be looking at is your credit score.
And if you’re looking for ways to give your credit score that last little bit of polish, we’ve just given you 3 ways that you can do exactly that.
So on that note, take a deep breath, relax, and see if you can give any of these strategies a try. You might be surprised at what you can accomplish if you do them all at once.