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Are you struggling with bad credit? Do you know that there are certain things you can do that can make a clear difference in your credit score just within 30 days? Possibly you have taken certain steps in the past which you thought that it would help you raise your credit score but you couldn’t see any effects. I quite understand how you could feel. In fact, some people are frustrated already thinking that there is nothing they can do about their bad credit again. If you belong to this group of people or you are just looking for how to raise your credit score by few points, this article gives some insightful tips. However, before you continue reading this article, I will say that it is good that you maintain an open mind. If you have read some articles on how to raise your credit score and it seemed that what they said didn’t make any difference, you may be the one that didn’t get them right.

The first thing I want you to pay attention to is the topic of this article. It is not just how to raise your credit score but how to raise your credit score in 30 days. There are certain thing you can do that will improve your credit score in the long run while there are other things than you can do to raise your credit score within a month. For instance, if you are fond of making late payments on your credit card balance, this will hurt your credit score. Late payments can stay on your credit report for six years. So, even though you start making prompt payments from today, it may not make much impact within a short period. But if you want to raise your credit score in 30 days, you need to direct your attention to those things that can help you achieve the objective. While fix-it-quick approach may not be a permanent solution to your credit issue, at least, it can help you improve your credit score by few points in interim. Why would you like to raise your credit score in 30 days? This can be helpful for people that desire to apply for new credit or insurance within a short future time.

Read Also: Hidden Benefits of Excellent Credit Score

Below are the strategies you can employ to raise your credit score within 30 days:

Pay off your credit card balances

If you carry balances on your cards, you will be able to raise your credit score if you pay them off. But this requires some level of liquidity and discipline. You need funds to pay off your card balances. But it is not always true that it is the lack of funds that make people carry balance on their cards. At times, it may be a sign of financial indiscipline. If you are able to rearrange and prioritize your spending, you may realize that your money has been going the wrong way. One effective tool you can use to monitor and control your spending is budgeting. List all the items that you spend money on every month. Arrange them in accordance to their importance and necessity. For example, payment of rent and foods items are very necessary. Nevertheless, that does not mean you cannot be creative about them. For instance, if you have been eating from restaurants, you can choose to start preparing your own meal at home. This will save you some costs. You should strike all the items that are not important. At the end of the month, you will realize that you have made some savings. You can channel these savings towards paying off your card balances.

Stop maxing out your credit

Some people will say that they pay their card balances in full at the end of each month but still, their credit score is not that good. Well, this is possible. If you max out your credit, this will have negative effects on your credit score. What does it mean to max out your credit? Maxing out credit card means spending too much into your credit limit. How much is considered too much is relative but if you actually want to raise your credit score, it is expected that you should keep your credit utilization below 30%. Credit utilization is your card balance per time divided by your credit limit. There are different ways you can adopt to keep your credit utilization ratio low. Let’s quickly discuss the options.

Read Also: Credit Utilization Ratio and How to Keep it Low

First, you can keep your card spending to fall below 30%. That means that you may need to stop charging some of your spending to your card. If this is not easy for you to do, there is another approach. If you realise that you have spent above the 30% benchmark, you can quickly pay off the card balance. You don’t need to wait till the end of the month before you make payment on your card balance. You can pay one or two times before the month end. This is to help you keep your card balance below 30% of your credit limit. It is the amount standing as a balance in your credit card at the end of your billing cycle that the card issuer will report to the credit bureaus. This is the mistake some people are making. It is not enough to pay off the total card balance at the end of the month. If the card balance is beyond 30%, you might have maxed out the card. This will hurt your credit.

Another option you can adopt to keep your credit utilization low is to increase your credit limit. If you have a good credit standing with your card issuer and you have enough income that justifies the increase of your credit limit, your card issuer should be willing to grant your request.

Correction of Errors

This is supposed to be the starting point. You can get your free credit report from annualcreditreport.com. You are entitled to one free credit report from each of the major three credit bureaus every twelve months. Once you get your credit report, you need to check it for likely errors and any transactions that are not clear to you. You have the right to dispute suspicious entries on your credit report. Correction of such errors can help you raise your credit score by few points.

Read Also: Effects of Credit Card Balance on your Credit Score

Please note that there are other ways you can use to raise your credit score but if you plan to raise your credit score in 30 days, some of the other approaches may not bring immediate results.

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