10 Ways to Increase Your Credit Score in the United Kingdom (UK)

5 Tips To Improve Your Credit Score Today

Your credit score is your identity when it comes to the modern lender. Your credit score is an assessment of risk that is associated with lending you money. If you’ve got a higher credit score, then there’s a lower risk that you’ll be delinquent or default on credit extended to you. This often means a lower interest rate and more friendly borrowing terms! So how can you make sure that you’ve got a higher credit score? Use these 5 tips today and you can improve your score as soon as today!

Tip #1: Play By the Rules

Lenders like having regular payments come in on their credit lines. This gives them the ability to make money from the interest rates they’ve charged to loan you money. By making your monthly payments on or before the due date, sticking to your credit limit if you have one, and following other specific rules your line of credit may have, you’ll become a more enticing borrow to many lenders. You can improve your score today by catching up on past due bills to bring them current.

Tip #2: Use Cards That Stay Dormant

Using your cards to much can negatively impact your credit score, especially if you keep them close to the credit limit, but so can not using your cards enough. Rather than close your accounts and add another potential negative to your account, use your dormant cards in small amounts on a monthly basis. Spend enough that you can afford to pay off monthly and if you pay within a certain amount of time, some cards won’t even charge you interest rates.

Tip #3: Check Your Credit Report For Mistakes

There are three major credit bureaus that all generate reports based on your account history. Each credit report generates its own unique credit score. It is good practice to check all three reports at least once per year to see if there are any errors in the report. Even just one missed payment that you can prove you paid on time can boost your credit score a few points! Imagine what correcting a collection account or bankruptcy that gets put on your report mistakenly could do! In the United States, you are entitled to one free credit report per year from each major credit bureau. Use that to your advantage.

Tip #4: Register To Vote

Lenders like to make sure they are really lending money to the borrow they believe has sent in the application. One of the easiest ways to verify your identity is to register to vote. In many countries, this simple process of adding your name to the rolls can increase your credit score because it tells lenders that you aren’t trying to hide something.

Tip #5: Break Financial Ties With Those Who Have Bad Credit

If you have good credit, but your spouse has poor credit, your credit score will reflect the poor score of your partner if you share any finances. All it takes is a shared bank account or credit card for a credit score to be lowered dramatically. You don’t need to break up with a person to improve your score, but it is a good idea to keep your finances completely separate.