How do I improve my credit score?

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NOOOOO! you don't need agencies! save your $$$$. they won't do anything but rape you! what you need to do is pay down any debt you have now to no more than 50% of your available line. make sure you pay everything on time. make sure you clear up any past issues (if they are close to 5 years, then they should be falling off soon) go to www.annualcreditreport.com and pull one of your reports and work from there. in a few months, pull another report, clear up any errors, then pull the other report a few months from there... that will get you started. you may also want to get an identity alert program that will help you monitor your score. it's available through many sources, i have mine through my bank and it includes all 3 reports and scores as well as other nifty things (credit card tracking, tips, reports, etc).

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Here is a great way to improve your credit score: 1. Pay your bills on time every time. 2. Pay your bills on time every time. 3. Pay down your debt. 4. Dont buy anything expensive. 5. Pay off your credit cards. 6. Pay your bills on time every time.

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steve is right on target. it can go either way. his examples are great examples. i had a jc penneys card for many years, it was a crappy card that i got in college and had a whopping 1500 limit. i closed it an my score went up. i have a card with wamu (my former employer), after i left, they jacked up my apr and i told them that i will never use that card again. i've had it for about 5 years and a limit of i believe 10k. if i were to cancel it, my AVAILABLE credit would be decreased by 10k on my credit report. that could hurt me. it's work it for me to just not carry a balance. also, if you do have a card and you want to keep it open, but not use it--you may run into an issue. cc companies are now closing out inactive accts left and right. it varies lender to lender what is deemed as 'inactive', but i have seen most at about 1 year. if you want to keep a card active, i'd strongly suggest making a purcahse atleast once a year and paying it off.

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As of today considering what credit card companies are doing now, it is best to use your credit card at least once every 3 months. BofA is going nutz canceling cards due to being inactive. All you need to do is generate a statement and you will be fine. I have 3 cards and i rotate through them with 1 in my wallet and 2 in my desk draw. Somebody mentioned that a bad thing to do is buy something expensive. Thats not true, completely anyway. If your talking about a 5 MM mortgage, yes it will hurt a bit because it's not "normal" within the FICO system but the most "impressive" i saw was a guy who had just over 200k in credit card debt. His score was a 718. He had over 500k in available credit :o That is a personal record! haha.... When it comes to your DUR (debt utilization ratio) remember that it has nothing to do with the dollar amount and everything to do with the ratio. Hope this helps, you guys have great questions. Frank

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I would disagree with "pay it off and don't carry balances" Part of showing your a good credit risk is showing you can handle credit. Having $100 floating on your cards every month and paying more then the minimum is a god thing (unless your credit limit is $100 :) ) This will help you "build" a score. Buying things and paying them off every month is fine when you already have good credit. Making monthly payments shows you are responsible and that can help you recover from a bad score.

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Some folks are recommending to use every card you want to keep at least once per quarter, so as not to fall into the "inactive" category as Josh has mentioned here. By "use" (for your low activity cards), I mean make some small charge and pay that off in full; don't carry balances where you don't have to.

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Josh, does it help to cancel credit cards that you are not using and have no plans to use?

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Why do I have a feeling another first time poster will answer your question very soon?

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Good advice Josh, which is why I'm going to keep this post. The poster turned out to be yet another SEO guy hoping to capitalize on the site, but he won't be doing that now. Feel free to continue discussing the topic . . .

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also you can google credit bureau dispute letters and get an idea of how to write letters to experian, equifax, and transunion, to correct mistakes on your reports.