4 Steps To Take If Your Credit Score Is Under 700
Despite your hard work and frugal living, your efforts at being financially responsible aren’t paying off- at least according to your credit score. Aiming for a credit score of 700 is a great goal, and it doesn’t have to be unrealistic for you. Although it can be incredibly frustrating when your credit rating won’t increase, don’t lose hope. Here are four easy steps you can take to boost your credit by the end of the week…
Love Letters To Your Creditors
While writing to your creditors might not be the most fun task you do all day, it might be one of the most productive. If you’ve maintained a good credit history for a fairly long time, even with recent missteps, sending a heartfelt and thoughtful letter to the institutions that you owe could be just the thing to help get your credit back on track.
Focus on these areas when you write your letter:
- Explain exactly how long and for what reason you’ve been a loyal customer of that creditor.
- Take full responsibility for anything you’ve done wrong that’s negatively affected your credit score.
- Outline what you’re doing to make sure the same mistakes won’t be made again.
- Speak to their empathetic side by making it known that you’re looking for forgiveness and that you’ll do better from this point on.
- Write your letter clearly and concisely.
You should also include important information, such as the date, your account number, and other specifics, such as the amount of the missed payment you’d like removed from your credit history. Once you’ve written the letter, you can find the recipient’s address on the creditor’s website.
Use Credit Sesame
Each person has their own unique credit score, almost like a financial fingerprint. As an individual yourself, you must take a combination of unique steps to improve your credit score, but knowing where to start can feel overwhelming.
Credit Sesame is a site that allows you to view your credit score for free, and find out exactly what’s needed to improve it. The site can even detect major errors on your credit report that affect your overall score. Plus, signing up to the site only takes a couple of minutes.
Try Credible To Pay Your Bill This Month
You can pay for the whole thing- seriously. Credit card companies get away with charging incredibly high rates, and as a result, they make a lot of money off of their customers. Fortunately, there are other companies that are willing to help you pay off your credit card bills, and they can do so in as little as one business day.
It works like this: Credible matches you with a loan to cover your current credit payments. You then pay off your debt by making monthly payments to repay the loan. This option can give you more time to pay your bills, and could potentially lower your monthly payments. Consider Credible as a great way to jump-start paying off your credit card debt.
Delegate The Complicated Stuff
Not all credit-related issues can be solved by the first three options – namely, debt collectors. If you’re being harassed by debt collectors by phone, check out Collection Shield 360. This is a free service that helps you clean up your credit reports, and get collection agencies off your back. They’ll contact debt collectors on your behalf, while negotiating the removal of marks on your credit report, in addition to other credit services. One customer reported getting help with three outstanding bills, along with a credit score increase of more than 200 points in only a few months.
With these four tactics, you can start working toward improving your credit score to above the 700 mark and eliminating the stress caused by debt collectors calling you constantly. By taking these steps now, you’ll be in the clear in no time.