A short guide to imporove your credit score

Your credit score says a lot more about you than just your financial history. Many people use your score as a snapshot of your overall trustworthiness, including employers. It is definitely in your best interest to keep your credit score as high as possible, and to protect it at all costs.

Below are a few tips for improving your credit score.

- Check your credit score often

Even though the credit unions are international agencies with the best employees, they often make mistakes based on similar names or even similar Social Security numbers. You must check it to make sure that you are not the victim of an innocent mistake or fraudulent activity. Catching mistakes and frauds early is one of the best ways to improve your credit score over the long run.

- Handle debt situations quickly

If you are in debt, make sure to handle the situation as fast as possible. Contrary to popular belief, many of the debt solutions that the general public will not consider because of the supposed damage to a score actually do no damage at all if properly managed. For instance, debt consolidation many times has no effect on your score at all, as long as the payment schedule is worked out and all of the payments are made on time.

- Pay off all credit cards in full

If it is possible financially, you want to pay off all credit cards in full every month and do not leave a balance. Part of your score is the percentage use of your total credit. If you have adequate credit but you are not carrying over a balance month-to-month, then you get the full credit for having lines of credit that are going unused.

- Do not take out loans for monthly installments

Aside from a mortgage, you would do well to keep all monthly installment payments out of your financial reports. If these types of payments are not made on time, they can wreak havoc on your credit score. Pay for cars in all cash if at all possible. This is not only a good practice for your score, but also for your overall financial health.

- Neither a borrower or a lender be

In order to improve your credit score, do not attach any other people to it by cosigning for loans. The reason that a financial institution needs a cosigner is because in their expert opinion, they do not expect the principal borrower to pay back the loan. If that is the case then neither should you. Do not cosign for loans.