www.annualcreditreport.com. It’s also good to pull an annual report from each of the three national credit bureaus. You can search for them by name online or call them:
• Equifax: (866) 349-5191 • TransUnion: (800) 916-8800 • Experian: (800) 509-8495
Look for any accounts that show a negative status. Note any late payments or credit inquiries. Check to make sure your personal information, such as name and address, phone number, and employer, is all listed correctly. Your payment history is the biggest contributor to your score, so be careful to make payments in a timely manner. Your credit utilization ratio refers to the amount of credit card debt you have in comparison to the credit limit you’re allowed on a particular account. Ideally, you should keep this ratio below 15%, so concentrate on paying down each of your credit card balances accordingly. Your credit utilization ratio affects 30% of the FICO score used by mortgage lenders, so paying down your credit balances can make a significant difference to your credit score.
AVOID LETTING YOUR ACCOUNTS GO TO COLLECTI LLECTION AGENCIES
It’s important to realize that paying off an account with a collection agency does not eliminate it from your credit report. It will remain on your report for seven years. The best strategy is to make payments regularly so that accounts do not go to collections. If you’ve already been contacted by collection agencies, there is one method you can try to remove those accounts from your
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