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Also consider setting up automatic minimum credit card payments if you're prone to forgetting or travel a lot. And sign up for text or email alerts from your bank or credit union for when your balance drops below a minimum amount. Monitor 'utilization.' Exceeding individual credit limits is another good way to get dinged. In fact, the lower your credit utilization ratio (the percentage of available credit you're using), the free credit Lake Charles better. Try to keep your overall utilization ratio -- and the ratios on individual cards or lines of credit free credit Lake Charles -- below 30 percent. Although it usually it makes sense to pay down credit accounts with higher interest rates first, if you've tapped more than 30 percent of available credit free credit Lake Charles on a particular card, bringing that percentage down first may help boost your score more quickly. Timing is critical. Even if you pay off your balance each month, showing a high utilization ratio at any time during the month could conceivably hurt your score if the statement balance is elevated when it gets reported to the credit bureaus. free credit report website This is especially problematic for people whose credit limits were lowered after the recession began. A few suggestions:

Spread purchases among multiple cards to keep individual balances lower -- while still paying off as much as you can each month, free credit Lake Charles of course. Make an extra payment midway through the billing cycle so your reported outstanding balance appears lower. Ask lenders to reinstate higher limits if your payment history has been solid -- but don't tap the extra credit just because it's there.

Be cautious with transfers. Transferring balances to a new credit card account to get a lower rate will ding your credit score by a few points -- although it won't take that long free credit Lake Charles to recover. free credit report sites But, say you move a $2,000 balance from a card with a $10,000 limit to one with a $4,000 limit; you've immediately gone from a 20 percent utilization ratio to 50 percent on the new card. Plus, if you then close the higher-rate card, free credit Lake Charles you'll only compound the problem by both lowering your available credit and erasing a longer-term account from your credit history. Mix it up. People who demonstrate managing several types of credit earn higher scores, so if your revolving (credit card) payments are under control and you don't have any outstanding installment loans (mortgage, car, student), consider taking out a small personal loan and paying it off on schedule. Just make sure the lender will report it to all three bureaus. A few other credit score-improvement tips:

Make sure that credit limits on individual cards reported to credit bureaus are accurate. Don't automatically close older, unused accounts; 15 percent of your score is based on credit history. In fact, make occasional small charges on existing accounts (paying them off, of course) to make sure the lender doesn't close them out. Each time you open a new account there's a slight impact on your score, so avoid doing so in the months before a major purchase like a home or car. how to check your credit report Pay off medical bills, as well as parking, traffic or library free credit Lake Charles fines.

Once old, unpaid bills go into collections, they can cause major damage to your credit.

There are free credit Lake Charles many good resources for learning more free credit Lake Charles about what you can do to repair and protect your credit scores, including MyFICO.com's Credit Education Center, the FTC's Credit & Loans page, and What's My Score, free credit Lake Charles a financial literacy program run by my employer, Visa Inc., which also features a free FICO® Score Estimator that can help you approximate your score.