The 3 Best and Easiest Ways to Improve Your Credit Before Buying a Home
Because I help a lot of First Time Homebuyers and Families on the Grow, I’m often asked what is the Best / Fastest / Easiest way to improve your credit before buying a home. Well the truth is that your credit report and score are much like a finger print. They are very unique and specific to you and your history. But there are 3 quick and easy things just about everyone can do to ensure they have the best score possible when getting pre-approved for a home loan.
Of course the first thing to do is get a copy of your credit report. That may mean using some internet option, or contacting someone like me who can pull your report and guide you through reviewing it. Then
1- Make current ANY bad debts – This may seem obvious, but I can’t tell you how many times I meet folks with a delinquent parking ticket or something that they “didn’t deserve”. See the thing is your credit score doesn’t take into consideration if you “deserved it” or not. If it’s on there, then it effects you. So pay off that $20 parking ticket as it’ll save you much more over time to have a better score
2- Lower your debt ratios – Keep your debts below 25% of your available credit limit if possible. Often I see folks with only 1 card with money on it and all others paid off. That sounds good in theory, but if the 1 card is at 90% of the available credit limit then it is likely hurting your score. It’s technically better to have 3 cards at 25% than 2 at 0 and 1 at 90%.
3- Finally – don’t close good accounts. When a card is paid off, many have the tendency to want to close the card to be done with it. Well, that reduces your overall credit availability, increasing the amount borrowed vs available ratio, and closes an account with good history.
While helping people get ready to buy I’ve seen these 3 simple ways improve credit quickly and easily. If you’d like to know more about this email me here or give me a call.