Are you sitting back wishing you had a better credit score?  Credit is a crazy thing in this world. Without a good credit score, you will have a harder time financing things like a car or a house, but it’s hard to build your credit score if you don’t finance something or charge things on credit.  It’s a never-ending circle. I know some people don’t want to have any debt at all, but the truth is that some people absolutely need good credit for career purposes in addition to buying a home or a car.

So yes, credit is quite important in this day in age.  If you are trying to figure out how to get yourself into the good credit category, here are 7 tips for raising your credit score:

1. Check your credit report.  Order a copy of your credit report and check it for any discrepancies.  If you find any, be sure to dispute them.
2. Keep your balances low.  With your credit cards, you need to keep your utilization down.  I have found the magical numbers to be 30 and 9. Your total utilization needs to be below 30% of your overall available credit, but ideally it should be below 9%.
3. Pay off debts.  If you have balances on your cards, be sure to pay them off instead of charging more.
4. Keep cards open.  If you no longer use a card, don’t close it, just leave it be.  The longer you “age” your credit, the better your score will be.
5. Pay off any collections.  Be sure that you don’t have any collections hanging out there, if you do, make arrangements to pay them off.
6. Don’t apply for anything and everything.  Credit inquiries hurt your score, oftentimes just a little bit, but the more you apply for credit, the more inquiries you have.  Plus, new accounts bring down your credit age which can lower your score as well.
7. Set up calendar reminders.  Set a calendar alert for yourself to remember to pay your bills on their due dates to prevent any missed payments.