Most of you who have been following me for a while know that I prescribe a very specific method for improving your credit score quickly – but I also have some credit hacks to optimize your FICO credit score.
It boils down to removing negative items from your credit report and rebuilding your credit with a secured credit card.
That said, other less-known methods for improving your credit score work even for people with good credit scores.
Keep reading because I’m going to give away all my secrets.
Here are my top 5 credit hacks to help you improve your FICO score.
1. Keep 3 Major Credit Cards
I’ve been experimenting for several years on how many credit cards to keep to maximize my credit score. To be completely honest, it’s somewhat subjective because the credit score algorithm takes so many variables into account.
That said, I’ve personally found that keeping at least three major credit cards open will yield the best results.
I should also note that you don’t have to use all three credit cards regularly. Use at least one of these major credit cards regularly, and don’t keep a very big balance (more on this later).
2. Pay Down Your Installment Loans
Another thing I’ve experimented with is how installment loan balances affect my credit score. By installment loans, I mean student loans, auto loans, etc.
Interestingly, I’ve found that paying down loans as quickly as possible will increase credit scores.
Paying off debt can be a challenge, but if you can, I recommend this as a way to optimize your credit score.
3. Optimize Your Credit Utilization
Generally, I recommend keeping your credit card balances under 25% of your available credit limit.
In other words, if you have three credit cards, each with credit limits of $1,000, keep your balances under $250 on each credit card. Optimizing your credit utilization will have a big impact on your credit score.
Credit card balances are usually reported to the credit bureau every month, which is great because you have the opportunity to get your balances right each month.
4. Increase Your Credit Limits
If you cannot pay down your credit card balances so the utilization is under 25%, another option you have is to increase your credit card limits.
By increasing the limit on a credit card, you will automatically improve your credit utilization. For example, if you have a credit card with a limit of $500 and your balance is $250, your credit utilization is 50%.
However, if you increase the limit to $1000, the credit utilization decreases to 25%.
One thing to remember when requesting a credit limit increase is that it may result in a hard inquiry on your credit report, which might result in a small ding on your credit score. It’s generally not a big deal.
5. Use the Advanced Dispute Method to Remove Negative Items
One technique for removing negative items from your credit report is to use an advanced method for disputing inaccuracies on your credit report.
I’ve used this method several times to remove negative entries from my credit report back when I had bad credit. Get a copy of your credit report and find the entry you want to remove. Meticulously look over the entry and find anything that might be inaccurate.
Once you find something that’s not accurate, you can dispute it with the credit bureaus. When you write the dispute letter, be sure to specifically outline what is inaccurate.
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But wait.
There's more!
Here's a bonus "hack" for you:
6. Use This Little-Known "Credit Loophole" To Raise Your Scores Even Faster
This is a secret I've shared with over 1 million Americans now to help them raise their scores to the 700s and even 800s range.
Want to know what it is?