How to Raise Credit Score by 200 Points Fast!

Updated: February 9, 2020

When it comes to your financial life, there are few things as important as your credit score. It can affect what you drive, where you live, and even where you work. Fortunately, it isn’t permanent and you can learn how to raise credit score by 200 points or more.

If your credit score isn’t where you want it to be, here are 8 different ways to help you raise it.

In the next few minutes I’m going to show you how to get your credit report, tell you what affects your score, and go through each step one-by-one to get your credit score headed in the right direction.

Sound good? Let’s get to it!

Check Your Credit Score And Credit Report

You won’t be able to intentionally raise your credit score until you know why it’s low in the first place. So, start by getting a copy of your credit report to see what’s going on.

There are three main ways to do this:

1. Download a free credit score app
2. Get your free annual credit report from annualcreditreport.com
3. Purchase a credit report from myFICO

The quickest and easiest option is to check your credit report with:

• Credit Sesame or
• Credit Karma

These apps actually show you the accounts in your credit report, give you an estimate of your credit score and give you tips on improving your score.

A second option is to get your free credit score from www.annualcreditreport.com.  

The three credit bureaus (Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax) are legally required to give you a free copy of your credit report each year and www.annualcreditreport.com is the only official place to get it.

But keep in mind that while the bureaus have to give you a free credit report, they don’t have to include your credit score…and they don’t.

Option three is to buy your credit report from myFICO. With myFICO you’ll get your credit report and credit score, but also a score analysis and other helpful tools.

How Are Credit Scores Calculated?

It’s not enough for you to just get a copy of your credit report. You also need to know how that information is used to calculate your credit score if you want to improve it.

So, let’s take a quick look at the credit scoring process.

When you take out a personal loan or mortgage, your lender reports your information to one (or all) of three credit score agencies, Equifax, Experian, or TransUnion. Info like how much you borrowed, the type of loan you took out, if you pay on time or not, etc.

With the credit information they receive from your lenders, the credit bureaus use FICO’s formula to calculate your credit score.

FYI: A few things you want to keep in mind about this reporting process are that:

(1) Lenders tend to favor one of the credit bureaus over the other, so they may not report to all three.

(2) To report your information to a bureau, lenders have to pay to setup and maintain an account with that bureau. So, smaller lenders may not even bother to report.

Under FICO, everyone’s credit rating, whether it’s poor or excellent, is calculated using 5 factors.

And because creditors might not report your information to all three credit bureaus (if any), each one may calculate a slightly different credit score for you.

That’s basically how your credit score is created. So, to raise your credit score by 200 points you need to work on these five factors until your credit score is where you want it to be. 

FYI: FICO isn’t the only scoring model out there, but it is one of the most popular. VantageScore is another credit-scoring model that was created through a collaboration of the three credit score agencies.

Actions That Can Help You Boost Your Credit Score by 200 Points

Now that you know how to get our credit report, and how your credit scores are calculated, let’s talk about specific things you can do to get your score up!

1. Get Errors Removed From Your Credit Report

One in five people have errors on their credit report. And I’m sure I don’t have to tell you that these errors usually do more harm than good!

Disputing these errors is the first thing you can do to increase your credit score quickly! Check your credit report for these common mistakes:

Personal information errors

• incorrect name,
• a wrong social security number,
• incorrect birth date,
• addresses you’ve never been associated with

These could indicate that someone else’s information is mixed into your file.

Account errors

• loan and credit accounts that aren’t yours,
• indications that you haven’t paid,
• late payments,
• loan accounts you’ve paid in full that are still shown as open,
• other incorrect account information

If you find these errors, it could indicate that someone else’s information is mixed into your file. Or even that you could be the victim of identity theft.

FYI: Credit Repair companies like Lexington Law offer to analyze your credit report and dispute errors for you. It’ll cost some money, but you’ll save a ton in time and frustration!

2. Get Hard Inquiries Removed From Your Credit Report

A credit inquiry is basically a note that shows when someone pulls your credit report. When you go through your credit report you may notice two different types of inquiries:

• soft inquiries and
• hard inquiries

Soft inquiries are made by lenders who want to preapprove you for an offer, by credit repair companies you’ve hired, or by you if you just want to look at your own credit history. 

Soft inquiries don’t affect your score because there’s no intent on your part to get new credit.

Hard inquiries are made by lenders after you apply for a loan, mortgage or credit card. The thing that matters about hard inquiries is that you authorized them.

Hard inquiries do affect your score for up to a year because they indicate that you’re actively trying to get credit. And they stay on your credit report for a total of two years.

This is important because if you find hard credit inquiries that you didn’t authorize, you’ll want to dispute them with the credit bureaus. You’ll also want to remove inquiries you find that are older than two years.

Protip: Sometimes an account you didn’t pay off yet is listed twice in your credit report; once for the original lender and once for the collection agency. This is a problem! There shouldn’t be multiple collectors listed at the same time for the same debt. If you find this, dispute it with the credit bureaus.

3. Pay All Your Bills on Time

Thirty-five percent of your credit score is based on your payment history. So you’ll want to pay on time, all the time!

Late payments are usually reported to credit bureaus after 30 days of non-payment. So, you don’t have to start worrying about your score just because you paid two days late.

But that doesn’t mean you want to pay even a day late! Many lenders are eager to charge you late fees and jack up your interest rates as soon as you miss a loan payment.

Keep in mind that if you do have late payments in your report, they’ll be there for seven years. But the older the missed payment is, the less of an impact it has on your credit score. So, avoid any more late payments to build your credit score back up!

Tips making sure your bills get paid on time

• Create a budget that lists your monthly bills and when they’re due. Review your budget at the beginning of each week.
• Setup reminders in your smartphone calendar
• See if your bank offers free text reminder services
• Download Mint and use its bill reminder feature
• Set up auto-pay for your accounts.

Protip: You may not want to use auto-pay for everything. Some companies like gyms, phone companies and internet companies are pretty notorious for abusing automatic payment by continuing to bill after services have been discontinued. For these companies, maybe just use reminders.

4. Lower Your Credit Utilization Rate

Thirty percent of your credit scores are based on credit utilization rate, so this is another one you don’t want to neglect.

Your credit utilization rate is the amount of available credit you’ve used. For example, if you have a credit card with a $1,000 limit and you’ve used $200, then your credit utilization is 20%.

But it doesn’t just take into account your credit cards balances. Instead, all the credit you have access to is used to calculate your utilization rate.

The key here is that a higher utilization rate usually means a lower credit score. And a lower utilization rate usually means a higher score.

To bring your credit rating up, try to keep your utilization rate at 30% or below. Generally, creditors like to see a low credit utilization rate because it shows that you know how to handle credit.

If your utilization rate is high, there are two ways to lower it.

• Pay down your credit card or loan debt
• Increase your credit limit

Of course, increasing your credit limit might be the easiest way to lower your utilization rate, but be careful not to start spending once you’ve got more credit!

Related post: What to do About Your Insufficient Credit History.

5. Get a Credit Builder Loan

When you apply and get approved for a credit builder loan, you make monthly payments to the bank. But you don’t get the money from the bank until after you’ve paid off the loan.

These loans can have two benefits for your creditworthiness.

• they can help you build up your payment history
• they give you experience with non revolving credit, which improves your credit mix.

Revolving credit automatically renews as you pay off the debt owed. For example, imagine that your credit cards allows you to borrow $1,000. If you use $500 and then pay it off, your available balance goes back to $1,000. The credit is always available until you close the account.

Non revolving credit does not renew once it’s paid off. For example, imagine that you borrow $2,000 for a computer. Once you pay off the loan, the lender doesn’t give you another $2,000 to spend. It’s basically a one-time borrow.

ProTip: If you want to check your credit reports anytime, download Credit Karma or Credit Sesame. They both will give you pretty accurate estimates of your credit score right on your smart phone. They’ll also show you which accounts are in your report.

6. Become an Authorized User on Someone Else’s Credit Card

You can increase creditworthiness with credit cards by being added as an authorized user on someone else’s account.

When this happens, the other person’s on-time payments can get your credit scores up. Just keep in mind that your credit score can also be lowered if the principal user isn’t paying their credit card on time.

If you are added, make sure that the credit card company reports authorized users to the credit bureau.

7. Use a Credit Repair Company to Help Improve Your Score

A credit repair company offers to improve your credit for a price. They read and analyze your credit report and dispute any errors they find. And let’s face it, disputing errors is notorious for being a frustrating process.

There are many legit credit repair companies out there, but there are also a lot of credit repair scams as well. So, if you decide to enlist the services of a credit repair company, make sure you check them out on the Better Business Bureau first.

You can check out this comprehensive guide on credit repair companies from Money.com to learn more.

Or if you’re interested in  checking out a few companies directly, here are 3 credit repair companies worth looking at.

• Lexington Law
• Sky Blue Credit
• Credit Saint

8. Get Credit For Your on-time Payments

Usually, you don’t get credit for your on-time utility payments. But Experian has a free app to bolster credit score. It’s called Experian Boost and can literally raise your credit rating in a day!

You simply connect the app to your bank account so it can see your utility bill payment history. Experian will use your bill payment info to give you a free credit  on the spot.

There are potential downsides to this service that you should be aware of as well.

First, only creditors who pull your credit report from Experian would see the effects of Experian Boost.

Second, since this app is relatively new, not all lenders are familiar with it. When they see your utility payments on your report, they may think it is part of your debt. And this could have a negative affect on your approval odds.

ProTip: Don’t close your old credit card accounts! Old accounts look good on your credit report and will help keep your score up.

How Long Will it Take to Raise my Credit Score?

Creditors who report your account activity tend to report every 30-45 days. But the exact date depends on the lender. Once the credit buerau receives information regarding your accounts, they usually add it to your credit report and recalculate your credit score immediately.

So, in theory, your credit score could go up every 30-45 days.

But it’s safe to say that you’re not going to improve your credit score 200 points in 30 days. Just how long depends on what’s in your credit report and what your current rating is now.

If you have serious credit problems, like bankruptcy or collections, that’ll stay in your record from 7 to 10 years. And that’s going to seriously pump the brakes on how fast can you raise your credit score.

On the other hand, if you just need to correct a few errors on your report, you can raise credit score fast.

Regardless, raising credit score is a long-term project. The best way to improve your creditworthiness is to adopt some of the strategies shown here, keep an eye on it month to month, and stick to a plan.

ProTip: Removing incorrect information from your credit report will increase your credit score up fast. So, make sure your financial history and credit balances are accurate!

Is Raising My credit Score by 200 Points Enough?

Two hundred points is a lot to raise your credit score by, but if you’re starting out with the lowest score possible, it won’t be enough.

To get an idea how much you may need to increase your credit score by, let’s look at what makes a good credit score.

How to Raise Credit Score by 200 Points – Final Thoughts

It’s definitely possible to improve credit score by 200 points. It takes a while and is hard work, but it’s worth the effort you put into it.

By learning the right strategies and making the right decisions, you’ll not only figure out how to improve credit score by hundreds of points, but you’ll improve your financial health and be able to get approved for the personal loans you want as well.

If you were able to raise your credit score by 200 points, let us know how you did it in the comments below!

Cheers!