Atlantic Blog

Just like a person's appearance can reflect their personality, a person's credit score can give insights into the financial patterns of their life. A credit history shows one's financial reliability. A higher credit score can help you qualify for the lowest interest rates when borrowing money for purchases.

1. Spend Money Wisely

 One of the main factors a lender looks at to determine credibility is credit utilization. To achieve good credit, a person must prove they are capable of using money the right way. Credit cards have limits, but don't attempt to reach the limit if you think you won't be able to pay back the entire amount once the bill arrives. High credit utilization will negatively impact your credit score. The best strategy is to spend less than half of your credit card limit.

2. One Card Is Enough

Securing a large number of credit cards and having the ability to spend as much as you like seems amazing, but it can lead a person into unmanageable debt. No one wants debt, so a simple strategy when establishing credit is to limit the number of credit cards, possibly to only one. One card is easier to manage and can help avoid overspending.

3. Make Full Payments

 Another realistic plan to establish credit is to pay off the total amount when bills are received. If a person has a record of fulfilling commitments as expected, it makes them more likely to obtain loans in the future and can be evidence of a person's reliability.

4. Timely Payments

 If you can't pay the bill in full, making at least the minimum payment on time is crucial. Although not every monthly payment is present on a person's credit report, that doesn't mean timely payments don't count. The creditors might convey late payments to the bureaus responsible for establishing the credit score, negatively affecting a person's credit.

5. Obtain a Secured Credit Card

 A secured credit card can be helpful when trying to rebuild your credit or if you don't yet have credit. For this kind of credit card, a person deposits a specified amount of money into an account. When the credit expenditure exceeds the limit, the creditor refers to that account for payment. Once the history of regular repayments is established, a person can switch to a standard credit card while taking care of the payments in the same manner.

If you're looking to improve your credit score to have lower rates, lower payments, and less paid in interest, talk to an Atlantic Financial Professional today at (800) 834-0432.

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