Your credit score is one of the most important, yet problematic aspects of your life. If you didn’t know already, your credit score is involved in everything from getting a car from the bank to getting a job. Everyone checks your credit score to see how reliable you are.
But, many people don’t know about credit scores until later on in their lives. Some who do know about it, aren’t aware of the best credit score practices. That is why a lot of people have less than ideal credit scores.
If you have a low score as well, here are some tips to help boost your credit score using tradelines.
1. Understand Tradelines
Before you get into tradelines, you need to know what they are.
A tradeline is any account that appears on your credit report. This can include credit cards, mortgages, and other types of loans. Each tradeline contains information about the account, such as the balance, payment history, and the date the account was opened.
By using tradelines for sale, you can add positive credit history to your credit report. By purchasing a tradeline, you essentially “rent” someone else’s good credit history to boost your credit score.
2. Pay Your Bills on Time
When you add tradelines, you need to get into some good credit score practices to slowly grow it over time.
One of the simplest yet most effective ways to improve your credit score is to pay your bills on time. Payment history accounts are a significant portion of your credit score. Late or missed payments can severely damage your credit score, while consistent on-time payments can help improve it.
But, if you have trouble remembering due dates, you can set up automatic payments or reminders. This way, you can ensure that all your bills are paid on time, helping to build a positive payment history.
3. Keep Your Credit Utilization Low
Credit utilization basically means the amount of credit you are currently using compared to the total credit available to you. It’s another crucial factor in determining your credit score. A high credit utilization ratio can negatively affect your score, while a lower ratio is seen positively by credit bureaus.
Ideally, you should keep your credit utilization below 30%. This means if you have a credit limit of $10,000, you should try to use less than $3,000 of that limit.
Paying down your balances and avoiding maxing out your credit cards can help maintain a low credit utilization ratio. Adding tradelines can also help by increasing your total available credit and lower your utilization ratio.
4. Monitor Your Credit Report Regularly
Another habit you should get into is checking your credit report.
It allows you to identify any errors or inaccuracies that could be dragging your score down. You can get a free credit report from each of the three major credit bureaus—Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion—once a year.
You should look out for any discrepancies in your report, such as incorrect personal information, accounts you don’t recognize, or inaccurate balances. Disputing these errors with the credit bureaus can help improve your score.
