Is My Credit Score Below Average?

By vincentpolisi | 1 Comments | Rating: 0 | |

Like many Americans who are suffering in these tough economic times, you may be concerned about your credit score. Before you start panicking you should understand what an average credit score is and what you can do if yours is less than desirable. After reading this article you should understand how your credit score stacks up against the rest and have a plan of attack for if you have room for improvement.

Despite numerous reports stating that the average credit score is somewhere between 720 and 730, the average credit score is actually closer to 680. Because of recent tightening lending guidelines, you need a score of 720 or better to get the best rates and ensure approval on bank loans.

If your credit score is less than you would like it to be, there are very easy things you can do to improve your credit score fast. One of the easiest ways to raise your credit score is to pay down credit card debt. Ideally you want to have the balance of each of your revolving accounts to be below 25% of the available limit.

The next step to improving your credit score is disputing any inaccuracies in your credit file. By law if you please a dispute with the credit bureaus, the creditors must be able to verify that the information they are reporting is accurate. Things to look for to dispute include inaccurate late reporting and incorrect credit card balances. Because a large portion of your credit file is made up of your revolving utilization and many companies do not accurately report your available credit, this can be a quick way to get a significant boost in your credit score.

A third way to get a quick boost in your credit is to have a parent or spouse with good credit add you to an existing revolving account that has a perfect payment history and low balance. It is important to note that under FICO 08, the only people that can add you as an authorized user are parents or a spouse.

Hopefully by now, you understand how your credit score stacks up against the rest. If not, now you have a few ideas of what you can do to raise your credit score quickly.

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Comments

Jul 29, 2010 7:20pm

mcimicata
I did not know what the average credit score was before this...thankfully i am well above average lol...great article