Tips for Building Your Credit Score

Establishing your credit is a lot like finding your first job… It’s tricky because most employers desire a candidate with experience, but where do you get experience? When you apply for a loan or credit card; purchase a home; rent or lease an apartment; or even try to buy a car, typically good credit history is a must. But how do you establish good credit experience?

The following are seven tips that may help you if you’re trying to establish your credit and increase your credit score:

1. The first step to establishing your credit history is to open a Checking and Savings Account—Accounts like CB&S Bank’s Star Account and Star Savings are just some examples of Checking and Savings Accounts that can help you show lenders that you are currently managing and saving your money.
2. There is a possibility to get credit for paying your rent—Sites such as RentalKharma and RentTrack use the bills that you’re already paying and put them on your credit report. Not every credit score will accept those payments as going toward your credit, but some may!
3. Speaking of getting credit for paying your rent… Create good spending habits to help build your credit—Making bill payments on time, not opening up too many credit accounts at once, and keeping those accounts open for as long as possible are good habits to start to help you create and maintain a good credit score.
4. Having credit is a good thing, but it is not necessary to have too many accounts —you only need a couple of active accounts in good standing to show a lender that you can manage credit wisely.
5. When you do apply for a credit account, provide accurate information and keep this information consistent with your future applications—this helps ensure that your credit history will be set up correctly to begin with and reduces the possibility of receiving an incomplete credit file.
6. Check your credit scores—your credit score/report is sort of like a report card. It shows how you’ve used your credit and paid off your debt in the past. This is how a lender views you… it may prove to be helpful to see yourself through their eyes when applying for a loan or other purchase.
7. Check your credit report for errors—while you’re checking your credit report and score be on the lookout for errors. Inaccurate information could have a negative impact on your credit score.