Tips to Improving Your Credit Quickly
While it is still possible to get a mortgage if you have poor credit, it is definitely easier (and less costly) to get a mortgage if you have good credit. So if you already have a few red marks on your credit report, what can you do to clean them up quickly? Here are a few tips.
- Check your credit report.
The first thing you should do is contact TransUnion and Equifax to check your credit report. You are entitled to one free report each year. Examine your report for anything outstanding that you may have forgotten about or any possible mistakes. If something is inaccurate, report it.
- Pay down your balance.
If you want to repair your credit quickly, you will need to make more than the minimum payments. As you pay down your balances, you will have more credit available which lenders will view as favourable when they consider you for a mortgage.
- Negotiate your rates.
If you are really having difficulty paying down your balances, you can always try contacting your credit card companies and seeing if they will lower your rates. It never hurts to ask, and as long as you are making your payments, many lenders will be willing to work with you.
- Pay twice a month.
Creditors report your balances to the credit bureaus once a month, so even if you are paying every month, if you are running up big balances, it could look like you are overextending yourself. To avoid this problem, try paying your balances down twice a month instead of once.
- Apply for a higher credit limit.
Another way to have more available credit is to increase your limit. If you are keeping up with your payments most banks and credit card companies probably won’t have a problem increasing your limit if you ask. Remember though, that the idea is to have more available credit, so just because you increase your limit, you shouldn’t be using it all.
- Open a new account.
If your current creditors won’t increase your limit, another way to get more available credit is to open another account with a different credit card or personal line of credit. Be aware however, that opening several accounts at once can actually harm your credit rather than helping it. So if you do decide to use this strategy, open one or two accounts at most.
Regardless of your credit score, we at Matrix Mortgage Global can help you get the mortgage that is right for you. To speak with one of our agents, call us today!