How Quickly Can You Improve Your Credit Score? A Brief Guide

Depending on how you count it, the average credit score in the U.S. was between 698 and 714 in 2021. Though, a score can go anywhere between 250 and 900 depending on which method you use. For some people, this can drop very low, which can cause severe consequences if they need to take out loans or secure mortgages.

Are you someone suffering from a low credit score? The question you likely have is, “how quickly can you improve your credit score?”

This article will run through many of the methods available to you if you want to improve your credit standing. So, read on and get your finances in order.

How Quickly Can You Improve Your Credit Score?

Improving your credit score is not a short process. If you only want a few extra points on it, then you can do this in only a few weeks through good spending habits. Further improvements, the kind of things that will have a larger impact, will take more time.

To take these steps, you will need a lot of information about your current situation. You then need to take disciplined steps to give yourself a better score over a long period. You cannot improve your finances overnight.

Get Your Credit Report

Before you try to improve your credit score, you will want to know your current credit standing. After all, there is no point in wasting your time performing actions that are a waste of time. Instead, you want the largest bang for your buck in the shortest space of time.

First things first, ask for a credit report from the three main national credit bureaus. These are:

• Equifax
• Experian
• TransUnion

You can run through these credit reports in a few hours, looking for issues contributing to a high or low credit score. Find areas where you are already building your credit and try not to damage them. At the same time, look for things that could reduce your credit score, such as:

• Large amounts of credit card debt
• Organizations calling Collections on you
• Missed debt payments

If you find a history of the above, you should aim to resolve them as soon as possible before you can move forward.

Another option is to sign up for a credit monitoring service. These can inform you if there are ever any major changes in your credit score. You can then use this information to iterate on your spending habits and adjust how you handle your money over time.

Set Up Bill Due-Date Alerts

Knowing when your bills are about to come out will give you a much better idea of when to move money around. After all, one of the last things you want to happen is to miss a payment date and end up further into a bad credit score. By setting up such alerts, you can move money around to help secure your accounts when payments occur.

While this only takes a couple of hours, this is a long-term solution to prevent such issues from appearing on your credit score. Though, it can help you start to build useful habits that aid you in the long run.

Pay Off Your Credit Card

While you do not need a completely empty credit card, having a large amount of debt on one can still cause you grief. It starts to reduce your credit score the deeper in debt you are.

Getting enough money to pay off this debt may be impossible in the short term. Because of this, do not aim to perform this action all in one go. Instead, have it as a goal you try to strive for and reduce the debt over time instead of aiming to quash it in full.

We cannot give you an estimate of how long it will take to improve your credit score with this method. It depends on the amount of debt you have and how fast you pay it off. Though, expect it to take anywhere between weeks and months.

Get a Credit Increase

If you are reaching the upper limits of your credit card, another option is to ask for a credit increase. Doing this makes it appear as though you could handle more credit, but choose not to go up to it.

Of course, you should not use all of this extra potential credit. As mentioned above, you should always try to pay off your credit cards instead. A high credit limit does look as though the bank trusts you with a large amount of potential spending, though.

Keep Your Credit Card Accounts Open

It might not seem like the logical thing to do, but you should not close your credit cards unless you are going to be comfortable for a while. This is because shutting down a credit card actually negatively affects your credit for several months.

As such, keeping your credit card open can help prevent sudden drops in your score. 

Of course, while you keep it open, you should not use this credit card. Or, if you do, use it and pay it off straight away to show you are using it without ending up in further debt.

Do Not Open New Credit Cards

While aiming to improve your credit, do not pick up any new cards. Signing up for new ones in a short period of time can look bad for your credit. It might seem as though you are spending too much or going through an emergency.

Instead, try to only keep the ones you have stable during the period in which you aim to improve your credit score.

What if You Need to Pick up a Fast Loan

With the above information, you can now answer the question, “how quickly can you improve your credit score?” Still, sometimes you need to bypass all that and get a loan as fast as possible. This is where we come in.

We offer to connect you with people who can grant you the best online loans we can find. Once a lender has approved your application, you can even get your funds as fast as the next business day. So, check out our site and apply today for the online cash loans you might be looking for.