Tips to Improve Your Score and Common Mistakes!

1. Pay your bills on time. If you are going to be late paying something contract the company and see if they will give an extension.

2. Don't apply for a lot of credit at one time.

3. If you are in the process of buying a house, don't pay off old debt until closing. When you pay old collections they re-report and the late pays are then included in your scoring. Very often your score will go down.

4. Know what reports to your credit report.

5. Fixing your credit is a time consuming process, so don't wait until your ready to purchase a house to start.

6. Mortgage lenders, as a rule, do not require debts over 24 months to be paid, and any medical debt to be paid regardless of age.

7. Most mortgage companies require 3 lines of credit established for 12 months or more. So don't close all accounts.

8. If you are in the process of wanting to buy a home don't go furniture or car shopping, they will pull your credit and your score will go down.

9. Mortgage lates are weighted more heavily then consumer lates, so pay your mortgage on time.

10. Lenders will often treat Consumer Credit Consulting as a bankruptcy.

11. Pay all cards down to 30% or less of available credit- don't consolidate cards.

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