How to Increase Your FICO Score

Knowing your credit score is a part of empowering yourself for your financial future. FICO is your credit score and the system by which it is determined. In the United States. lenders and credit granting companies look at an individual's FICO score to determine how credit worthy the person is. If the score is good, credit will be extended. It will be denied if it is bad. That is why it is very important to keep your FICO score high and worthy of credit.

Determine how long you have been building credit history. The length of credit history is an important factor in determining your FICO score and keeping it high.

Check your credit history by ordering a copy of your credit report from a company such as Annual Credit Report or from the three main credit reporting agencies--Transunion, Equifax and Experian. You will see links to all in our Resources section. Your FICO score is largely based on your credit history which is reported by the three agencies that keep track of where you have credit and how well you pay your debts.

Look at how much you owe to creditors. The higher your credit balances, the lower your FICO score will become. Try to keep the balances on your credit cards below half of the limit so that it helps build your credit without showing a dependency on the card.

Monitor what types of credit you are using. Your FICO score improves if you are using credit for large ticket items like a car payment or mortgage. Your FICO score goes down if you have a lot of revolving open credit cards because there is too much access to unnecessary credit accounts.

Stop applying for new credit. The more you apply for new credit accounts, the more inquiries (called "hard pulls") are reported on your credit history. Inquiries cause your FICO score to go down.

Keep all of these things in mind when you check your credit report and see your FICO score. You can determine your FICO score by following all of the step by step instructions above.

It takes time to repair your FICO score after you have done credit damage. Keep your FICO score in good shape for the future by paying your bills on time.Never have any single credit card that uses 90% or more of the credit limit. This reduces the FICO score.

Increasing your FICO score isn't hard. It just takes time, persistence, and these tips to help you get a higher FICO score and improved credit.