You might be surprised to learn that a lot of Americans don’t know how their credit score is determined. So, if you’re not sure what makes up your score, you are certainly far from alone.
The unfortunate reality is that far too many people don’t find out what their credit score is or how to build a positive history until they learn that it’s too low or not extensive enough to qualify for the personal loan they need. They also may not know what affects their credit score until they’re going through the process of building it.
If you’re reading this blog post, there’s a chance that you’ve recently checked your credit score and it may not be where you want it to be. You may find yourself asking “How do I build my credit history?” and you may not know where to start.
Today we’re going to give you a broad idea of how your credit score is calculated, and how to build your credit history in a strategic way. Keep in mind that building your credit history is not an overnight process and often requires good financial habits.
Also, keep in mind that you won’t be able to build a healthy history using these tips if you’re doing things to hurt your credit history elsewhere. For example, making all of your payments regularly on a line of credit may not help if you’re carrying too much credit card debt or missing payments elsewhere.
The Basics: What Makes Up Your Credit Score?
One of the most important parts of taking control of your credit is understanding what drives it.
This is how the math breaks down for calculating your FICO score:
- Payment history, 35%: Are you making payments on your accounts on time? Do you have any delinquencies?
- Amounts owed, 30%: How much of your available credit are you actually using?
- Length of credit history, 15%: How long have you had these accounts open?
- Types of credit used, 10%: Do you have a good mix of revolving credit and installment loans?
- New credit, 10%: How many credit inquiries have you had recently?
If you’re going to build your credit history the right way, you should ensure that you’re doing the right things in each of these categories. For example, keeping a low balance on a credit card isn’t going to help you build a positive credit history if you’re delinquent on other accounts.
Now that you’re more familiar with the math involved, here are five things you can do that may help you build a positive credit history.
Step 1: Check Your Credit Report for Errors
Your credit report may not be 100% accurate and it may potentially contain misinformation that is currently hurting your credit standing! However, if you find a mistake, it can be disputed and potentially overturned. This process may take a few months to complete, but the impact may be worth the time and effort.
Here is the step-by-step process:
1. Order Your Credit Reports
You may want to order credit reports from the 3 major bureaus: Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. You don’t have to contact all 3 individually, you can get a free report from all 3 every 12 months using one of the following options[1]:
- Visiting annualcreditreport.com
- Calling 1-877-322-8228
- Printing an Annual Credit Report Request Form and mailing it to:
Annual Credit Report Request Service
P.O. Box 105281
Atlanta, GA 30348-5281
For security purposes, you will have to confirm certain pieces of personal information.
2. Ensure Everything in Your Report is Accurate
Once you receive your reports, take the time to thoroughly review them. You want to ensure everything on your report is accurate. Make sure any accounts listed under your name are accurate, with the proper balance and information. Be on the lookout for any accounts that you didn’t open and may be the result of identity theft or fraud.
Also, verify that any public record information about any legal decisions or bankruptcies that you or your spouse may have been involved in is completely accurate. If you find something that doesn’t add up, you will want to send a formal dispute.
3. File a Dispute
Gather any documents, invoices and/or statements that can back up your dispute if you find errors on any of your credit reports. You will want to send copies of these documents with your dispute letter(s), while you keep the originals.
Your best bet is to use the Federal Trade Commission’s dispute letter templates and send[2]:
- A letter to the credit reporting agency you’re filing the dispute with
- A letter to the information provider, which is the person, company, or organization that provided the information about you to a credit agency
While it may seem inconvenient that this process may take some time to dispute, it’s worth being patient, as you don’t want your credit score to be negatively impacted by inaccurate information.
Step 2: Formulate a Reasonable Budget
Creating a realistic budget may be one of the more crucial steps in learning how to build your credit history. This may help you ensure that:
- You’re living within your means and not relying on credit to buy things
- You’re aware of your cash flow
- You’re prepared to pay your bills on time
Ensure that your budget includes all of your monthly bills, especially the small monthly subscriptions that you may sometimes forget about.
If you’ve never prepared a budget before, you can take a look at these guides to help you get started:
Step 3: Prepare for Financial Emergencies
Now that you’ve created a budget, you have a solid plan in place. However, life often has its own plans.
What happens when an unexpected expense comes up? If, let’s say, a $400 emergency expense pops up, will you be prepared to handle it?
Take into consideration that $400 is actually a fairly low amount for an emergency. There are all sorts of things that could pop up and cost you quite a bit more. What do you do when these situations come up and you don’t have enough money saved?
Consider Applying for a Line of Credit
You might consider getting a line of credit to act as a safety net for when life’s financial emergencies happen. A personal line of credit may give you access to the funds you need to handle unexpected emergency costs when you don’t have the savings to cover them.
Step 4: Pay Your Bills on Time
As you saw earlier, your payment history can make up over a third of your credit score, which makes it vitally important. You need to make it a top priority to pay all your bills on time and avoid any delinquencies.
It’s important to know that you won’t be rewarded for every single time you pay your gas bill or cable bill on time. Not all telecommunication or utility companies will report your payments to credit agencies. You should also remember that any missed payments may be reported, so it’s important to pay your bills in a timely manner. This will also include making on-time payments for any personal loans you may currently have.
How to Build Your Credit Paying Your Rent
Like many of your monthly bills, your rent payments are very unlikely to be reported to credit agencies. However, you may be able to help build your credit history by paying your rent on time if you work with a rent reporting company. These companies will work with your landlord to send reports to the major credit agencies about your rent payments, but you will need to keep in mind that not all credit scores take rent payment information into account in calculating your credit score.
These companies include:
Most companies will charge you some sort of sign-up fee and a monthly fee after that. However, if you’re looking for opportunities to potentially impact your score, this may be a simple addition to your strategy.
Step 5: Use Credit Wisely
With your credit usage being worth almost a third of your credit score, this is also a key area to focus on.
You need to keep a low credit utilization ratio, meaning you’re using a relatively small amount of your available credit on your line of credit or your credit cards. Not all experts agree on what exactly a good number is, but ideally, you will want to keep it as low as possible.
However, keeping a line of credit or credit card for months at a time with a zero balance and no activity is not an effective way to build your credit history. Generally, keeping your revolving credit account relatively active and paying the balance down quickly is considered a good strategy to maintain or positively influence your credit history.
Conclusion: How Long Does it Take to Build Credit History?
As you can see from all of the information above, there are a lot of factors in play when you’re building your credit history.
It’s next to impossible to give you a ballpark number of how long it may take you. It all depends on what state your credit is in now, where you want it to be, how you spend your money, and how you use your credit along the way.
For some people, this may take a few months, while other people may need a few years to get their credit to where they want it to be. However, the journey to learning how to build your credit history can be a very rewarding one.
Disclaimer: This article provides general information only and does not constitute financial, legal or other professional advice. For full details, see CreditFresh’s Terms of Use.
[1] https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/free-credit-reports
[2] https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0151-disputing-errors-credit-reports
