The portion of your credit limits you're using at any given time is called your credit utilization. A good guideline: Use less than 30% of your limit on any card, and lower is better. The highest scorers use less than 7%. When you are ready to make a purchase it may be good to have your balances all under 1%. You can track your balances with CKEXPERTS Credit Monitoring.
You want to make sure your balance is low when the card issuer reports it to the credit bureaus, because that's what is used in calculating your score. A simple way to do that is to pay down the balance before the billing cycle ends or to pay several times throughout the month to always keep your balance low.
If a relative or friend has a credit card account with a high credit limit and a good history of on-time payments, ask to be added as an authorized user. That adds the account to your credit reports, so its credit limit can help your utilization. Also called "credit piggybacking," authorized user status allows you to benefit from the primary user's positive payment history. The account holder doesn’t have to let you use the card — or even give you the account number — for your credit to improve.
You can speak to someone at CKEXPERTS at 1.800.484.7812 to be sure the account reports to all three major credit bureaus (Equifax, Experian and TransUnion) to get the best effect; most credit cards do. You can also call us if you are struggling to find someone that can help you and you need some assistance with getting set up with an authorized user account.
No strategy to improve your credit will be effective if you pay late. What’s worse, late payments can stay on your credit reports for 7½ years. If you miss a payment by 30 days or more, call the creditor immediately. Currently the CARES ACT has helped many of our clients with having a simple one-time occurrence late payment removed. Pay up as soon as you can and ask if the creditor will consider no longer reporting the missed payment to the credit bureaus. Even if the creditor won’t do that, it’s worth getting current on the account ASAP. Every month an account is marked delinquent hurts your score. For your convenience, CKEXPERTS has created a monthly SMART TIMER that you can use to help you stay organized on paying your bills timely. You can submit a request for assistance with your SMART TIMER by submitting your information here: Connect With Us
Paying off a collections account removes the threat that you will be sued over the debt, and you may be able to persuade the collection agency to stop reporting the debt once you pay it. You can also remove collections accounts from your credit reports if they aren't accurate or are too old to be listed.
It is never a good idea to give Collection Agencies personal details about your employment status. When collection agencies contact you, you should simply let them know you prefer to deal with business matters by phone and ask them to send you details about whatever they are calling you about in writing and let them know you will look into whatever it is they are saying they need from you.
If you are being harassed by a collection agency, you can contact us at 1.800.484.7812 with the details and we can assist you in reducing or eliminating those harassing calls. Collection agencies cannot call you and harass you on your job or threaten to put you in jail as a resort of a debt they say you owe them.