Besides going all out and attacking the information on your credit report, there are some other things you can do to raise your credit score.
- Pay down your credit cards. For fast “credit repair”, you can positively impact your credit score by paying down your credit cards. Once you pay down your balances below 30% of the credit limit you can see a rise of up to 100 points! The amount of your available credit that you’ve used is 30% of your credit score, so this can have an almost immediate effect.
Time it takes to have effect on your credit score: typically, credit card companies report the balances once a month, so the report of your lower balances to the credit bureaus can take up to 30 days, if you just miss the date on the reporting cycle.
- Pay your bills on time from now on. The older your negative items become, the less impact they have on your credit score, so pad those negative items with recent positive credit.
If you do not have a credit card start by applying for a secured credit card.
While 87% of non-owners responded that a down payment of 10% or more is needed to buy a home, that is simply not the case. Many banks announced their new 3% down programs for conventional loans, and some even offer mortgages that require zero down.