The 800 Club: 4 Tips to Rebuild and Improve Your Credit Score

So, you want to join The 800 Club, huh? Aiming to be one of the many Americans with a credit score of 800 or higher is an excellent goal to have since the status of your credit score can financially make or break you. While there’s no magic trick to fix your credit score overnight, regardless of the financial mistakes you’ve made in the past, you can certainly improve your credit score over time.

If you’re ready to put in the work to rebuild your credit score, let’s get into it. Here are four expert-approved tips to help you improve your credit score and achieve more financial freedom:

1. Set up auto-pay for your bills.

Founder of The Budgetnista, Tiffany Aliche, says that the number one thing you can do to improve your credit score is to maintain your payment history by automating your payments. Your payment history considerably affects your credit score, so make sure to set up auto-pay for your bills so that you never miss a payment.

2. Pay off small charges to remain in good standing.

Did you know that credit card companies will shut down a card that’s been inactive for some time? Yup, and this move can seriously ding your credit card score, so keep your card in service by using it to pay off small monthly charges like a streaming subscription or gas.

3. Avoid closing old accounts.

You’ve just paid off that dreaded credit card, and now it’s time to close your account, right? Wrong! Atiya Brown, the finance expert behind The Savvy Accountant, says that’s the last thing you want to do because closing an old card will negatively impact your scores.

4. Don’t max out your cards regardless of the credit limit.

Credit utilization is the total amount of debt on your cards divided by all your credit card limits. Your score will be damaged if just one of your cards has a high utilization rate, so it’s recommended to keep the balances of your cards under 30 percent.

Now that you’ve got these four solid tips under your toolbelt, you can get to work at improving your credit score today. You can achieve financial freedom. You just have to put in the work first!