How Do I Improve My Credit History Quickly?

Reader Question: I need to boost my credit score so I can qualify for a mortgage loan. What can I do to improve my credit history as quickly as possible?

You can certainly improve your score over time, but there's not much you can do to improve your history if it's accurate. If you have negative information in your past, and it is showing up on your credit reports, it can be reported for up to seven years (or ten years for a bankruptcy filing). You cannot remove negative entries from your report if they are on there legitimately. You can have errors corrected on your reports, but you cannot have accurate information removed before its "expiration" date.

But while you cannot improve your credit history by erasing it, you can certainly improve your score over time. The first thing you need to do is figure out why your score is low in the first place. In other words, you must identify the behavior that led to a bad score, and do whatever is necessary to correct that behavior.

For example, if you have a history of paying your bills late, you need to change that behavior immediately. If late payments are showing up on your credit reports, they can stay on there for up to seven years. But if you continue to make late payments on your bills, you'll never escape the problem. It will continue to harm your credit score until you correct the behavior. When you start paying bills on time, your score will begin to improve over time -- not because you have changed your credit history, but because you have changed the behavior.

There are a lot of so-called credit repair companies out there that claim to have tricks and loopholes to help you improve your credit history. But the vast majority of these companies are scam artists who charge upfront fees but offer nothing in the long run. There are no magic fixes to improving your history, because it is what it is -- it's history. By definition, it has already happened and cannot be changed. The best thing you can do is accept the mistakes you've made in the past, and make every effort to avoid those mistakes in the future.

There is little you can do to improve a bad credit history, but there's plenty you can do to improve your score going forward. Fix the behavior that led to the bad credit score, and the rest will follow.

You can find plenty of advice on this website to help you accomplish this goal. Here's an excellent place to start. This article explains the five things you can do to increase your score quickly:
How to Raise Your Credit Score Fast

If you have any other questions on this subject, I recommend using the search tool at the top of the blog. It's the quickest and easiest way to find articles, tutorials and Q&A sessions. There are more than 175 credit lessons on the site, so you're sure to find the information you seek. Good luck.