What is Credit Score and how to improve it?: Understanding Credit Score

Understanding Credit ScoreCredit score has become an important figure in today's financial world, which determines how much financial risk you can take. It is not just a number, but a symbol of your financial behavior and reliability. Banks, lenders, and even landlords use your credit score to decide whether they should get you a loan, credit card, or rent a home. If you have a good credit score, you can get cheaper interest rates, better loan terms and financial security. Conversely, a poor credit score may make it difficult for you to borrow money and may cost you higher interest rates. Understanding and improving what a credit score is is extremely important to your financial future.

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what is credit score?

Credit score is a three-digit number that shows how capable you are to repay the amount you borrow. This score ranges from 300 to 850, and the higher the number, the better your credit health is considered.

Banks, lenders, landlords, and some employers use your credit score to decide whether to make a loan to you, rent a home to you, or hire you. A good credit score can help you get better interest rates on loans and credit cards and even reduce your insurance premiums.

credit score range of

• 300-579: Bad – It may be difficult to get a loan or credit.
• 580-669: Average – Loan may be available, but interest rates may be high.
• 670-739: Good – You can get the loan at normal interest rates.
• 740-799:Very Good – You can get the loan at excellent terms.
• 800-850:Excellent – ​​You get the best interest rates and terms.

How is your credit score calculated?

Credit scores are made up of five major components:

Payment History (35%)
This is the most important factor. This shows whether you have paid your bills on time or not. Late payments, bankruptcy or default can greatly lower your score.

Credit Utilization (30%)
This is the amount of credit you are using, compared to your total available credit limit. Ideally, you should use less than 30% of your credit limit.

Length of credit history (15%)
The longer your credit history, the better. This shows that you have experience managing credit.

Credit Mix (10%)
Lenders like to see that you can handle different types of credit like credit cards, auto loans. But it is not necessary that you have many types of credit, rather manage the one you have well.

new credit (10%)
If you've recently opened several new credit accounts, this may temporarily lower your score.

Ways to improve credit score:

Improving your credit score takes time, but you can increase it by making some smart decisions. Here are some solutions:

pay bills on time

This is the most important step. Even one late payment can lower your score. So set reminders or opt for automatic payments to pay all your bills on time.

Keep credit card balance low

Try not to use more than 30% of your credit limit. If possible, pay off your balance in full every month.

Do not open new credit

If you don't need a new credit card or loan, avoid applying. Your score drops a little each time you apply for credit.

check credit report

Any errors on your credit report can lower your score. Each year you can get your report from the three major credit bureaus and challenge any inaccurate information in it.

pay off current debt

If you have credit card balances or loans, pay them off as quickly as possible, especially focusing on loans with high interest rates.

Do not close old accounts

You must have a long credit history. If you are not using an old credit card, do not close it, as this will affect the length of your credit history.

Secure Credit Card

If your credit history is very short, you can get a secured credit card, which requires you to pay a security deposit. With this you can improve your credit score, but it is important to use it properly.

Keeping these things in mind can increase your credit score to 650 after a few months, which can help you get better interest rates and loan terms.