This is my credit score

You got fucked over by a measly $195? Anyways...

1. Only buy what you can afford
2. Pay it all in full at the end of the month
3. Don't utilize a lot of credit overall -- find your total credit limit among cards and don't got over ~25% of that

Two of the biggest factors in a credit score are ability to make payments and credit utilization among total credit limit.

Then you'll get into number and average length of time, etc.

I utilize 0 - 5% every month and pay in full and my credit score is around 800.
A lot of people ITT are fucking stupid and have no idea how credit card debt and scores work.

>how to fix this
Stop using cash and debit.
Use credit card for EVERYTHING
pay it off immediately, all the time
user will tell you "hurr be frugal no credit card". This is true don't buy shit you can't afford. But using cards and paying them off will fix credit faster than avoiding it.
>don't be a nigger

You don't have to. If you pay your credit card off in the grace period, before it accrues interest, after your statement date then you're still building your credit score.

Why are you so retareded?

>retareded
Nice

Fugg :DD

Whatever, you're still retarded if you believe you have to accrue interest on your credit card balance to build a credit rating.

I agree with you, it's unnecessary and stupid misinformation.

Paying off collections doesn't improve your score. But it may show a lender that you're repaying debts and trying to get on track.

Get a credit card. Use it for groceries or gas and car insurance. Pay off the balance each paycheck.

Finance something you can afford. Paying payments every month on time will improve your score. I could have just bought a boat outright but I financed it to build my credit.

Get a parent to put you on their credit card. You don't have to have the credit card or use it but their score will boost yours.

>Pull your credit report from AnnualCreditReport.com
>There's 3 credit reporting Bureaus. Pick one to pull your report from. Doesn't matter which one
>look over it in detail
>find anything in collections? Dispite it.
>more often than not, collections agencies cannot prove you owe that debt (for various reasons).
>if you dispute it, there's a good chance it'll get erased from your record because they cannot prove you owe the debt.
>wait a months. Check credit again. See if it improved or not

Disputing is key here. Paying off collections is for suckers if you can just get it erased. But be careful, you can only do this so much before they catch on and don't investigate your dispute.

Also, pay your bills on time going forward.

It's been a while since I checked but I believe my credit score is just under 800.
I got it so high by making most of my Amazon purchases on a credit card and then paying it off in full.
It's literally that simple.

I just got my first credit card and it comes with a free fico score every month. I have a 750 score, with the main detriment to my score is the lack of established accounts. How long will the grind to 800 take for an account with barely any credit history? My goal is to be at 800 by the time I finish college in 2020.

You are hiding something. No way a $195 bill caused such a drop. Iv defaulted on thousands of dollars of medical bills and my credit score wasnt as low as your pic. Youre a fucking liar, whats the real reason it dropped?

I'm pretty sure he's applied to multiple cards and things already, or maybe doesn't consider something like a car loan affecting his credit score as well.
Every hard inquiry you get onto your credit can drop it hard as fuck. It takes 2 years for each to go away. Each new account does the same, but with less impact.
The only other thing I can think of is for some fucking reason he put off paying $195 FUCKING DOLLARS for two years. It's the length of time of missed payments. Good luck fixing that shit, retard.

So when requesting proof of dept what information should and shouldn't give them i.e. address, email, phone number...?

What's even more fucked up is when you cancel a cable account like with Comcast and you receive a credit from them, THEY DO A HARD INQUIRY ON YOU. FUCKS SAKE.

There's so much bullshit that can bring down your credit score that I stopped giving a fuck. I just pay things off in full and use my credit for small purchases at least a few times a month.

So after checking my credit score myself just now and using the calculator, seems like getting a credit line increase improves the score quite a bit. What you can also try (if you're a renter) is sign up for one of those sites that reports that you pay your rent on time each month. And then there's just paying things on time in full each month. I can't think of anything else, there's a ton of bullshit that can bring down your score that you don't find out about until later.

If you have anything to support your claim that you don't owe debt, just upload it when prompted.
Otherwise, when disputing the debt via the credit bureau's website, just select the option that makes the most sense ("this isn't my debt", "I've never made a late payment" etc)
It's pretty easy to dispute debt through the credit bureaus. Pull your report and look at the disput options.

Be warned, if they think you're spamming disputes they'll disregard them.

Related question: I switched carriers at the beginning of the summer and I paid my last bill online. But it turns out they charge at the end of the month so there was still some I needed to pay. 2 months later I got a call from a collection agency asking me to pay my bill. I did after confirming it with my old carrier but do you think this would affect my score?

I have a 2k credit card bill that I haven't paid in 4 years from chase. I make decent money now so should I pay it off?

When you say immediately, do you mean the same day, week, wait til the end of the month?

And surprisingly useful thread, neat.