How To Improve Your FICO Score
One of the first posts that I made here at My New Choice was about the importance of payment history on your credit score.
As a great follow-up to that post, you might enjoy a post from Kelly Cho on what you can do to improve your FICO score.
Some of the highlights that you will find in Kelly’s post:
- What is a FICO Score?
- Breakdown of your FICO Score
- Tips on how to improve your FICO Score
Overall, I think Kelly has some really great tips that can help you out if you are trying to improve your credit score. However, there is one tip that I don’t really agree with and it is related to payment history.
While the tip is technically correct that it is best to avoid payments on old items that are about to drop off your credit report in order to avoid the debt becoming current again, I just have a personal issue with not paying a debt that you rightfully owe.
In my opinion, while paying an old debt will have a negative impact on your credit score I think it is your obligation to pay back any debt that is accurate. This is often times a hot item of debate but personally speaking, I just feel an obligation to pay any legitimate debts regardless of the potential negative effects.
Kelly, thanks for the great post on FICO Scores and I hope to see more posts with a personal finance flavor from you in the future!
Personally, I’d never not pay my debt in full… I have a problem owing people money. But all I’m doing is giving tips on getting your FICO score high and I know bringing your old debt to current will lower your score so that’s the only reason why I mentioned it.
I’ll be writing a great post on how to improve bad credit soon.
Kelly, we’re definitely on the same page there. I’m looking forward to your post on improving bad credit.
Hey there MNC — I found your blog browsing through myBlogLog today. I’ve not heard of it until now but I like what I see. Seems like everyone is talking about their credit scores these days. I’ve got a couple of posts to share with you in regards to such scores myself from Millionster.
How Can I Increase My Credit Score?
and
10 Ways to Increase Your Fico Score
Let me know what you think! You’ll probably hear more from me!
Take care.
Juan