Credit Building > Quick and easy tips to increase your credit score

Quick and easy tips to increase your credit score

3 minute read · Updated 11th April 2024

The world of money and credit scores doesn't have to be so confusing. Let's make it easy! Take 10 minutes of your time and our simple, quick and easy tips to increase your credit score. Knock these off your to-do list and watch your credit score rise!

Top 7 tips to increase your credit score

Basic tip to increase your credit score: know what's on your credit report

First things first. If you want to know how to increase your credit score, you're going to need to know what your credit report looks like. There are plenty of options that will allow you to obtain your credit report for free. But when you get your hands on this, what should you be looking for? In a nutshell, you need to be making sure that whatever appears on your credit file is accurate. If so, then great. If not, you may need to take some steps to get your report rectified.

Knowing what your credit score is will also help. This number will give you an idea as to whether you are seen as having good or bad credit, as well as giving an idea as to how much work you need to do.

Get yourself on the electoral roll

If you're not yet on the electoral roll, this is a quick win. By nature (or lack of patience), we are always on the lookout for the quickest way of doing things, and this applies to us all wanting to know how to increase our credit scores quickly. So far, the fastest way to give your credit rating a boost is to ensure that you are registered.

How does this help to increase your credit score? Simply put, lenders and credit reference agencies need some reassurance. You may well have the best credit file they've ever seen, but they'd still like to make sure that you are who you say you are and live where you say you live.

Don't get too carried away

Having access to credit can be a great thing. It can be a temporary prop when we're running a little short, or it can even go some way towards giving us a little treat every now and then. There is certainly no harm in this but try and keep in mind how much credit you are using.

We said we like to keep things simple, so as an example let's use some very easy figures. If you had access to £1000 in credit and you had already used £999 of that before making a new application, it may not be viewed in the best light. If you were closer to £500, this could help increase your credit score. Why? Because it shows that you are comfortably managing your finances. So, if any of your credit cards are nearing their limits, action to bring down the balance is another way to increase your credit score.

Rent payments matter too

Homeowners, or certainly those with mortgaged properties, know that paying their mortgage month in month out will give them a tick in the box and reflect well on their credit report. Tenants, on the other hand, were not afforded such treatment. It was recognised that it was perhaps unfair that tenants didn't know how to increase their credit score when their payments were going unreported.

This is what features like our rent reporting try to accomplish. We will tap into your bank account monthly and verify to Experian that you've paid your rent. This is an easy, free way to show that you're keeping up with your financial commitments.

The curse of your ex

Breaking up with your ex shouldn't just mean throwing out their toothbrush, especially if you used to be financially linked. Financial links are created when you open a joint account or apply for a loan together. Living together or even being married does not create a financial link. Until you actively break these links us, your exes records are linked with yours.

With finances being reported as the biggest cause of divorce, perhaps your ex wasn't the best at managing a budget. Now you've gone your separate ways, you need to make sure that any bad habits they may have had are no longer affecting you. If you are financially linked, when it comes to you applying for credit, even though you have now parted, it is possible that your ex's credit report will also be taken into account. Severing this link is another easy tip to increase your credit score.

See more about how a joint account can affect your credit score here.

It's not just about the debt you have

Lenders are interested in how much you owe, but they also take a look at how much credit you have access to. Having too much is not always viewed in a positive light. So another quick tip to increase your credit score is to close the accounts that you no longer use. Perhaps you have old store cards, credit cards, or mobile phone contracts. If you're not using them, make sure you close the accounts down.

Best tip to increase your credit score - be timely with your payments

If you want the best answer to how to quickly increase your credit score, there is one really simple way to do this: pay what you owe and pay on time. We know this isn't always quite as easy as it sounds.