Build & improve your credit
Concrete, free moves — in rough order of impact. None of this requires paying anyone.
Education only — not financial or legal advice, and we sell nothing. Everything a paid “credit repair” service does, you can do yourself for free with the tools below.
- Pay every bill on time. Autopay at least the minimum. Payment history is 35% — nothing else moves the needle like a clean record.
- Keep utilization low. Aim under 30%, ideally under 10%, of each card’s limit. Paying down a balance before the statement date lowers the number that gets reported.
- Keep old accounts open. Length of history helps. Don’t close your oldest card; put a small recurring charge on it so the issuer keeps it active.
- If you’re starting out, use a secured card. You deposit, say, $200 and that becomes your limit; used lightly and paid in full, it builds history with little risk.
- Become an authorized user. A trusted person adds you to a well-managed old card; their history can help yours. Confirm the issuer reports authorized users.
- Apply sparingly. Each application is a hard inquiry. Space them out; rate-shop one loan within a ~2-week window so it counts once.
- Check your reports for errors. Errors are common and drag scores down. Pull your free reports and dispute anything wrong (see Disputes).
Found something wrong on your report? Dispute it →