What is a credit score and how do I improve it?
Financial expert Nicole Lapin shares some easy tips to boost your credit score including paying bills on time, limiting inquiries, and more.
Transcript
[MUSIC PLAYING] Hey, there. I'm Nicole Lapin, your personal finance expert,
with some tips on how you can make the most of your money. Do you know your credit score? It's that three-digit number that lenders
use to determine your credit worthiness. Your credit score can affect whether or not you'll be approved for a mortgage, for a car,
for a cell phone, or even employment. It's used to determine your interest rate on loans and credit cards.
In short, it's incredibly important, and you probably aren't thinking nearly enough about it. Fortunately, there are easy steps
you can take toward improving that number today. Start paying your bills on time. Delinquent payments can majorly negatively impact your credit
score, so set a calendar alert and make sure you're not making any late payments. Don't max out your credit cards.
If you're using more than 30% of your credit card's available limit at any given time, your credit score could be negatively affected.
So use credit but use it judiciously. Limit the number of hard inquiries into your credit score.
It might seem a little bit crazy, but you don't want too many lenders looking at your credit score in a short period of time.
Every time a lender does a hard inquiry into your credit score, your score is actually negatively affected
so try to limit that as much as possible. How fit are your finances? Well, take a free Money Fit Assessment
at sharecare.com for a personalized score and an action plan for a healthy financial future.
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