Fix Bad Credit Score for Seniors

Bad credit can follow a person for their entire life and seniors are no different. Today, many older individuals who have reached retirement age find themselves staring at their bad credit score which limits their ability to make the type of large purchases, getting the loans they want and affordable car insurance premium. Fortunately, the same methods that younger people use to fix bad credit score are available to seniors as well. We have already discussed the best ways to improve credit score fast.

5 Ways to Fix Bad Credit Score for the Elderly:

However, because credit reports go back around seven years, it will take some time to improve your credit score. Your headache is, how do you fix a bad credit score? So with that in mind, here are five methods of fixing bad credit scores so that you can get your credit report back in good shape.

Pay Bills on Time

This is a rather simple, but effective means of pulling up your credit score by paying your monthly bills on time. This means catching up so that you are not paying late notices and instead making sure that all of your bills are addressed when they are due. Of course, this alone will not fix bad credit report, but it is a start that needs to maintain.

Pay Off Bad Debt

The first step to fixing a bad credit score is addressing the debt or issue that is holding it down. Paying off your debt is held against your score is the most efficient way to improving your credit report. Remember however that debt which you paid off on time is good for your score because it demonstrates that you can pay what you owe on time which creditors like.

Reduce the Number of Credit Cards

Debt can pile up quickly if you have several credit cards. Instead, find one with a real good interest rate and transfer your total debt to that one. Then, pay off that debt and keep another credit card around for emergencies. By reducing the number of credit cards you have, you can substantially reduce your debt and improve your credit score.

Open New Accounts and Pay Them Off

This may seem counter-intuitive at first, but what you are trying to do is build up your credit by paying off debt. By opening up a new account, taking out a loan and then paying it off over a few months and closing the account will reflect positively on your credit report. Over time as you open and close accounts by paying them off, you will start to build up your credit score.

Avoid Obvious Risk

This means keeping control of your purchases so that you don’t run afoul of missing payments. For example, if you are thinking about taking that big vacation but the expense will put you at high risk of running late on credit card payments. Then you probably shouldn’t take that big vacation.

While fixing credit scores for seniors is a time-consuming process over several months, if not a year or two. The result is getting back your good credit and being able to make the purchases that you want for your life.