1. Check Your Credit Report

   To get a better understanding of your credit picture and what lenders can see, check your credit report.
   • If you need help reading your report, you can learn more about how to read your Experian credit report.
   • If you want to learn more about credit reports in general, you can read about credit report basics.
   • If you find information that is incorrect, you can file a dispute. Remember too, that items on your credit report that you don’t recognize could also be potential signs of fraudulent activity — someone working to secure credit in your name for their own use. Make sure you’re clear on items that could potentially be fraudulent, versus those that may simply be inaccurate.

2. Improve Your Payment History

   Your payment history is one of the most important components of many FICO scoring models. Late and missed payments will reduce your scores, and public records and collections can cause significant damage. This negative information will remain on your credit report and impact your credit scores for 7-10 years.
   Your scores often take into account the size and recency of your debt. The bigger your debt is and the more recent your missed payments are, the worse your score will be. Bringing accounts current and continuing to pay on time will almost always have a positive impact on your credit scores.

3. Know Your Credit Utilization Rate

   Credit scoring models usually take into account how much you owe compared to how much credit you have available, called your credit utilization rate or your balance-to-limit ratio. Basically it’s the sum of all of your revolving debt (such as your credit card balances) divided by the total credit that is available to you (or the total of all your credit limits).