Do you have excellent credit or poor credit? No matter what, you can always improve your score, and it can normally be done in about 60 days, sometimes less. It all involves those bureaus who determine what your score is. For many people this can be very mysterious. In a nut shell the following is what determines your score:

Payment history

Debt outstanding

Inquiries re your credit

How long you have had credit

Types of credit you have

Each one carries a certain amount of weight with the bureaus. As you can see, having no credit history might be a bad thing. So if you have no credit, get a gas card, or a retail store card. These are usually easier to obtain and establishes your credit quickly.

Keep your debt ratio below 50%, the lower the better. This shows companies that you pay your bills and are managing your debt. If you have a lot of credit card debt, keep the available credit at 20% or better. Transfer large balances to another card to keep this percentage within reason.

If you have bad marks on your credit you can contact the bureaus to dispute any wrong items or you can contact the company involved and work out payment. Some will take less if you can pay it off with one payment. Do this if the company will remove the negative item, not just note it paid.

If you own your home, this is also a plus, as long as you are not late on the mortgage payments.

The bottom line, stay on time with payments, negotiate with companies if you have to, and monitor your credit regularly, many items are added that may be negative and you need to know so you can take appropriate action.