How to Add Favorable Information on a Credit Report

Having a great credit report is your ticket to getting low-interest loans and also getting approval for those loans more quickly and easily. Your credit FICO (which ranges from 300 to 850) score is something that banks and other lending institutions review very carefully to determine whether you are a good credit risk or not. An excellent FICO score is above 750 and an average score is in the high 600 range. Miss a few payments on your credit card or car and you'll see your FICO score quickly drop.
But if you have a low score due to having detrimental information on your credit report, don't despair. You can add favorable information to your credit report and you can take steps to increase your FICO score. Here are a few ways to add favorable information to your credit report.

Instructions

1

Fight back by disputing erroneous information on your credit report. The top three credit institutions (Experian, Equifax and TransUnion) receive information from your lending institutions regularly and they compile this information into your credit report. If one of these lending institutions reports that you were late on a payment---even by one day---your score could be adversely affected.
The Fair Credit Reporting Act states that you have the right to dispute information that you feel is being reported incorrectly on your credit file. If you received a low score and it was due to an error on the part of the lending institution, dispute this by contacting the three credit agencies and notifying them that you wish to dispute an error. The credit reporting companies will investigate your dispute and if they find in your favor, your score will reflect this.

2

Talk to the credit reporting agencies if you have a problem. Although you attempt to pay your bills on time; sometimes circumstances can cause a payment to be late. Sometimes they are just plain forgotten. If this is the case, write a letter to the three reporting agencies and explain why you were late. The agencies will keep a copy of your statement in your file and if someone reviews your file, they can access your letter and get your side of the story.

3

Make sure you pay your bills on time, all the time, to avoid an unfavorable credit report. One way to ensure that payments are made on time is to set up automated payments. Automatic payments will ensure that your payments are made even if circumstances keep you from making a payment on time.

4

Charge something on your credit card regularly. That's right---charging items on your credit card and paying them off each month will boost your credit rating giving you a favorable FICO score. Keep your oldest credit card open, because the lengths of accounts make a difference to creditors. Make sure you make your payments on time and, if possible, pay off the whole balance monthly to avoid interest payments.