How to Improve your Credit Score-Gardening your Credit

Just like a well kept garden brings some peace and tranquility, so does a carefully looked after Credit rating!

This is our second installment post about improving your credit score so you might be wondering what all the fuss is about.

Why is a good to great credit score so important?

Having a good to great credit score, not only increases your likelihood of getting approved for credit, it also improves your terms of lending, which means that you will pay a lower interest rate and will be able to negotiate a longer payment term. Paying less for longer can only be good for you. One simple tactic you can use to improve your credit score is gardening your credit.

What is Credit Gardening?

According to myFICO.com, credit gardening is tending to the accounts you've got while refraining from applying for new credit for a certain period of time. This tactic will drastically improve your credit score.

When is the best time to Garden my Credit?

Have you been shopping for a new home, a new car or would like to get that big loan to give your home a fantastic face-lift, send the kids off to varsity, or go on a second honeymoon with your beloved? then it is best to garden your credit at least 6 months before making your credit application as this will give you enough time to build or rebuild your credit rating.

Credit Gardening basics

1. Plant the seeds. It is ideal to have three accounts, including credit cards. Stay away from high interest, high fee, unsecured credit designed for consumers with bad credit, as these cards carry multiples fees like initiation fees, monthly service fees and annual fees.

2. Tend your accounts. Nurture your accounts every day so they continue to have a positive effect on your credit rating by using your card for small purchases. You want to show that you use credit but that you do not misuse or abuse it. Pay your bill on time every month, so set payment reminders on your phone a few days before the due date.

3. Pluck the weeds. Check your credit report to see which accounts you have not been paying on time. These are the accounts that are dragging your credit score down. Make it a point to pay these accounts without fail and on time, for the next six months. Apart from improving your credit score, you will feel better and lighter knowing that you've turned the tide from negative to positive.

We understand that getting into your new home, driving your new car or even getting that loan might seem urgent at the moment, and trust us when we say, 'we've been there too!' but relaxing a bit and waiting for the right time to apply for credit is the best strategy we've seen

and applied. When it comes to Credit, we truly reap what we sow.

Remember to get a copy of your free Credit report from us, plus a free Credit assessment so that we can give you expert advise on how best to go about Gardening your Credit.

Here's to a plentiful harvest.

Please look out for more posts on this topic in the near future and we wish you all the best in your current and future Credit applications :-)

Stop Stressing. Start Living!