July 21, 2010
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Revitalizing Your Credit Card Score, Pt.4
The easy stuff.The last three categories usually have less of an impact on your credit card score but are also easier for you to fix. They're attending to. These are:
Length of History (15% of your score): Keep those old credit cards alive and in good standing. Use them at least once every 6 months to keep them from being closed on you. Remember, every $10,000 worth of credit limit that you have causes the credit card lender to set aside a percentage that they can't touch even if you don't use it and increases their risk vulnerability (you might surprise them by using it). They put on the risk list for no good reason if you don't use it at all.
New Accounts opened (10% of your score): Be conservative about opening new accounts. Each time you apply, your credit card score takes a hard hit, meaning your score gets lowered. Further, it might be worth your while to consolidate multiple credit card accounts into one large one by closing some and getting your lender to add the credit limits of the closed accounts onto the older one you're keeping open. This also helps your CUR provided you don't go over 30%. Call your lender and see if they will do this for you.
Clout of Present Lenders (10% of your score): Bigger banks hold more clout. Utilize credit card accounts issued by larger banks. When reviewing your credit reports (which you should also do), major lenders pay more attention to the opinions of other large institutions. Make sure to keep these accounts in good standing. By the same token that big banks can help you more remember, they can also hurt you more.
These are a few of the better guidelines to follow. They're fairly standard for the credit card industry. In addition, of course, a big factor exists on the personal level. With the right techniques, a person has much to gain through negation. By building a rapport with a mid-level manager, you stand a very good chance of getting better terms then you might think. Lower interest rates, higher credit limits and switching to new unadvertised deals (to name a few) are almost always out there and available for you to get by just asking ‘in the right way'.