Knowing what your credit score is and keeping track of it periodically is important, especially if you’re looking to take out a mortgage, car loan, or credit card. Your credit score not only affects your eligibility for financial products but even your ability to secure low interest rates and flexible terms.
While you can’t improve your credit overnight, there are a few hacks you can use to improve your credit relatively quickly.
Key Points
- The best hacks for building good credit include paying all bills on time, reducing your credit spending, and fixing inaccuracies on your credit report.
- You can keep tabs on your credit score for free with the credit bureaus, banks, and third-party online sites.
- It takes time to build good credit, so be sure to adopt several good habits to see an improvement over the next few months.
Hacks To Increase Your Credit Score Fast In 2024
If you’re looking to improve your credit scores or build credit from the ground up, consider the following hacks:
Fix Errors On Your Credit Report
If there is information on your credit reports that you believe to be inaccurate, you should have them investigated right away. Errors on your credit report can unfairly pull your credit score down. If you notice any mistakes, you can file a dispute with the credit bureau, or the company that reported the incorrect information. Correcting errors on your credit report can lead to a quick increase in your credit scores.
When you file a dispute with a credit bureau, they will either ask you to provide documents and information that supports your findings, or they will get in contact directly with the company that reported the disputed information.
If you file a dispute with the company that reported the incorrect information, they will likely conduct their own investigation and then notify the credit bureau(s) of any changes that should be made to fix the error.
How To Dispute Your Errors On Your Credit Report?
Each credit bureau has its own process for filing disputes to have inaccuracies reported and removed:
| How To Dispute An Error With TransUnion | Learn More |
| How To Dispute An Error With Equifax | Learn More |
Build A Positive Payment History
Your payment history is the most important factor in the calculation of your credit score. So, the best way to give your credit score a boost is to make sure that every bill is paid on time and in full each billing cycle.
How To Build A Positive Payment History With Bad Credit
What if you don’t have any loans or credit products to make timely bill payments on? With poor credit, you may find it difficult, if not impossible, to get approved for such products to start making on-time payments and building positive credit.
In this case, consider one of the following:
- Secured Card – If you have bad credit or are new to Canada, you can use a secured credit card to help you build a positive payment history. As you make payments, your provider will report them to the credit bureau(s), which will help you build a positive payment history.
- KOHO Credit Building Service – KOHO offers a credit building program that is designed to help Canadians build good credit. This product involves opening a line of credit, with KOHO setting aside a certain amount every month and reporting it to Equifax as an on-time payment. Over time, you can build a good credit score.
- Savings Loan – With a savings loan, you’ll make payments to the lender, who will hold the money in a secured account. Each payment made will be reported to the credit bureau(s), which will help you build a payment history.
Become An Authorized User On Someone Else’s Credit Card
This is a good option for those who can’t get their own credit card, who are young, or those who have no credit history at all. The idea is that you can become an authorized user on another person’s credit card, usually a family member.
Once you’ve been added as an authorized user, you can use the credit card to make purchases. The primary cardholder is solely responsible. As the primary cardholder makes payments, the creditor will report the payments to both your credit reports, which can build your credit. Just make sure to ask your credit card company if they do report the payments on your credit report as well as the primary cardholder’s.
Things To Consider Before Becoming An Authorized User
Before signing on to be an authorized user on someone else’s card, consider the following:
- Potential Negative Effect On Your Score — If the primary cardholder misses payments or carries a high balance, your credit score could be negatively affected.
- Your Actions Affect The Cardholder — Although you’re not responsible for the bill payments, your bad spending habits could spike the card’s balance and negatively affect the primary cardholder’s credit score as a result of a higher credit utilization ratio.
- Strained Relationship — Being an authorized user can put a strain on your relationship with the cardholder if there are disagreements about purchases, balances, or financial responsibilities.
Keep Your Debt-To-Credit Ratio Low
Depending on the credit scoring model used, your debt-to-credit ratio usually counts for around 30% of your credit score calculation. This ratio is a measure of the amount you spend on credit relative to the amount of credit available. Lenders prefer a ratio of no more than 30%.
How To Keep Your Debt-To-Credit Ratio Low
Here are some ways to keep your ratio low:
Pay Down Your Credit Card Debt
Credit card debt is among the more expensive types of debt due to the relatively high interest rates that come with credit cards. If you’re carrying a high balance month to month, make an effort to pay it down as much as possible. Not only will this help you save money, but it can also help reduce your debt-to-credit ratio.
Increase Your Credit Limit
Increasing your credit card limit is a great way to hack your credit scores, especially if your limit is low on the card you already have. If you have a low limit, applying for a credit card limit increase can help keep your debt-to-credit ratio low, but only if you watch your spending. Increasing your credit limit will do you no good if you increase your spending.
For example, if you have a credit card with a credit limit of $1,000 and a balance of $600, your debt-to-credit ratio would be 60%. If you increase your credit limit to $5,000 and keep your monthly spending at $600, your ratio would decrease to 12%, which may have a positive effect on your credit score.
Make Multiple Payments Within The Same Billing Cycle
You can keep your credit card balance low by making more than one payment per billing cycle. This way you’ll still be using your credit card and building a credit history for yourself, but you won’t be maxing out your card in the process.
Don’t Close Old Accounts
Your credit account age is another factor that can impact your credit score. Closing an account can reduce the average age of your accounts, which can negatively impact your credit score.
As such, keeping old credit card accounts open is recommended, especially if there’s no annual fee. However, if you’re unable to responsibly manage your credit cards, cancelling it may be better, despite the potential negative impact it may have on your credit scores.
Don’t Apply For Too Many Credit Products
Applying for new credit will result in a hard inquiry, which can negatively affect your credit score. This is especially true if you apply for several loans. As such, it’s recommended that you don’t apply for too many new credit cards or loans in a short period of time.
How To Check Your Credit Scores?
Before you put any one of the above-mentioned hacks into play to give your credit score a boost, you should first see what your credit score currently is. You can check your credit score with the credit bureaus, the banks, and several online resources.
Here are some of our top choices when it comes to third-party credit score providers. With these resources, you can check your credit score online for free:
| Cost | Credit Score | Credit Report | ||
 | Free | Yes | Yes | Visit Site |
 | Free | Yes | Yes | Visit Site |
 | Free | Yes | Yes | - |
What Is Considered Good Credit In Canada?
In Canada, a good credit score is anything that falls within the range of 660 to 724. At this level, you should have little issue getting approved for loans and credit products, and you may be able to secure lower rates and more favourable terms.
Ideally, the higher your credit score, the better. To give you an idea of how your credit score is rated, refer to the following chart:
| Credit Rating | Credit Score Range |
| Excellent | 760+ |
| Very Good | 725 – 759 |
| Good | 660 – 724 |
| Fair | 560 – 659 |
| Poor | 300 – 559 |
Bottom Line
Employing several credit score hacks at once can help you build your credit score over time. However, the exact length of time that it takes to improve your score will vary by individual. In the end, time and consistent effort to improve your credit are key.
