Thrifty Thinking: Improving Your Credit

I recently had a chance to interview Jasmine McCall about tips to boost your credit. McCall is the founder of The 20-Minute Credit Fix. She specializes in business education, credit management, and money makeovers for millennials.Jasmine McCall

Why is it important for people to be aware of their credit score and how can they check their credit report? 

The first reason is to protect your identity and credit health. 79% of credit reports contain errors that not only lower your score, but they can also lead to you being denied for credit or even owing money for items you never purchased. You can visit AnnualCreditReport.com to view your credit report but you can sign up with Experian for triple Bureau daily monitoring to view your credit report AND scores. AnnualCreditReport.com does not provide scores. 

Why should consumers ask for increased credit and how can they do that? Raising your credit limit instantly lowers your credit “utilization” (amount you owe) and increases your available credit. These factors positively impact your credit score and also shows lenders and creditors that you are a responsible spender and do not exceed your credit limits. 

If people have negative things on their report, how can they work to resolve them?

They should always dispute any inaccurate information with the most effective method being by handwritten letters (I provide templates for this). Depending on the type of negative item, they can dispute directly with the credit bureaus to have the item removed, or they can write to the collection agency to have an item settled/removed (known as a Pay For Delete). Sometimes, you can make a request to the courts for any public records or wage garnishments that you would like to have removed or stopped. 

What is the effect of applying for credit on credit scores?

Every credit application results in a 3-5 point decrease to your credit score. If you applied for 10 different department store cards in one month, you’d see a 30-50 point decrease in your credit score at the end of the month. The only exception to this rule is for applying for an auto loan or mortgage in which the credit applications count as a single inquiry if done in a 30 day period (in most cases). 

Jasmine McCall is a millennial influencer, serial entrepreneur, keynote speaker, income strategist, and world traveler. As a mompreneur and founder of The 20 Minute Credit Fix, Jasmine specializes in business education, credit management, and money makeovers for millennials. As CEO & Founder of the Jazzy Mac brand, Jasmine inspires her audience daily through her lifestyle channel “Life With Jazzy Mac” on YouTube, which has garnered almost 1 million views.