We all get reminders in the mail by the way of a bill to make our monthly payments. The monthly credit card statement will show our purchases over the last month. Make sure you review it to make sure there are no errors or information that is incorrect. If you are interested in obtaining more credit and apply for a higher limit and are denied, you may want to look at your credit score.

If you have no idea what your credit is, request a copy of your credit report and review it. Make sure all the information is correct. If there are errors you will want to contact the agency and let them know. They will then ask you to submit a letter asking for the information to be corrected and why.

Then check back in 30 days, to make sure the information has been corrected. If not, you will need to write them another letter. This may end up being an involved process because you usually have to write to them several times, before the information is corrected.

There are ways that you can improve your credit rating such as making your payments on time and keeping the balance on your credit cards low. You will need to work on improving your credit card, as there is no quick fix.

If you want to obtain more credit there are ways you can do this .It is best to request a higher limit on your current card rather than collecting more cards. You certainly can collect more cards, but you are still responsible for making those payments and it will not help your credit score.

Most likely the lower your credit score the higher the interest payment. You will end up paying more money. Also you may end up with a lot of credit cards with little to no balances on them which will not help you either. Creditors are looking for history of payments. If you use the card, they want to make sure you are making payments in a timely fashion and are meeting or exceeding the payment requested.

You may want to pay more than the minimum monthly requirement. The credit card company keeps track of your payments and will take note if you are able to pay more than the amount requested. This will demonstrate to them that you deserve more credit because you are choosing to pay more than you have to.

If you continually request an increase in your credit limit and keep getting denied you will need to inquire as to why and what you can do to improve your credit score. You may be surprised by the response as your creditor may have incorrect or outdated information.

If you are not aware of your credit score and plan on applying for a credit card or buy a house, you will certainly find out your credit score quickly. Your lender will request that information.

Your credit score is based on a variety of elements including your history of making payments, the amount of debt that you have, how long you have obtained credit, if you are a new creditor and the types of credit you have had and used in the past.

The 3 large credit bureaus, Equifax, Trans Union and Experian, manage and formulate the credit scores. Each one has a different means of determining the individual’s overall credit score.

As you know, or will find out your credit score is very important. When a lender is considering loan money to you, they put themselves at risk that you will not pay them back in a timely fashion or at all. However, they are collecting interest, which is essentially how they are paid back.

So the creditor is investigating you to determine if you are a good credit risk or not. They will request your credit score and then make that determination.

If you have a low credit score you will pay a higher interest rate and you will have a harder time obtaining credit. However, a high credit score will mean lower rates and low monthly payments.

Credit scores are an easy way for lenders to obtain a lot of information about quickly so that they can make a fast decision. If you are applying for a loan, you will certainly want to know as quickly as possible if you are approved or not.

The object is to keep credit scoring objective free. So decisions are not made based on a person’s sex, religion or other factors which may be perceived as discriminatory.

This helps streamline the process and make it quick and relatively painless for everyone involved.

If you are trying to obtain a car loan or buying a house, you will want to make sure you know what your credit score is. The decision regarding whether you will obtain credit and your interest rate will most likely be determined by your credit score.

You will want to check your credit score on a regular basis to assure that the information is correct. The lenders want a concise brief overview of your credit history in order to determine if you are a good credit risk. The credit score provides this information. The higher your credit score, the better off you are as far as being approved for a loan and paying a lower interest rate.

The Fair Isaac Corporation has devised a calculator to assess all of the information and then to make the determination about the credit score. The three major credit agencies use this information. However, sometimes the information is inaccurate so make sure you regularly check your credit information to assure the information is current and correct.

However, your credit score is not the only information that creditors look at. They will also look at how long you have lived at your current address, salary, how long you have been at your current job, bill paying history and the amount of debt that you have.

The Fair Isaac Corporation gives each one of these factors a percentage and then the combination is your score. The scores range between 300 and 800. The higher your score, the better credit rating you have.

If you are interested in checking your credit score, ask for a copy of your credit report. If there are errors on the report, contact the credit bureau and let them know. Then recheck your report again in a few weeks. If the information has not been corrected, submit something to them in writing and ask them to respond or to correct the error.

It is not uncommon to find errors. Once you review it, you may be surprised by what you find. You may find out dated information, inaccurate information and partial reports. Your creditors may follow up with them on a semi regular basis and the information may not be current.

Once you review the information, you may want to contact them directly with questions. There are also agencies that offer free services to assist you with negotiating with the creditors to reduce your payments and to discuss payment options.

Most creditors will work with you if you have extenuating circumstances and may need more time to pay off the debt or to negotiate a settlement. Try to work with your creditors so that you are able to improve your score and hopefully, lower your interest rates.