Spring, as a season, has a great energy of renewal and replenishment. It’s a time to get things in order from having the traditional Spring Clean to taking care of the garden and starting to exercise outdoors now that the lighter nights will soon be on their way.
Spring, of course, is also known as a time for home improvements, renovations, and getting out the old and bringing in the new in terms of furniture and home decor, but home isn’t limited to these aesthetics. Home is a feeling, and in many ways, it’s a feeling of stability and safety. One thing that seems to get in the way of this, however, is financial concerns – be that avoiding bills as they keep landing through the letterbox or a nagging fear things might not be as rosy as you would like.
Indeed, checking your credit history can feel a bit like getting a medical check-up, in that it’s not something you look forward to, but it’s better to know where things stand than bury your head in the sand, as this way, you are in the empowered position to deal with the situation and nip issues in the bud rather than let them snowball into something huge.
This article offers a three-step formula to take control of your credit history, as in many ways, establishing good credit is much like a pesto recipe in that there are only a few simple ingredients that need to be blended together… it doesn’t have to be as complicated as we sometimes feel it is.
FIND OUT WHERE YOU ARE: CHECK YOUR CREDIT REPORT
The first step is to check your credit report as if your score is less than desirable you are now in the empowered position to take immediate action and start repairing your credit score.
The first thing is to check your credit report is for errors; as some credit reports contain many errors due to issues such as identity fraud – be sure to check there are no late payments incorrectly listed for any accounts and dispute any errors you find with the credit bureau who can be surprisingly helpful in getting things rectified.
DAMAGE MANAGEMENT: GET BACK ON TRACK
If you have missed payments, then stop worrying about this – the damage is done – all you have control over is the current moment which will directly affect what happens next, and the best thing you can do moving forward is to ensure your bills are paid on time.
It can feel overwhelming, once you’ve fallen behind to get back on track, and this is when most people start drowning or burying their heads in the sand – they let things spiral out of control rather than addressing them, but think of a car with no driver… the longer that car is left to drive without direction the more likelihood of a horrific disaster.
The trick is to get back on track by getting up to date with your bills, even if that involves looking into something like bad credit loans from Evolution Money, so that no further damage is done to your credit file – and then you have the chance to stay on track and repair your credit.
BUILD UP YOUR SCORE: USE CREDIT CARDS
There are many myths around credit cards. But one of the best ways to build up your credit score and repair your credit is to use your credit card often and pay off the balance in full each month. Financial organisations want to feel assured that you can manage your finances and repay credit on time. They don’t see it as a good thing that you don’t have debt. They see you as an unknown quantity, which from a bank’s perspective, spells out major risk!
The more you use your available credit, and pay it off, on-time each month the higher your score will be and the sooner you will repair your credit, because it shows a pattern of good behaviour; rather than “no behaviour” at all. The misconception that having no credit, or not using the credit available to you, is perceived as a good thing can be quite affronting when you check your credit report to find out you have a low score due to not previously having (or using) available credit.
