Protecting & Improving Your Credit

In today’s world monitoring and managing your personal credit has become a necessity. The proliferation of identity theft and the myriad of problems associated with it have certainly increased awareness, but more can be done to protect your self. The following are widely recommended steps to protect your credit:

- Shred all unneeded documents
- Pull and review your credit report at least once yearly
- Secure all documents, especially if you have roommates
- Remove your name from mailing lists
- ONLY purchase online from secure sites

There are also many steps that you can take to either preserve your good credit or improve your existing credit. The absolute best thing you can do to sustain or improve your credit is paying your bills ON TIME. This has been talked about many times by leading finance experts as the number one way to improve your credit, which also means not paying your bills on time is the number one way to ruin your credit. The following are other ways commonly listed to improve your credit:

- Avoid high debt-to-income levels
- Avoid too many credit card balance transfers
- Avoid maxing out credit cards
- Avoid high revolving credit card balances
- Avoid having too many credit cards
- Avoid excessive credit inquires

There are obviously many things that can be done to sustain your good credit, but most importantly use good judgment and common sense.

The following are related links:

Annual Free Credit Report

Good Credit Information

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