Two things you can do today to raise you credit report score tomorrow

Well, maybe not tomorrow, but on your next credit report.

Credit report score tip number one

The fastest way to raise your credit report score is to become an authorized user on another person’s rock solid, high-limit credit card account. Credit savvy parents have used this technique for years to give their children a fast start to a good credit rating. The credit reporting bureaus will report the donor’s account on the recipient’s (authorized user) credit report just like the account was his own.

Equifax announced last year that it would not include authorized user accounts in its FICO 2008 credit scoring formula because this technique had been gamed to death by people selling authorized user status to total strangers. There were so many complaints from the millions of legitimate authorized users that Equifax has withdrawn its announcement and will include authorized user accounts in its most recent credit scoring formula.

Credit report score tip number two

As you will read further down in this report, the amount of available credit that appears on your credit report is a big factor in your credit report score calculation. The more available and unused credit you have on your credit report the higher your credit report score will be.

The Federal Reserve Board found out that 75% of the credit card companies do not tell the credit reporting agencies the actual credit limits on their customers’ accounts. Here’s how that affects your credit report score.

Say you have a credit card with a $15,000 credit limit but the most you have ever charged on that credit card is $3,000. If the credit card company does not report the $15,000 limit then the credit bureaus will use the only information they have about that account and report your credit limit as $3,000 – instead of $15,000. In some cases that means that your credit report score can be 80 points lower than it should be if it had been calculated with the correct credit limit information.

Check your credit reports. If the credit limit on any of your accounts is too low then call the credit issuer and complain. They are not required by law to do anything about it but if you are successful you will raise your credit report score with a telephone call.

One thing you can and must do to improve your credit report score…