• Subscribe
  • Log In
  • Home
  • Daily Diary
  • Asset Class
    • U.S. Equity
    • Fixed Income
    • Global Equity
    • Commodities
    • Currencies
  • Sector
    • Basic Materials
    • Consumer Discretionary
    • Consumer Staples
    • Energy
    • Financial Services
    • Healthcare
    • Industrials
    • Real Estate
    • Technology
    • Telecom Services
    • Transportation
    • Utilities
  • Latest
    • Articles
    • Video
    • Columnist Conversations
    • Best Ideas
    • Stock of the Day
  • Street Notes
  • Authors
    • Doug Kass
    • Bruce Kamich
    • Jim Cramer
    • Jim "Rev Shark" DePorre
    • Helene Meisler
    • Jonathan Heller
    • - See All -
  • Options
  • RMPIA
  • Switch Product
    • Action Alerts PLUS
    • Quant Ratings
    • Real Money
    • Real Money Pro
    • Retirement
    • Stocks Under $10
    • TheStreet
    • Top Stocks
    • Trifecta Stocks
  1. Home
  2. / Video

Top 3 Ways You Can Increase Your Credit Rating This Year

Keeping tabs on your credit rating can be an ongoing headache. Just one late payment can skew years of efficiency. But hope could be on the horizon.
By AMELIA MARTYN-HEMPHILL
Mar 12, 2015 | 10:24 AM EDT

Keeping tabs on your credit rating can be an ongoing headache. Just one late payment can skew years of efficiency. But hope could be on the horizon. Credit bureaus are adopting new scoring models that may help boost credit scores and lower interest rates. Here are the three big changes we're watching. California credit bureau Experian has started including rent and utility payments as part of their credit score. If you pay these bills on time you'll have a fuller credit history and receive lower loan rates. By adding the rental data, the number of consumers labelled as sub prime dropped nearly 20 percent and those in the non prime risk segment increased by 92 percent. This is good news for consumer groups like recent college grads. The new scoring method will help bring down crushingly high interest rates for new customers. A new way of classifying consumers called 'Credit Vision' includes additional data. This extra information reveals trends and behavior that can help increase credit scores. If you're paying more than the minimum amount due, making on time payments and reducing your debt over time your credit score will be increased. The new model means that nearly 3 million previously un-scored consumers can now be placed into the prime or super prime risk tiers. That means more loan options and lower interest rates. Great news for many millennials or first time home owners.

Get an email alert each time I write an article for Real Money. Click the "+Follow" next to my byline to this article.

TAGS: Personal Finance | Video | Credit Cards | Credit Ratings |

More from Video

Amid the Selling, Here's the Big Question Now

James "Rev Shark" DePorre
Feb 25, 2021 4:43 PM EST

How quickly do we find support, is what we'll want to know now, as the correction is occurring while economic optimism builds.

One Tweet Pulls the Rug Out From Under the Indexes

James "Rev Shark" DePorre
Oct 6, 2020 4:44 PM EDT

Despite the president's promise of no stimulus until after Nov. 3, there are no signs yet that this is the sort of correlated selling that leads to a deep correction.

A Technical Look at the New Dow Jones Industrial Average

Bruce Kamich
Aug 25, 2020 1:11 PM EDT

Salesforce, Amgen and Honeywell will give a lift to the DJIA going forward.

Conagra Brands Looks Tastier After Its Upgrade to Buy

Bruce Kamich
Dec 30, 2019 12:39 PM EST

CAG has hung onto the bulk of its recent gains, and could rise to the $50 area, according to the charts and indicators.

Biogen Bulls Get a Lift From Quant Upgrade and Strengthening Charts

Bruce Kamich
Oct 30, 2019 1:13 PM EDT

Breaking down an approach to the long side of this biotech stock.

Real Money's message boards are strictly for the open exchange of investment ideas among registered users. Any discussions or subjects off that topic or that do not promote this goal will be removed at the discretion of the site's moderators. Abusive, insensitive or threatening comments will not be tolerated and will be deleted. Thank you for your cooperation. If you have questions, please contact us here.

Email

CANCEL
SUBMIT

Email sent

Thank you, your email to has been sent successfully.

DONE

Oops!

We're sorry. There was a problem trying to send your email to .
Please contact customer support to let us know.

DONE

Please Join or Log In to Email Our Authors.

Email Real Money's Wall Street Pros for further analysis and insight

Already a Subscriber? Login

Columnist Conversation

  • 11:38 AM EST GARY BERMAN

    The INDU and DIA

    FIBOCALL: The INDU index and the DIA The INDU ...
  • 10:44 AM EST JAMES "REV SHARK" DEPORRE

    This Weekend on Real Money

    "The Challenge of Short-Selling"
  • 08:40 AM EST PAUL PRICE

    Recent Pick SpartanNash (SPTN) Raised Its Quarterly Payout by 3.9%

  • See More

COLUMNIST TWEETS

  • A Twitter List by realmoney
About Privacy Terms of Use

© 1996-2021 TheStreet, Inc., 225 Liberty Street, 27th Floor, New York, NY 10281

Need Help? Contact Customer Service

Except as otherwise indicated, quotes are delayed. Quotes delayed at least 20 minutes for all exchanges. Market Data & Company fundamental data provided by FactSet. Earnings and ratings provided by Zacks. Mutual fund data provided by Valueline. ETF data provided by Lipper. Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions Group.

TheStreet Ratings updates stock ratings daily. However, if no rating change occurs, the data on this page does not update. The data does update after 90 days if no rating change occurs within that time period.

FactSet calculates the Market Cap for the basic symbol to include common shares only. Year-to-date mutual fund returns are calculated on a monthly basis by Value Line and posted mid-month.

Compare Brokers

Please Join or Log In to manage and receive alerts.

Follow Real Money's Wall Street Pros to receive real-time investing alerts

Already a Subscriber? Login