As lenders revise their requirements on the FICO credit score in 2008, you may find that you are being offered higher interest rates or lower lending limits even if your score hasn’t changed. People are scrambling to find new ways to improve their score and taking out a payday advance can be a wily way to do that.

Now, a credit score of 720 (and sometimes 750) is the new line in the sand that determines lending at the best rates. So, if you’ve been gliding along with a perfectly good 680 and now find yourself looking at higher interest rates or restrictive lending amounts, you might want to be proactive and take the time to learn how to raise your score. These are ways to raise your FICO score over time:

  • Get copies of your credit score from the three different credit bureaus: TransUnion, Experian, and Equifax. They all may have different information. Dispute and correct bad entries. Keep checking to make sure corrections are made to raise the score.
  • Always pay your bills on time. Late payments adversely affect your credit score.
  • Take out new small loans, like payday advances, and pay them off in full and promptly to build your credit history.
  • Reduce your debt load, paying off credit cards first. You should either reduce or eliminate your revolving credit balance.
  • Keep the account open so it doesn’t lower your score.
  • If you don’t have your own account, set up a joint account to start a credit history.