Theirs a lot of ways to improve your credit score, but using a credit card is one of the easiest and most common methods people use to improve their credit score. You can use your credit card as much or as little as you want. So if you’re unsure about using your credit card to improve your score, then start small. Below is how to use your credit card to increase your credit score.

Pay on Time

Your payment history is the largest contributing factor behind your credit score. Your payment history is 35% of your credit score. Lenders want to make sure they’ll get their money back. So checking your payment history is usually the first place they look. So you want to make sure you’re always paying your credit card bill each month. Don’t worry about late fees, because if you’re trying to improve your credit score to secure a loan, then a higher interest rate will usually result costing more than fees.

Pay it Off

Your credit utilization ratio is the next biggest contributor to your credit score. It’s a fancy way of saying how much your available credit your using. If you’re using a lot of your available credit, your less likely to be able to handle paying all your debts. Lenders like seeing people who aren’t in debt or don’t use their credit much. Paying off your credit cards will lower your credit utilization ratio, which will boost your credit score. Experts recommend using less than 30% of your available credit each month.

One important misconception is that you need to keep a small balance on your credit card to improve your score. This is false. Keeping a small balance on your credit card cost you extra money in interest and does nothing to improve your score.

Another misconception is that you can max out your credit cards to get points and then pay them off. This will actually lower your credit score because lenders view you as dangerous because you use credit finance all your purchases. Remember, use 30% or less of your available credit.

Ask for a Credit Limit Increase

Getting a credit limit increase will increase your available credit. Which also lowers your credit utilization ration and helps improve your score. If you have multiple credit cards then ask for credit limit increases on a few cards. Even if you get denied it doesn’t negatively affect your credit score. So the worst thing that could happen is they say no.

You can also apply for new credit cards to increase your credit limit. But applying for credit stays on your credit report for two years and temporarily lowers your credit score.

Keep Your Accounts Open

The average age of your credit accounts makes up 15% of your credit score. However, a popular thought among people wanting to improve their credit score is to close/cancel their credit cards. This is actually a self-inflected credit score wound and not a good idea. Try to keep your oldest accounts open as they’ll help boost this factor of your credit score the most.

In addition, when you close a credit card you’re decreasing your available credit which may drive up your credit utilization ratio and hurt your credit score.

Follow these rules and you’ll start improving your credit score. It’s also a good idea to get your free annual credit report. It’s best to stay informed and educated about your credit situation. So if you want more frequent and detailed reports then check out CreditRepair.com or MyFreeScoreNow.com