How to Improve Your Credit Score

Whether you’re shopping in Norwalk, Weston, or Fairfield, CT, knowing how to get a better credit score can be the difference between a quick, easy upgrade and a long, drawn-out ordeal. We’ve put together a basic guide with our most useful credit improvement tips, so you can focus on finding the new or pre-owned vehicle that will satisfy all of your needs.

How to Get a Better Credit Score

If you want to learn how to boost your credit score, the first thing you’ll need to understand is that credit results from many different factors. For that reason, there are quite a few things you can do to give yourself an edge during the application process.

Here, we’ve highlighted our top five tips to increase your credit score. A little further on, we’ll provide more detail on each of these strategies.

1. Know your credit score before you make any applications.
2. Assess your debts and open balances.
3. Reduce your existing debt by creating a payment plan.
4. If necessary, establish credit by opening a credit card and making on-time payments.
5. Make all of your credit applications within a 14-day window.

Know Your Credit

It’s a good idea to check your credit score on a regular basis, as long as you don’t have to make a “hard inquiry” in order to do so. If you’re planning to make a major application in the near future, it’s worth checking with all three major credit bureaus—Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion—in order to see how your scores compare. If there are major differences between the scores, or if something seems off more generally, you’ll want to inspect each report carefully and correct any errors.

What credit does Mercedes-Benz use? Generally, Mercedes-Benz Financial Services determines loan eligibility by checking FICO® Auto Score 9, from Experian.

Assess Your Debts

Even if you’ve kept up with payments and you have a solid history of meeting obligations, two factors can create a draw on your credit score. These are: your debt-to-income ratio, and the number of cards on your account with open balances.

If you’re looking for ways to raise your credit score, you can start by keeping your credit card balances below 30% of your credit limit. If you have many different cards, close out those with the smallest balances so you can work on repaying the larger ones.

Create a Payment Plan

This tip goes hand-in-hand with assessing your debts and making a plan to improve your position—but it’s worth repeating that a history of on-time payments can have a major impact on your credit. So, focus on making as many timely payments as you can, and devote any extra money to the debts with the highest interest rates.

Establish Your Credit

If you’ve never taken out a loan or you’ve never had a credit card, your credit may be low simply because you haven’t established yourself in the market. Remember, lenders want to know what kind of borrower you are—and you might need to prove that you can make payments on time if you want to be approved for a larger automotive loan.

Time Your Credit Applications

If you are constantly applying for new and different lines of credit, this may be taken as a red flag for lenders. Although it’s alright to make new applications on occasion, you need to keep a few things in mind if you’re going to ‘shop around’ before securing a major loan. Most importantly, you’ll want to keep all of your new applications within a 14-day window. This eliminates the risk that many different credit requests will be held against you.

What Credit Score Does Mercedes-Benz Require?

You’ve got our best tips to increase a credit score, but where should you set your target? Generally speaking, a credit score of at least 700 is required to lease a vehicle. If you’re looking to finance, the credit requirement may be lower. Moreover, loans for newer, more expensive vehicles are likely to have higher requirements than loans for older and less expensive options.

With all this said, it’s important to note that getting approved is one thing; getting an interest rate that works for you is another. Those with lower credit are likely to pay more in interest—which could mean higher monthly payments. If you have room in your current financial plan to make higher payments, choosing a shorter loan term could reduce your total costs.

Find Out More Ways to Raise Credit Score at Mercedes-Benz of Fairfield

If you want to know more about how to get a better credit score, all you need to do is get in touch with our financing team at Call sales Phone Number(877) 557-5298. If you’d like to continue your research online, don’t wait to explore our other automotive financing guides and tips. We believe that every Westport-area driver deserves a vehicle that leaves nothing to be desired, and we’ll do everything in our power to help you reach your goals!