Your credit score is calculated from a lot of different credit data in your credit report, so there is no formula that guarantees your score will go up in any specified period of time. The factors that affect your credit score include things like your payment history, the length of your credit history, the amount of debt you have, and the percentage of credit you use in relation to the amount of credit that is available to you.

Before you can start working on improving the information that affects your credit score, you need to make sure that no new negative information is being reported on your credit report. For example, you don’t want to have an open credit card account on which the lender, on a monthly basis, continues to report you as being delinquent. It’s fine if you have existing negative information on your credit report, but it is important that you cut off any additional negative information from coming in before you can start improving your score.

Assuming that you have no new negative information coming in on a monthly basis, the pace at which you can improve your credit score depends on how much positive information is required to overcome your existing negative or limited credit history. If you have a lot of negative information on your credit report, it will take longer and you will need more positive information in order to improve your score than if you are starting with a fair or limited credit history.

It is always better, no matter where you are starting from, to have as much positive information as possible reported on your credit report on a monthly basis. For example, three credit card accounts reporting that you are on time with your payments is better than one account, and a credit limit of $2,000 is better than $200.

While the rate your credit score will improve is based on many factors, there are steps you can take to work towards a better credit score as quickly as possible. The more you do, the faster your credit score will improve:

• Have at least one loan or credit card that is open and in good standing so that you will be reported to the 3 major credit bureaus that you are on time with your payments every month
• If possible, keep your oldest credit card open so that lenders can see that you can handle credit responsibly for an extended period of time
• Keep your debt-to-available-credit ratio low so that lenders can see that you are using a responsible amount of the credit that is available to you (we recommend 60% or less)
• Maximize the amount of credit available to you

If you do all of these things, it is fairly typical to see a significant improvement in your credit score within a year.

For more details, please see our page on how to improve your credit score.