How can I raise my credit score 150 points in 30 days?

You can raise your credit score 150 points in 30 days by disputing errors on your credit report, paying off past-due accounts, and lowering your credit utilization. Creditors typically report updated information monthly, so it is possible to improve your score by 150 points in 30 days. It will likely take several months for your score to realize its full potential, though.

You can use WalletHub’s free credit score simulator to learn how different actions can affect your credit. You can also learn more about popular credit improvement strategies below.

How to Raise Your Credit Score 150 Points in 30 Days

Pay Down Your Credit Card Balances

Both credit utilization and the total amount of debt you carry affect your credit score. Paying down your credit card balances benefits both metrics. For example, your score could increase by approximately 20 to 50 points if you pay off some of your credit card balance and drop your credit utilization from 50% to 30%.

Credit utilization measures how much of your total credit limit you are using each month. It’s calculated by dividing your statement balance by your credit limit – for each credit card you have and for all of them added together. The ideal credit utilization ratio is 1-10%, though anything under 30% is still considered good.

Pay Off Accounts in Collections

Paying off accounts in collections can improve your credit score, depending on the scoring model. Newer credit scoring models, such as VantageScore 3.0 and 4.0 and FICO Score 9 and 10, ignore collection accounts with a $0 balance. Therefore, paying collections accounts could boost your score over 100 points. However, scores generated by older models are not impacted by paid collections.

Dispute Credit Report Errors

If there are any adverse account details or entries dragging down your score, you can dispute the information with the three major credit bureaus. Errors, such as an on-time payment marked as late, can drop your credit score by as much as 100 points. You won’t harm your credit score by disputing errors, and if you can actually get the error removed from your credit report, you can quickly see an increase your score.

Add Rent or Utility Payments to Your Credit Report

Rent and utility payments are not automatically reported to the credit bureaus, but you can use a third-party service to add the accounts to your credit report. Adding new tradelines with on-time payments to your credit report can improve your score by 10 to 60 points.

Become an Authorized User

When you become an authorized user on a friend’s or family member’s credit card account, you can give your credit score a boost, especially if that person has good or excellent credit. Their account will be listed on your credit report, and you will benefit from information about on-time payments and low credit utilization being reported to the credit bureaus every month. This will help you more in the long term than the next 30 days, but it’s important to start somewhere.

Although you can take a number of actions to positively impact your credit, how much your score goes up also depends on your current credit score. If you already have good to excellent credit, you may not experience enormous gains by disputing errors, paying down debt or increasing your credit limits. However, if your credit is poor, taking these steps will have a greater effect.

Bear in mind, improving your credit score is usually a long-term process, spanning several months and even years in some instances. To learn more, check out WalletHub’s guide on how to improve your credit score. You can also track your progress by checking your credit report and your credit score for free here on WalletHub. In addition to daily updates to your credit score and report, you will get personalized credit-improvement tips.