万花筒 2008-04-01&-4-02 狂刷你的信用积分

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Falling home prices means more opportunities for buyers, but with lending standards tightening¹, improving your credit score is more important than ever.

If you wanna guarantee yourself the best rates and the best terms that any lender has to offer, you really need to be boasting a 750 across the board. Now, of course you can still get approved with a score lower than 750. You can even get credit in the mid-600s but your- you should not expect the best rates and the best terms in the mid-600s.

The easiest way to give your credit score a boost² is to pay off high credit card balances and avoid opening new lines of credit. If you are in credit score-improving mode, you really need to kind of take a step back, no knee-jerk reactions and tackle³ the things that are costing you the most. Pay off the collections or settle them, pay down the credit card debt as much as possible, and by all means do not exit the credit environment as a means for improving your credit score.

And be aware, closing credit cards just because you rarely use them will not help your credit score. Hold on to older credit cards. The longer you've managed credit, the better your score will be. And that's this week's Right On Your Money.