7 Free Methods to Improve Your Credit Score

Pay Down Credit Card Balances (Strategic Timing)

Credit utilization (your balance divided by your limit) is 30% of your FICO score. Here's what most people miss: it resets every month with no memory.

That means if you pay down your balances before your statement closing date (not the due date), your score can jump dramatically by the next month.

The target: Keep utilization under 9% — ideally 1-9% on one card, 0% on the rest. People with 800+ scores average 4.1% utilization, not the 30% you hear everywhere.

Learn the AZEO method →

Become an Authorized User

Ask a family member with excellent credit to add you as an authorized user on their credit card. You inherit their account history — including years of on-time payments — without needing the card.

Studies show: Authorized users can see 10-30% score improvement once the account reports.

Best banks for this: Chase, Citi, Discover, Capital One, Bank of America, US Bank (all backdate full history). American Express does NOT backdate.

Full authorized user guide →

Add Experian Boost

Experian Boost scans your bank account for utility, phone, insurance, and streaming payments you already make — then adds them to your Experian credit file instantly.

Official Experian data:

• Average increase: 13 points
• For thin files / poor credit: 22+ points
• 47% of "unscorable" people became scorable

Catch: Only affects your Experian file, not TransUnion or Equifax.

Does Experian Boost actually work? →

Dispute Credit Report Errors

1 in 5 credit reports has an error. If yours does, fixing it is free and can produce the biggest score jump of any method on this list.

CFPB data: 99.6% of complaints get a response. 52% result in relief (corrections, deletions, etc.).

Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, bureaus must investigate and respond within 30 days. You don't need a credit repair company — they just send the same letters you can send yourself.

What to dispute: Wrong balances, wrong payment status, accounts that aren't yours, items older than 7 years, paid collections still showing as unpaid.

DIY dispute guide with templates →

Send Goodwill Letters for Late Payments

If you have a one-time late payment on an otherwise good account, you can ask the creditor to remove it as a courtesy. This is called a "goodwill letter."

Success rate: Up to 79% when you have 12+ months of on-time payments before and after the incident.

Best targets: Credit unions, Synchrony Bank, smaller regional banks. Chase and Bank of America rarely honor these.

The letter admits fault, explains the circumstances, highlights your positive history, and requests removal from all three bureaus. Keep it under 300 words.

Request Credit Limit Increases

A higher credit limit = lower utilization (same balance, bigger denominator). Many issuers do this with a soft pull — no score impact.

Soft-pull limit increases: American Express, Capital One (usually), Bank of America, Discover, most credit unions.

Always ask first: "Will this request result in a hard inquiry?" If yes, consider skipping it unless you need the increase badly.

Keep Old Accounts Open (Don't Close Cards)

Closing credit cards hurts your score two ways: it removes that credit limit from your utilization calculation, AND eventually removes that account's age from your history.

The exception: If the card has an annual fee you're not getting value from, closing it may be worth the temporary score hit. Otherwise, keep it open and put a small recurring charge on it to keep it active.

Fun fact: People with 850 credit scores have an average oldest account of 30 years.