American Consumer Credit Counseling provides ten tips for millennials so they can start improving their credit now
Boston, MA – October 11, 2017
Many Millennials struggle to build their credit. If Millennials are not improving their credit, they often can’t access the lowest interest rates which can limit financial opportunities such buying a house or car. National nonprofit American Consumer Credit Counseling provides Millennials with tips so they can start improving their credit now.
“It is important for Millennials to establish good credit because it dictates their purchasing power and can result in thousands of dollars of additional savings – or costs – down the road,” said Steve Trumble, President and CEO of American Consumer Credit Counseling, which is based in Newton, MA. “Good credit is a type of financial trustworthiness that affects your ability to make big lifetime purchases such as buying a house.”
According to a new survey by LendEDU, 25 percent of Millennials don’t know what a credit score is. Although the majority understand the definition of a credit score, few know how to improve it. Of the respondents, 44 percent say that increasing credit utilization will improve their score and 36 percent believe that maxing out their credit card and paying it back on time will improve their credit score.
American Consumer Credit Counseling helps Millennials improve their credit:
- Create a plan to improve your credit score – look at any problem areas and address them one at a time.
- Pay ALL your bills on time – not paying bills on time or paying them late can hurt your credit score.
- Pay bills early or twice a month –pay down all of your bill before the statement period ends, even if that means making two monthly installments.
- If you have a missed payment, catch up – be sure to make any lost or missed payment fast in order to bring your bills up to date.
- Don’t hit your credit limit – use no more than a third of your credit limit if you don’t want to hurt your score.
- Don’t apply for every credit card – too many credit inquiries in a short period of time can hurt your credit score.
- Only spend what you can afford – don’t use credit cards to live beyond your means. One rule is to limit spending to what you can afford to pay back in full each month.
- Work on creating a credit history – to establish a solid credit history, you want to have credit accounts that are open for 10 or more years.
- Pull a credit report from each of the three credit bureaus – spot any potential errors and dispute these errors immediately.
- Limit the amount of credit inquiries on your file – soft inquiries, such as a background check, don’t impact your score. Hard inquiries, when a lender reviews your credit report, will lower your score.
ACCC is a 501(c)3 organization that provides free credit counseling, bankruptcy counseling, and housing counseling to consumers nationwide in need of financial literacy education and money management. For more information, contact ACCC:
- For credit counseling, call 800-769-3571
- For bankruptcy counseling, call 866-826-6924
- For housing counseling, call 866-826-7180
- Or visit us online at http://www.ConsumerCredit.com
About American Consumer Credit Counseling
American Consumer Credit Counseling (ACCC) is a nonprofit credit counseling 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to empowering consumers to achieve financial management through credit counseling, debt management, bankruptcy counseling, housing counseling, student loan counseling and financial education concerning debt solutions. To help consumers reach their goal of debt relief, ACCC provides a range of free consumer personal finance resources on a variety of topics including budgeting, credit and debt management, student loan assistance, youth and money, homeownership, identity theft, senior living, and retirement. Consumers can use ACCC’s worksheets, videos, calculators, and blog articles to make the best possible decisions regarding their financial future. ACCC holds an A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau and is a member of the National Foundation for Credit Counseling® (NFCC®). For more information or to access free financial education resources, log on to ConsumerCredit.com or visit https://www.consumercredit.com/debt-resources-tools/
