Are You "Working On Your Credit"?
Episode description
I speak with so many people that say they are "working on their credit." When I ask them what that means to them, they share all sorts of answers but it is often along the lines of: paying my bills on time, not allowing new collections, or disputing prior negative accounts. That's just maintenance and a little temporary help. If you have prior negatives, and they are truly yours, disputing will be a temporary fix and the dispute removed within 30 days. You you should be paying your bills on time anyway! That is not "working on" that is simply maintenance.
Working on credit should mean improving. So removing or settling past mistakes (sometimes, not always!), getting new and positive tradelines and keeping your debt utilization low. That is "working on" your credit profile. Lower credit scores costs you more in interest charges so work on getting your scores as high as possible!