6 Ways to Keep Your Credit Score as High as Possible in Vancouver

Your credit score is a three digit number calculated based on your current debt, credit available, and payment history. Your credit score affects your mortgage and can also affect the interest rate you’re eligible for. If you’re thinking of purchasing a home soon, you want to get that score as high as possible so you qualify for a better interest rate. 

Living in a city as expensive as Vancouver, British Columbia, it’s more challenging than ever to keep your credit score high. We’ve created this list of

Six simple ways to improve your credit score in these challenging times while living in Vancouver:

1. Pay bills on time: When lenders review your credit report and request to see your credit score, they want to know how reliable you are with paying your bills. To build a good credit history, it’s important to make all your payments on time. In fact, payment history is the most important factor in calculating your credit score.

2. Stay within your limits: Although it’s easier said than done, do your best to stay within the credit limits of existing credit cards. Exceeding the limit will lower your credit score. Whenever possible, try to avoid using more than 35% of your available credit. 

3. Consolidate your debt: If staying within your limit feels impossible and you’re feeling overwhelmed, there are many ways to consolidate your debt into lower interest rates and one monthly payment. Talk to your bank about your options and resources.

4. Pool your credit applications: It’s normal to apply for credit from time to time. For example, if you’re shopping around for a new car, each car dealership you go to might have to check your credit score. Try to make multiple credit inquiries in a short period of time, like a month or two. This is because these credit checks can negatively affect your credit score, but if you do several checks within a short period of time, they’ll show up on your report all together, keeping the lower score only in that timeframe. 

5. Look for mistakes on your credit report: When something negatively affects your credit score, it should only stay on your report for up to six years. That’s why it’s important to regularly check your credit report for errors that could negatively affect your score. Receive your credit report monthly and look for errors such as payments that were wrongly marked as late, errors in personal information, and negative information that’s still recorded after the six years, which is when it should be removed from the report. 

In British Columbia, you can request a credit report online for free from EQUIFAX or TransUnion, the two major Canadian credit bureaus.

6. Make a budget: To avoid costly and stressful credit card charges in the future, start budgeting today and get your credit under control. The Government of Canada has a great digital budget planner available for free. 

We hope this helped you come up with some solutions to improve your credit score. We know credit scores can be stressful, but there are many resources out there to help you. 
If you’re hoping to buy a home soon and have questions about when to finance a mortgage with your credit score, book a call with us and we’ll talk you through it.