Improving your credit score doesn’t happen overnight. The internet is awash with quick fixes, but making a real and sustained difference takes time and a strategic approach.

Whether you’re applying for a mortgage or a mobile phone contract, a Credit card or a loan, your credit rating is one of the main things lenders will assess you on. Of course, they’ll look at other things too, such as the amount you want to borrow.

They might also ask how long you want to borrow for, how much you earn, and how much you have in savings. But these are things you can’t really change; savings take time to build up, a pay rise is up to your boss, and how much you want to borrow depends on what you need the money for.

Your credit rating, though, is in your hands – it’s something you can change over time. So,  how do you build and improve your credit rating? You probably already know that you need to pay off your existing debts and get a credit card, and these things do help. But there’s a lot more you need to do on top of this.

Luckily, there’s no need to fear – the more ways you can boost your credit rating, the more chance you have of successfully doing it. We take a look at some of the most effective ways to really improve your rating.

Get on the roll to get things rolling

The electoral roll, or electoral register, is simply a record of your name, address and date of birth, used for determining where you’re registered to vote.

For lenders, it acts as proof that you are who you say you are, and that your details are correct. As credit score provider Equifax points out: “It is very important that lenders are able to confirm your identity to avoid problems with fraud and identity theft – the more security that lenders have in terms of information, the more confident they are in lending money.”

To check if you’re correctly registered, visit About My Vote to find your local registration office. Then, simply contact them to find out if you’re registered and, if any details are incorrect, make sure they’re amended as soon as possible.

This will also have the added benefit of making your life easier at the next election – after all, it’s technically a legal requirement to be correctly registered, enforceable by a £1,000 fine.

Use your utilisation rate

We all know how important it is to build your credit history, for example by taking and repaying small loans or by using a credit card.

This lets lenders see that you’re a responsible borrower who keeps up to speed with their repayments. What a lot of people don’t know about is that lenders also check your credit utilisation rate.

This sounds technical, but it’s just the amount that you actually borrow compared to how much you’re allowed to borrow. According to credit rating agency Experian, you should try to have “an overall utilisation rate of no more than 30 per cent, but the lower the better”.

Right now, you’re probably thinking that paying off a balance early will get you a zero rate, but sadly it doesn’t work like that; the balance reported to credit agencies is what appears on your statements, and paying it off early won’t change that.

The best thing to do is to keep your rate low over a long time – use a credit card to pay for a few small things every month, but keep an eye on how much you spend. That way, you’ll slowly build up a good impression with lenders and credit reference agencies.

Apply the app mentality

Budgeting is of utmost importance when working on your credit rating.

You need to live within your means, pay off small debts, and make sure you never miss a repayment for your outstanding loans. This is all very easy when things are going well, but the best-laid plans can fall apart when unexpected expenses and personal issues arise.

Thankfully, technology has come to the rescue here, with budgeting and loan management apps making it easy to make and reschedule repayments, and, in the case of Lending Stream’s app, apply for further short-term credit through your phone.

Used over a long time, budgeting apps can help you to stick to good habits that can help you show lenders that you’re a responsible borrower who regularly gets approved for small loans, and is able to pay them off at the right time. At the end of the day, this is what lenders are looking for, and it helps to put yourself in their shoes.

Ask yourself ‘do I seem like a low risk?’. The answer might not be ‘yes’ straight away, but if you commit to a long-term approach to boost your credit rating, that is sure to change in time.

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