As the nation is becoming more conscious of the importance a credit score means to their financial stability and options when it comes to financing, credit score improvement is a topic every consumer should be aware of and an activity to be working towards. People are realizing that its not just them having trouble paying bills and keeping debt at bay. Conversation about debt and credit flows a bit more freely now, with less of a stigma. But regardless of how society views consumer debt, the reality is that lenders are looking at consumer credit more closely than ever before.

Credit score standards have risen. It now takes a score of 720 or more to be considered in the excellent category. Anyone with blemishes on their credit history can work at improving their score on their own. While there is third-party assistance being advertised, many companies make promises they are just not capable of keeping but still happy to charge you money. You can work to improve your score on your own and we have compiled three sure-fire ways to bring up your credit score:

Pay Off Your Credit Cards
While eliminating debt will likely increase your overall credit score, paying down and paying off credit cards can make a dramatic difference in your credit score and to lenders. There should be a sizable difference between the amount of credit that is available to you and the amount of credit you are using. Additionally, if you are only financially capable of paying down debts, make sure you pay them each month on time. Your payment history makes up a large part of your credit score.

Use Your Old Cards Now and Then
One of the reasons financial experts recommend not closing your credit card accounts even if you are not using them is because of your credit history. If you close accounts that you have had for the longest period of time, you will hurt your credit score. By maintaining and occasionally using (then paying off in full) your oldest credit cards, that information will still continue to be reported to the credit bureaus and in turn, bear weight on the formula that makes up your credit score.

Reverse Old Negatives/Correct Big Mistakes
When you get a copy of your credit report, chances are good there are some mistakes on it as the result of human error. You want to analyze your credit report for these mistakes and then take the appropriate measures to have them corrected. Some of the major mistakes that should always be pursued are:

• Accounts listed as settled or charged off when you actually paid them in full as agreed

• Credit limits that have been reported lower than they really are

• Information that is not yours but still listed on your credit report

• Negative information that is older than seven years which should no longer be listed on your report, pr ten years under a bankruptcy

• Accounts that are being listed as unpaid but were part of a bankruptcy

In addition to the correction of errors on your credit report, you also may want to try and dispute negative information that is old but still listed on your report. Smaller bills that were collection accounts are things you might be able to get taken off your report because often the companies will not go through the trouble of verifying the old accounts. If the debt is not verifiable, the credit bureau must remove it from your credit report.