Did you know there is no reason you should pay for your credit score? Credit scores are provided by the three main companies, Equifax, Transunion and Experian, to companies to make sure you as a borrower are credit worthy. These companies sell this information about you the consumer and make millions of dollars every year off this information.

Because they are selling the information to these companies, there is no reason for you to pay for your credit score. They make their profits off the companies by providing a service, and don’t need to profit off of you the consumer.

Another company that is involved in the credit industry is FICO. FICO also provides a credit score on your behalf to lenders, and this score is commonly referred to as your FICO score. FICO has been around since the 1950’s, and is an established name in the credit industry.

Once a year, the law requires that people can receive their credit score free from the major credit score companies. The credit score should not be a secret, and you are allowed to access it online. If you receive an offer to buy your credit score, you should probably not use it unless you have already gotten your free credit score for the year.

One thing to watch out for when receiving your credit score is the amount of other services companies will offer you with your score. They will try and charge you for credit monitoring, or a break down on what areas you are scoring the lowest. Feel free to purchase these if they are important to you, but a yearly score update is normally enough information for most people.

The reason most people stress over credit scores is because their credit is not in a condition they are proud of. To improve your credit score, often called credit repair, there are some well established steps to follow.

One of the interesting ways you can help your credit score is to make your payments on time. While not carrying a balance is a good way to establish a better credit score, unfortunately most people do have a credit card balance. If you make your payments every month on your card though, you will be able to improve your credit score.

The next step a person can take to improve their credit score is increase the amount available on their cards, but not charge the full amount. The percentage of your card you use is one of the ways a person is dinged on their credit score. For example, if you only have $3,000 worth of credit card debt, but you only have a card with a max limit of $3,500, you are using over 85% of your credit limit. A lot of analysts suggest people use a limit of 30% as the max amount you should have charged on your card. To achieve this level in the example above, you would either need to pay off some of your $3,000 balance, or increase the $3,500 max.

Another way you can increase your credit score is receiving another type of loan. It could be a student loan or a car loan, but having multiple types of loans on your credit record can help you raise your credit score right away.

If you follow the tips above to check your credit score once a year, make your payments on time, increase the percentage of available credit, and have another loan on your credit score besides a credit card, you will be on your way to having a higher credit score in a few short months, and become a lenders dream.