The New Year is here, and if one of your New Year’s resolutions was to maintain a good credit score in 2013, here are some methods experts recommend to help you keep your resolution:
1. Make a financial plan, and set a budget. Your budget should include all daily expenses, and longer term expenses you see popping up during the year. 2. Check your credit report. Make sure there are no errors in your existing report. You want to start the year off with a clean slate, so this should definitely be a priority. To get the best picture possible of errors in your credit reporting, you need to check your report from all 3 national credit bureaus – Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion. 3. Use credit cards responsibly. While opening credit cards and paying them off in a timely manner can do good things for your credit history, using a credit card irresponsibly can do considerable damage. Make sure your credit card payment strategy is part of your larger financial plan. Your credit reporting provides a complete history and record of card accounts and credit you may have. 4. Tackle any debt you already have. Before digging yourself into an impossibly deep hole, make sure you settle any debt you may have accumulated.
This year should be all about starting new and fresh. Start the New Year off by following these best practice guidelines, and your credit may be in better shape than before! PrivacyGuard can also help you stick to your resolution. With PrivacyGuard, you can view your credit report and scores, set up credit monitoring alerts, and use the financial calculator suite that can help determine the best ways to pay down certain kinds of debt. These resources can certainly be helpful to you while working to achieve a good credit score in 2013!