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TV host Pam Krueger has a retired friend who, when a car accident landed her in the hospital, was still paying all her bills the old-fashioned way: by mail.
But while the woman was recuperating, those bills piled up — and she forgot to pay them.
“So now her credit score has really been damaged because she has a couple of late payments,” says Krueger, creator and cohost of the PBS series MoneyTrack and cohost of the Friends Talk Money podcast, which gives financial advice to people 50 and older. “It’s hard to fix that.”
The good news, both for Krueger’s friend and for other people 50+ with subpar credit scores? There are ways to raise your credit score fairly quickly — and some steps take as little as a few minutes.
“If you really want to work on your credit score, you can seriously see material changes and start to make improvements within a month,” says William Gogolak, an assistant teaching professor of finance at Carnegie Mellon University, who specializes in credit scores and debt.
Why credit scores matter, even for older adults
Most creditors and lenders consider a potential borrower's FICO score, which ranges from 300 to 850, before offering them credit or lending them money. A poor credit score — generally, a FICO score below 580, according to the credit bureau Experian — can make it harder for would-be borrowers to get approved for loans or to qualify for the best interest rates. “It’s so important to not lose your good standing,” says Krueger, particularly if you’re a retiree, “because now you’re living on a fixed income, and you might need to borrow money” at some point, such as to cover a surprise hospital bill.
A low credit score can also have lesser-known side effects. It could make it more difficult to rent an apartment or even prevent you from getting a cell phone plan.
Don’t panic, though. Here are five ways you can raise your score — pronto.
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