The fastest way to keep your credit score up, or improve it dramatically, is to make your payments on all credit lines and loans on a timely basis. These are the companies that will report your payment history to the 3 big credit bureaus. Of course, when unemployed, it can be near impossible to do this.
But right now, a number of credit card companies and other debtors are allowing deferred payments or no payments at all during the COVID crisis. Contact your creditors to see which ones may be doing this. You may be able to pay others on-time from your unemployment or government stimulus checks.
If you have an emergency fund, use it very carefully, but it could keep your payments on-time for now.
Manage Your Spending Limits
Even in this day and age, it is amazing how few people really know what they spend and what for. Setting up a budget and tracking all your expenditures is a responsible and great habit to form. Most people have items they spend money on every month that they can reduce or eliminate in tough times. And the amount each month is often far more than they realized until they tracked their expenses. A simple coffee drink 3 times a week can add up to $60-75 per month. Going out to eat adds up even faster, even if it is cheaper food.
When times are tough, you should only make essential purchases. Track your expenses and set up a budget; you can meet and eliminate anything that is non-essential.
The fastest way to keep your credit score up, or improve it dramatically, is to make your payments on all credit lines and loans on a timely basis. These are the companies that will report your payment history to the 3 big credit bureaus. Of course, when unemployed, it can be near impossible to do this. Most people assume that repairing or improving bad credit scores when unemployed during the COVID crisis is an impossible task. But wait, maybe there are some things you can do even in these unprecedented times.
Read more: How Can You Build Your Credit Score While Unemployed?
