A Facebook fan asked us to share ways to improve credit scores. There are lots of people with low credit scores. FICO (Fair Isaac Corporation), which is the most commonly used credit score, uses a point scale from 300 to 850. The average credit score in the U.S. is 636 and the median score at 723. With the average score below the median, this means that the scores below the median are so low that they pull the average way down. It’s math and, as John would say, “hurts my head.” Simply said, there are more bad scores than good scores. 

We have seven suggestions that will help improve credit scores for those in the majority. If you must improve your credit score, we suggest you do each of these in the order they are presented, as the former will provide more immediate benefits than the latter.