If you need to apply for a loan or a mortage or want to refinance your home, you may need to improve your credit score.

There are several things you can do in order to quickly improve your credit score.

The first thing you need to do is get a copy of your credit report and check all the information on it. You can get your credit report for free HERE. Go over all the information listed on the report and make sure that there are no mistakes.

If you apply for credit a lot and many companies are pulling your credit in a short period of time it could have a negative effect on your credit score. Changes in the law though have made “consumer-originating” credit report requests not count so much. Meaning if you pull your own credit it shouldn’t have a negative effect. Also, a series of requests in relation to getting a mortgage or car loan is not treated the same as a number of credit card requests in a limited time. This is because the credit bureaus, and lenders, realize that people request their own credit reports to keep up with what’s on them, and smart consumers shop around for the best mortgage and car loans.

The two major factors on your credit score are your payment history and how much of your available balance you owe. If you are over 60% of your allowed balance on credit cards and such, this is bad for your credit score. Bankruptcies and foreclosures can stay on your credit report for as many as 10 years and thoses are murder on your credit score. Late payments are bad too. Make sure to pay bills on time, even if it’s only the monthly payment.

So if you are maxed out on a lot of cards, you may be better off getting more cards and spreading the balance over them. The theory is that you are not using a great deal of available credit. Your score may temporarily drop when you apply for the cards, but it could raise the score shortly there after.

If there are any mistakes on your report and you want to improve your credit score, be sure to write letters to the credit agencies telling them. By law, they have 30 days to investigate. If the tradeline is not correct, they must remove it.

But you must know what is on your credit report in order to do that. So be sure to get your credit report and study it before taking any further steps.