6 Tips to Fix Your Credit Score Fast (And Get a Better Car Loan)

Summary-

Your credit score controls more of your life than most people realize from the house you can buy, to the interest rate on your next car loan. With nearly 40% of Americans sitting below a “good” credit rating, it’s a problem that affects millions of people every day. But here’s the thing – it’s fixable.

In this guide, we walk you through 6 proven tips to improve your credit score quickly and smartly. You’ll learn why your payment history is the most critical factor, how to handle collections accounts strategically, and how something as simple as calling your credit card company can instantly lower your utilization rate. We also cover lesser-known tactics like credit piggybacking, credit-builder loans, and disputing errors on your report that could be quietly dragging your score down without you even knowing.

Whether you have no credit history, some bumps in the past, or just want to get a better deal on your next auto loan in Kansas City – this guide is your starting point.

Why Your Credit Score Matters More Than You Think

Here’s the reality in the United States, your credit score is one of the most powerful numbers attached to your name. Around 40% of Americans have credit ranked below “good,” and roughly 1 in 5 fall into the “very poor” category. That’s a lot of people quietly struggling with something that affects their daily life more than they realize.

A low credit score doesn’t just make it harder to buy a home. It can push up your utility deposits, limit your housing options, and if you’re reading this it can directly impact the interest rate you get on a car loan. The higher your interest rate, the more you pay over the life of the loan. It adds up fast.

The good news? Your credit score is not a permanent sentence. It can be improved, and in some cases, it can be improved quickly. Here are 6 tips that actually work.

Tip 1 – Pay Bills on Time

Let’s start with the most important one, even if it sounds obvious.

Your payment history is the single biggest factor in determining your credit score. It’s not one of the factors – it’s the factor. So if you’re only going to focus on one thing, make it this.

Here’s what happens when you miss a payment: if a bill goes unpaid for 30 days, your creditor can report it to the credit bureaus, and your score drops. And that late payment? It can sit on your credit report for up to seven years. That’s a long shadow for one missed payment.

The fix is simple but requires some discipline. Sit down and list out every single bill you pay each month rent or mortgage, credit cards, subscriptions, utilities, everything. Write down the exact due date for each one. Then, wherever possible, set up automatic payments so you never miss a due date again.

Even bills that don’t directly report to credit bureaus (like a streaming subscription) can still be sent to collections if ignored long enough and collections are something you really want to avoid.

Tip 2 – Take Care of Collections

If a bill goes unpaid long enough usually around 90 days. The creditor may hand it off to a collections agency. When that happens, a collections account shows up on your credit report, and it’s a serious red flag for any lender looking at your file.

A collections account can stay on your report for seven years from the original delinquency date. Here’s where it gets a little complicated, though.

Not all collections affect your score equally. For example, unpaid medical debt under $500 won’t impact your score at all under newer scoring models. And depending on which credit scoring model a lender uses, paying off a collection may or may not immediately help your score.

Under FICO Score 8 (the most widely used model today), collections that are paid off still count against you within that seven-year window. Under the newer FICO Score 10, paid-off collections are ignored entirely. As more lenders shift to modern models, paying off collections will increasingly work in your favor.

So should you pay them off even if it doesn’t instantly boost your score? Yes, absolutely. And here’s a little-known perk: collection agencies can negotiate. They often settle for as little as 50% of the original amount, especially if you can pay in a lump sum. Always worth a call.

Tip 3 – Optimize Your Credit Utilization

Credit utilization is simply the percentage of your available credit that you’re currently using. If you have a credit card with a $1,000 limit and a $200 balance, your utilization on that card is 20%.

This is the second biggest factor in your credit score, right after payment history. The lower your utilization, the better. Most experts recommend staying under 30%, and people with excellent credit scores often stay in the single digits.

The most straightforward way to lower your utilization is to pay down your balances. When doing this, focus on the cards with the highest utilization percentage first, not just the highest dollar amount.

There’s also a faster trick worth knowing: call your creditor and ask for a credit limit increase. Say you owe $800 on a $1,000 card- that’s 80% utilization. If you call and they raise your limit to $2,000, your utilization instantly drops to 40% without you paying a single dollar. It won’t work for everyone, but if you’re in good standing with your creditor, it’s absolutely worth asking.

Tip 4 – Become an Authorized User

Sometimes the fastest way to build credit is to borrow someone else’s good habits and that’s completely legitimate.

If a trusted friend or family member adds you as an authorized user on their credit card account, their positive payment history on that account can show up on your credit report and boost your score. This is commonly called “credit piggybacking.”

This strategy works especially well if you have little to no credit history. The risk to the person adding you is very low – they don’t have to give you the actual card, and their credit isn’t harmed as long as they keep paying on time. Just make sure you’re piggybacking off someone with a strong credit history and reliable payment habits.

Tip 5 – Apply for a Credit-Builder Loan

If you’re starting from scratch or trying to rebuild after some rough patches, a credit-builder loan is one of the best tools available to you.

Unlike a regular loan, you don’t receive the money upfront. Instead, the lender holds the loan amount in an account while you make regular monthly payments. Once the loan is fully paid off, you receive the total amount kind of like a forced savings plan with a credit-building bonus.

Every on-time payment gets reported to the credit bureaus, which steadily builds your score over time. These loans don’t require good credit to qualify, which is exactly what makes them so useful for people who are just getting started or starting over.

If you already have a well-established credit history, a credit-builder loan won’t move the needle much but for anyone building from the ground up, it’s a smart move.

Tip 6 – Dispute Errors on Your Report

This one surprises a lot of people, but credit report errors are more common than you’d think.

Mistakes happen payments incorrectly marked as late, outdated information still sitting on your file, or in some cases, signs of identity theft. None of these should be dragging your score down, and the law is on your side to get them removed.

Start by pulling your free credit report from AnnualCreditReport.com (the only federally authorized free report site). Review it carefully. If you spot anything that looks wrong, you have two options: dispute it directly with the company that submitted the item, or go straight to the three major credit bureaus Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion.

Once you file a dispute, the bureau has 30 days to investigate. If they find the information is incorrect, they’re legally required to remove it from your report at no cost to you.

Yes, it takes a little time and patience. But given that some items can stay on your report for up to 10 years, finding even one error can make a meaningful difference.

Bonus Tip — Get the Best Auto Loan in Kansas City

No matter where your credit stands right now, McCarthy Auto works with buyers across the full credit spectrum. Whether you have great credit, fair credit, or you’re still working on it and we can help you find a loan that makes sense for your situation.

Apply for your auto loan online today → It only takes a few minutes, and you can browse our used vehicle specials while you’re at it.

Tags: auto loan Kansas City, bad credit car loan, buy a car with bad credit, credit repair tips, credit utilization, FICO score, fix credit score fast, improve credit score, Kansas City, McCarthy Auto
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