Short answer: most major lenders want to see a credit score of 680+ for their best rates. If you're below that, a few genuinely effective changes, made 3-6 months before you apply, can move your score meaningfully. Some common advice (closing old cards, checking your score obsessively) doesn't actually help and can even hurt.
What Actually Moves Your Score
- Pay down credit card balances below 30% of your limit, ideally below 10%. Credit utilization is one of the heaviest-weighted factors, and this is the fastest lever available to you.
- Never miss a payment, even a $20 minimum. Payment history is the single largest factor in your score, and one 30-day-late mark can knock 60-100+ points off.
- Keep old accounts open, even ones you don't use. Length of credit history matters, and closing your oldest card can shorten your average account age.
- Only apply for new credit when you actually need it. Each hard inquiry has a small, temporary impact, and a flurry of applications right before a mortgage application looks risky to lenders.
What Doesn't Really Help
- Checking your own score repeatedly, a soft check (like through your bank's app) doesn't affect your score at all, so this is harmless but also does nothing to improve it.
- Closing credit cards you've paid off, this often hurts more than it helps, since it can raise your utilization ratio on remaining cards and shorten your credit history.
- Paying for a "credit repair" service that promises to remove accurate negative marks. Legitimate disputes (genuine errors) are free to file yourself directly with Equifax or TransUnion.
How Long Does It Take to See Movement?
Paying down a maxed-out credit card can move your score within a single billing cycle, sometimes 30-45 days, since utilization updates as soon as your new balance reports. Building payment history and account age takes longer, realistically 3-6 months of consistent on-time payments to see a meaningful shift if you're rebuilding from a rougher patch.
Below 680? You Still Have Options
A score in the 600-679 range can often still qualify, sometimes at a slightly higher rate or through a specific lender program built for it. Below 600, alternative and B-lenders become the more realistic path while you rebuild, with a plan to move back to conventional rates once your score improves.
Not Sure Where You Stand?
We review your credit profile as part of every pre-approval and tell you honestly where you stand, and what's realistic to improve before you apply. Start with a free conversation.