In order to increase your credit scores you want to really focus on your balances on your revolving debt such as credit cards, home equity lines of credit and such. Your ideal target is to keep your balances at approx. 20-40 percent of your available credit limits. Being maxed out on your credit scores can be very detrimental to your credit score even if you continue to make all of your payments on time.

Apply for credit less frequently. Large numbers of inquiries will likely lower your score.

If your credit score is low, look at what is causing this. Review your entire report and note any incorrect entries. If you have any incorrect information reporting, contact the credit bureau and work on getting it fixed.

If you do pay off a credit card, be sure to keep the account open. When computing your credit score, the bureaus love to see accounts that have been open for an extended period of time, and have a zero balance.