As a kid, your report card was used to determine how well you performed at school, right? Now that your studying days are long gone, what should we use to gauge performance in your adulthood? Ask Tiffany Haddish, and she’ll tell you that one’s credit score is their adult report card.

Truth be told, a good credit score goes a long way if you wish to reap maximum benefits from credit cards. The better it is, the more miles and points you accrue, and you can then cash them whenever the offer is available.

Ignorance is No Defense

Unfortunately, most people think that building credit is a lot of work, but they’re just misinformed. And don’t they say that ignorance is no defense? As such, even an individual who’s as financially responsible as anyone can get could miss out on the best credit cards, simply because of their score.

For starters, they may loathe getting into debt, so they prefer not using any credit. However, this may not be as smart a play as they may think especially because financial institutions don’t use the same school of thought. For them, a person who doesn’t use credit translates to an individual who wouldn’t be a good debtor.

If you don’t use credit, banks will think you’re not a good debtor

All the same, there are several ways via which you can improve your score without breaking a sweat. You do know that to determine your credit score, banks calculate the average age of all accounts you have open, right? As such, keeping them open indefinitely works in your favor, so strive to make this a reality.

Even though you may not frequently use your old accounts anymore, make sure that you’ve made at least a purchase with funds drawn from that account once every year. This way, the institution carrying it will keep it open, and your credit card score will thank you for it.

Make at least one payment per year

There’s also this thing that most people get themselves into either knowingly or unknowingly, but nothing has a more detrimental effect to your score. You get a new card, max it out in the shortest time possible, then proceed to make payments, but only the minimum required amount.

Bare Minimum Won’t Work

You may want to argue that you haven’t defaulted on your debt, but paying the bare minimum does nothing to improve your credit score. If you’ve already fallen prey to this habit, pay off as much as you can and do it soon, and smile to yourself once you notice that increase in your score.

Are you looking to buy a car? You may already have the entire amount in cash, but why not kill two birds with one stone? Taking out an auto loan is a relatively low-risk move, and they’re actually offered to those building their credit.

With an auto loan, you can kill two birds with one stone

Take the loan, then lease a new car, and with the cash that you already had, start making your lease payments. These payments find themselves to your report, and since you’ll be making them promptly, your credit score will register positive growth.

If you’re overly ambitious about your credit score target, say something over 780, you can buy a house to build your credit. However, take this route only if you are 100% sure of your financial security, such that you are sure of meeting the monthly mortgage balances without fail.