Dear Manish,
I want to improve my credit score which is currently around 684 as per last report .
My cibil report has no “settled” or “write-offs” entries at any place.
As on today, I hold two credit cards and one education loan. Dont have any other credit exposure other than these three.
I want to improve my score and improve it fast. Have enough cash at my disposal and don’t really need these credit card or the education loan.
Can i improve my score by
a) prepaying and closing the entire education loan? out of original 6 lakhs loan, only 36k is left now and there is still an year left to pay the entire loan.
I have already prepaid 1 lakh today and brought the balance down to only 36 k.
Want to know if i should pay even the balance 36 k rightaway and close the loan account 8 months ahead of the deadline? will it improve my credit score?
or should i keep paying the nominal EMI and keep the account live till the scheduled closure date of Dec 2013?
b) Get a secured credit card (Against fixed deposit of 1-1.5 lakhs)? will this improve my score considering i already have 2 cards?
c) using debit card for all payments and staying away from using credit cards?
I have enough cash and can do all of the above three, provided they will help me improve my credit score.
Would be very grateful if you can please share your valuable advise.
Regards,
Sameer