If you ever hope to open a credit card or take out a loan, you need a decent credit score. This tells lenders you’re able to borrow money and pay it back in a timely fashion and leads to better offers and lower interest rates. But building a good credit score takes time.

There are several ways to increase your score. Below, we’ll look at the ones that have the largest positive effects so you know what to prioritize.

1. Pay your bills on time

Paying your bills on time is the most beneficial thing you can do for your credit score, because payment history is the most important factor in calculating your score. It makes up 35% of your FICO® Score — the most popular credit scoring model in use today. 

Set reminders for yourself if you need to, so you don’t miss any due dates. If you’re not able to pay a bill on time, reach out to the creditor to see if there’s anything you can do to avoid a late payment on your credit report. The later your payments, the more severe the effect on your credit score.

2. Reduce your credit utilization ratio

Your credit utilization ratio forms the second-largest aspect of your credit score calculation, amounting for about 30% of your total score. This ratio looks at the amount of credit you use vs. the amount available to you. For example, if you have a $3,000 monthly balance on a card with a $10,000 limit, your credit utilization ratio is 30%.

Ideally, you don’t want yours to be any higher than this. Lower ratios suggest that you’re living within your means, while higher ratios could indicate someone who is struggling to keep up with all their costs. 

Paying your bill twice per month is a helpful way to reduce your ratio if you have a low credit limit. The credit bureaus only see your balance at the end of the statement cycle, so this makes it appear as if you spent less than you did. If you’re struggling with credit card debt, a balance transfer card could help.

3. Keep your old credit cards open

The length of your credit history accounts for 15% of your FICO® Score. Longer histories provide creditors with a more accurate look at how you’ve handled borrowed money over time, which is why more years of credit usage can boost your score.

When you close an old credit card, you’re removing that account from your credit report. This could reduce your average credit account age if you’ve had the account for a long time. Instead, it’s best to leave old cards open unless they charge an annual fee you’re not recouping in rewards each year. If you close one card account, avoid closing another for at least six months.

4. Don’t apply for new credit more than once every six months

Applying for new credit has a few effects on your credit score: First, the lender will do a hard inquiry on your report when deciding whether to work with you. This drops your score by a few points.

Second, adding a new credit account will reduce your average account age slightly, which could also lower your score. But it also reduces your credit utilization ratio and that could help boost your score.

The key to making new credit work for you is to avoid applying for credit cards or loans you don’t think you’ll actually qualify for, and to apply for new cards no more than once every six months. 

In the case of loans (such as mortgages), credit scores account for normal credit shopping behavior by treating all hard inquiries within about a 30-day period as a single inquiry, so be sure to get all your applications in within this time frame.

5. Give it some time

Though it might not be the advice you were hoping for, staying consistent with the above behaviors and being patient is one of the best ways to improve your credit score. 

The more you demonstrate that you can repay borrowed money in a timely fashion, the more confident creditors will be about working with you. Try these tips and see how much you can boost your score.