Exact Answer: One To Six Months
A Credit score is scoring based on which a person can borrow money or take a loan from a bank or a financial institution. The ranking is almost standard in many states across the nation.
The score between the range signifies different levels at which a person stands when it comes to credibility. It is necessary to maintain a good credit score so that it becomes easier to avail of loans or borrow funds when necessary.
There are many reasons why a person’s credit score goes down. However, once the credit score goes down it is not easy to get the credit score back to normal like the way it was since it is hard to build up a score.
How Long Does It Take To Fix Credit?
There are four levels of credit scores that define a person’s credibility. The levels include bad, fair, good, and excellent. If the credit score is between 300 to 629, the person is in a bad category. However, if the credit score is above that, the categories are good enough to avail of a loan.
The ideal credit score lies between the good and excellent category. If the credit score goes below good, it becomes difficult to get a loan from a bank. Once the credit score goes down, it can take from one to six months to get fixed.
The period in which the credit score will be fixed is also completely based on the reasons why the credit score has decreased. Besides, it is also based on how much the credit score has decreased. If the credit score has decreased only a bit, the time to fix the score will be less.
However, if the credit score has decreased a lot, it will take a considerable time to get the credit score back up. There are several methods one can opt for to fix the credit score as soon as possible. However, it will take a minimum of 30 days to improve the credit score.
| Reason for low credit score | The time it takes to improve the credit score |
| Missed/defaulted payment | 18 months |
| Late mortgage payment (30 to 90 days) | 9 months |
| Closing credit card account | 3 months |
| Maxed credit card account | 3 months |
Why Does It Take So Long To Fix Credit?
Fixing credit is no easy task as it involves a lot of actions to build up the credit score. It takes more time to increase the credit score as compared to the decrease in the score.
The process that happens to increase the credit score even by a little fraction is time-consuming. The first and foremost thing that is imminent is the debtor should pay off all the loans and payments that are outstanding. Once everything is paid off, the process of increasing the credit score then begins from the Credit Score department.
The credit bureau gets the notification and begins with the verification and the cross-checking of the payments that were done to clear off the missed or late payments. In cases the debtor has submitted documents of errors, the errors are checked and verified for their authenticity.
Only when everything balances out is when the record is cleared. The credit score then improves as per the terms and conditions. However, an increment in the credit score is only a partial solution to fixing the credit score. It is imminent that the credit score is maintained throughout.
If there are inconsistencies in maintaining the credit score it can lead to a permanent decrease in the credibility of the person. The person’s name can also be entered into the defaulter’s list. It will make it way difficult for the person to get a credit card or credit service again.
Conclusion
Since the credit score is based on multiple factors like the payment history, the credit utilization, the credit mix, and the new credit, it can sometimes take time for the credit score to show an upward trend.
Amongst these, the credit or payment history is the most prominent factor that determines the time it can take for the credit score to increase once it is reduced to a certain point. It is hence necessary to keep the payments on time once the credit score becomes good again.
