How to Build a Great Credit Score

BY MARY HUNT

If you are a legal adult U.S. resident, somewhere there is a three-digit number between 300 and 850 with your name on it. Your credit score measures your creditworthiness, which is the likelihood that you will pay your bills.

Establishing good credit has never been as important to your life as it is today.

You need a good score to get decent mortgages rates, finance a car, get a good job, rent an apartment and find afford- able insurance. The way you handle your money has been found to be a very good indicator for how you handle other areas of your life.

A low score doesn’t necessarily mean you are a total deadbeat when it comes to handling your money. It could mean you are young and your credit file has your name on it, and that’s about it. Here are reasonable ways that you can build a killer credit score quickly.

1. Review your credit report. You need to make sure that all of the information in your credit file is correct. This informa-

Explore this culturally rich neighborhood (featured in Lin-Manuel Miranda’s “In the Heights”) on a special food tour. Known as one of Manhattan’s Latino hubs, Washington Heights is home to some of the City’s best Dominican, Mexican, and Cuban food.

New York City Borough Pass, Citywide: a new sightseeing pass designed to showcase the beauty of the neighborhoods and cultures across all five boroughs. The pass features a diverse roster of popular attractions, museums, performing arts venues, including the Alice Austen House Museum, MoMA PS1, New York Botanical Garden, Van Cortlandt House Museum, Staten Island Children’s Museum.

The Go City Pass for New York City offers 100 different options in all five boroughs. For example, the two-day all inclusive pass, giving access to as much as you want/can do from among 105 attractions is $134 – regardless of how much the actual attractions charge (GoCity.com, 800 887 9103).

The grand finale to New York’s summer sensations: US Open Tennis Championships, Corona, Queens, August 28–September 10: It begins with US Open Fan Week, August 23-28, when the grounds are open to the public with free admission, so you can watch the (thrilling) US Open Qualifying Tournament, watch open practices of the tennis stars, and additional scheduled exhibitions. This year, there is the first ever US Open Food Event Thursday August 25, 2022, 7pm-9pm; special appearances by athletes like former Top 5 ATP Player James Blake, and entertainment. (https://www.usopen.org/)

For more New York City visitor information, visit https://www.nycgo.com/

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tion is available free at the only government-sanctioned credit-reporting-agency-operated website, Annualcreditreport. com, or by calling 1-877-322-8228. Dispute anything on your report that is not correct. If you want to get a copy of your FICO credit score, you’ll have to pay a few bucks to get it at www.MyFico.com.

2. Open both a checking and savings account. You receive credit points for financial stability, and having open and working bank accounts contributes to that,

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