 TITLE: Can an Installment Loan Help Improve Your Credit Score? CONTENT: Additional Ways to Boost Your Credit\n------------------------------------\nThe second most important determining factor in your credit score—just behind payment history—is credit utilization, or the amount of revolving credit you use relative to your credit limit. The lower the balances on revolving credit lines you carry, the less of a risk you appear to scoring algorithms and to lenders considering you for new credit.\nIt's ideal to pay off credit card balances every month, and to avoid using more than 30% of your credit limit at any time since doing so can start to have a bigger impact on your scores. If you limit the amount of credit card debt you take on, your score will reflect your ability to manage debt responsibly. (While installment loan balances are considered in FICO® Score calculations in the \"amounts owed\" category, credit utilization only includes revolving accounts. Installment balances will also impact your debt-to-income ratio, which lenders may consider when you apply for certain types of credit, like mortgages.)\nAnother way to improve credit is to give the credit bureaus access to your payment history for bills that otherwise may not be incorporated into your score. For example, if you use a bank account to pay for monthly streaming service, phone or utility bills, those payments traditionally wouldn't be considered in your credit score. Experian Boost™† changes that by allowing you to add these accounts to your Experian credit report and get credit for those on-time payments. Experian Boost is a free service that can instantly improve your FICO® Score based on your Experian credit file. END