 TITLE: Can You Get a Personal Loan With a Credit Score of 550? CONTENT: How to Improve a 550 Credit Score\n---------------------------------\nImproving a 550 credit score can require patience and action. Patience, because you may need to wait for the impact of negative items to diminish. And action, because there's a lot you can do in the interim to help improve your credit:\n*   **Pay all your bills on time.** Making payments on time is possibly the most important thing you can do for your credit. Once a bill falls 30 days past due, the creditor can report your late payment to the credit bureaus, and the late payment mark could stay in your credit history for up to seven years. It's also important to make on-time payments for bills that aren't usually reported to the credit bureaus because a defaulted account may be sent to collections; the collection account could then wind up on your credit report and affect your scores.\n*   **Lower revolving account balances.** If you have credit card and revolving credit line debt, paying down your balances could lower your credit utilization and help improve your credit scores. This can be a quick way to improve your credit scores if you currently have high credit utilization.\n*   **Use Experian Boost™† .** A free service, Experian Boost lets you link your bank accounts and add on-time phone, utility and streaming service payments to your Experian credit report. These accounts aren't typically reported to the credit bureaus, and their presence could give a lift to scores based on your Experian credit report.\n*   **Open new accounts only as needed.** If you don't have many credit accounts open, you may want to take out a secured credit card or credit-builder loan to help rebuild your credit. Making on-time payments on your new account can add positive information to your credit reports, which may help your scores. Do so only if you're sure you can make all payments as agreed, however. And keep in mind that opening several accounts in a short period can affect your scores negatively.\nImproving your credit isn't only important for getting better loan terms. A good credit score can also save you money on insurance in many states, make renting a home easier, and keep you from having to pay security deposits to open new utility accounts. END