 TITLE: How Long Does It Take to Rebuild Credit? CONTENT: Rebuilding Your Credit Takes Time\n---------------------------------\nIf your credit scores aren't where you want them to be, there are a few steps you can take to better understand what's impacting your score and rebuild your credit:\n1.  Check your credit. Review your credit reports, and dispute information you believe to be inaccurate or the result of fraud. You can check your Experian credit report for free online and also get a free FICO® Score☉ with a breakdown of what's hurting your score and how to improve it.\n2.  Pay bills on time. Making bill payments on time is one of the most important things you can do to help your credit. Prioritize bills that get reported to the credit bureaus, such as loans and credit cards. You can also try using Experian Boost™† , which allows you to connect your bank account and get credit for making on-time payments that otherwise might not help your credit, such as phone, utility and streaming service payments.\n3.  Pay down credit card debt. If high utilization is hurting your credit, one of the quickest ways to rebuild your credit is to pay down credit card debt. Even if you can't afford to pay off your cards, using a personal loan to consolidate credit cards can lower your utilization rate as you're moving revolving debt to an installment account. However, it may only be a good idea if you can also save money by lowering your interest rate.\n4.  Use a credit-building account. Rebuilding your credit can be difficult if you aren't adding positive information to your credit history. Although you generally don't want to take out a loan solely to build credit, a secured credit card or credit-builder loan could be a good idea if you don't have any accounts that are being reported to the credit bureaus.\nSlow and steady wins the race when it comes to rebuilding credit. Focus on what you can control—paying down debt and adding positive information to your credit. Over time, you may see your scores start to improve. END