 TITLE: Why Do I Have So Many Credit Scores? CONTENT: How Do You Improve Your Credit Scores?\n--------------------------------------\nOnce you know generally how your scores fare, you might want to take steps to improve your credit standings. Herrera and Paperno agree on how to accomplish that: Look at the factors bringing your scores down, and do the opposite.\nThat means if you've had a late payment, focus on establishing a long-term pattern of paying bills on time. If you have too many inquiries, hold off on applying for new credit. If your credit utilization is too high, pay down some of your debt. (Click here for a comprehensive review of the various factors that can impact your credit scores.)\nPaperno adds that if you're planning to apply for a big loan in the near future, like a mortgage or auto loan, you'll want to pay close attention to your scores. This is especially important if your scores are in one category, like \"good,\" but maybe just a few points shy of getting moved into the next higher echelon. Mortgage lenders use scores from each bureau, so you should check all three reports. Once you know your scores, you can spend some time in the months before your loan application taking steps to improve your scores as much as possible in order to secure the best loan terms.\nBut if you're simply monitoring your score or rebuilding credit, it's a good practice to check a different credit report every four months. You're entitled to a free report from each bureau once a year from AnnualCreditReport.com, so rotating which report you check every four months will allow you to get through all three reports in one year.\nMonitoring your credit scores is also a smart move. If you see a big change in one of your scores, that's a good sign to investigate the reason and pay attention to what's happening on your credit reports. You can also get a free copy of your Experian credit report here on Experian.com.\nAs for my own credit scores, they're in pretty good shape. But regardless of the varying numbers, they all fall into the second-highest possible tier of scores. That's something that irks my competitive nature, so now that I'm armed with the knowledge of what's keeping them from being perfect, I've already planned my strategy to bring the numbers up. For me, that means bringing my credit utilization down and making sure I never miss a bill again. The strategy is working—I checked all my scores again, and a few have already inched up. I'll take that as a win. END