5 Best Ways To Boost Your Credit Score If You Have Subprime Credit
Written by
John Schmoll
Edited by
Jenna Klaverweiden
Commitment to Our Readers
GOBankingRates' editorial team is committed to bringing you unbiased reviews and information. We use data-driven methodologies to evaluate financial products and services - our reviews and ratings are not influenced by advertisers. You can read more about our editorial guidelines and our products and services review methodology.
20 Years
Helping You Live Richer
Reviewed
by Experts
Trusted by
Millions of Readers
From the rates you pay on loans to the ability to rent an apartment, your credit score impacts a lot of things in life, and maintaining good credit is vital to a healthy financial life.
Unfortunately, more Americans are struggling with their credit scores. According to a recent TransUnion report, over 14% of Americans have subprime credit. It hasn’t been since 2019 that so many Americans have been dealing with subprime credit.
Here are five ways to boost your credit score if you have subprime credit.
1. Eliminate Errors on Your Credit Report
Regularly reviewing your credit report is important for all Americans, but even more so for people with a poor credit score. Errors on your credit report can unnecessarily lower your score. In fact, 44% of people who checked their credit reports identified errors, according to a 2024 report from Consumer Reports.
If you find errors and address them, you may see a sizable increase in your score. “To increase those numbers quickly, your first step is to check your TransUnion, Equifax and Experian credit reports,” said Erica Sandberg, consumer finance expert at BadCredit.org.
Even if you don’t think it’ll make a difference, dispute the error. “So if you do find these types of problems, dispute them with the credit reporting agencies now. They will be removed from the scoring process during the investigation so your numbers should spike,” Sandberg said.
2. Reduce Your Debt
The amount of available revolving credit you use is a large component of your credit score, so eliminating debt can be a powerful way to boost your score.
“The less you owe on any one card compared to the credit limit (as well as in total of all of your cards), the better for you scores. Dramatically reducing your credit utilization ratio can have an almost immediate effect on your scores, since the next time they are calculated it will be on the new and improved ratio,” Sandberg said.
Creditors look at utilization at the card level and across all of your cards. Keeping your utilization under 30% is best. Get creative in reducing debt, as every little bit helps. Sell items you don’t use, cut unnecessary spending and consider a side hustle to pool funds and eliminate debt.
3. Use Credit
It may seem counterintuitive, but using credit can be a legitimate way to boost your credit score. Creditors want to see responsible behavior. They reward you when they see you take wise action.
“Remember, the information that goes on a credit report is food for your scores. So doing nothing doesn’t help. Show that you can borrow responsibly. That means using a credit card as a payment tool. Charge and we pay the balance in full. Over and over again,” Sandberg said.
Even if it’s for a small purchase each month, repaying it in full can have a positive impact. Just make sure not to open new accounts, as that could negatively affect your score.
4. Simplify Your Payments
On-time payments are the single largest component of a credit score. It accounts for 35% of a FICO score, so simplifying your payment process is a good first step toward improving your credit score. Unfortunately, it takes time to improve your score if you’ve missed payments in the past.
“Although payment history is the most important credit scoring factor, it can take time to repair a credit score damaged by missed payments. Still, even a couple of months’ worth of on-time payments will have a positive impact on your scores, so don’t delay,” Sandberg said.
The best way to do this is to sign up for automatic bill pay so you don’t forget to make full, monthly payments.
5. Add Alternative Data
Data like rent or cellphone payment history doesn’t always impact your credit score. Fortunately, it is possible to get alternative data points reported to credit agencies to boost your score.
“Experian has a free program called Boost where you can have utility and cellphone accounts added to your report. Those on-time payments will be recorded and can definitely give your score an additional few points. If you are a tenant, you can have your rent payments added too,” Sandberg said. Every little bit helps to improve your credit score.
“By using credit cards regularly, making all of your payments on time, and deleting revolving debt, even a very low credit score can see a major difference within a few months. If you keep it up for a year, you can go from scores that are at the bottom of the scale to those that are in the high range,” Sandberg explained.
It is possible to recover from subprime credit, and it may not take as long as you might think.
Need a little extra holiday magic in your budget? MoneyLion, a sister company of GOBankingRates, is giving away $2,000 a day through Jan. 24, 2026. Sign up here and see if this festive windfall lands under your tree.
More From GOBankingRates
