Can my credit card help me improve my low credit score? It can, here’s how

Can my credit card help me improve my low credit score? It can, here’s how

Dubai: A good credit score is the key to being able to buy a home or finance a car. But what if you don’t have an ideal score on account of not being able to pay back your dues on time in the past? If that’s the case, can a credit card then help you build back your score to optimum levels? “A credit card is evidently the quickest way to build good credit,” said Rupesh Naish, a Dubai-based debt restructuring advisor. “Opening a new credit card raises your available credit, which can raise your credit score. The key is to keep the balance relatively low so your available credit stays high.” The measure of how much credit you are using compared to how much you have available is known as your ‘credit utilisation rate’, and financial planners widely recommend that it's best to keep your overall credit usage under 30 per cent. “For the best impact on your scores, keep your credit utilisation as low as possible,” added Naish. When you open a new credit card, you have an opportunity to reduce your credit utilisation ratio because your credit (i.e. the amount available for you to borrow) is being