Before you start a credit-focused New Year’s Resolution, be sure to check your credit score online. All major credit reporting institutions are required to give you one free credit check per year. This is going to give you an idea of what your current score is, as well as the different aspects of your credit profile that need to be changed in order to improve it.

These can include things such as:

• Number of late payments 
• Amount of debt
• Age of credit

By running a credit check, and finding the areas that need the most improvement, you’ll be able to set a goal for yourself that’s more specific. With specific goals, you can more easily track your progress and stay motivated as you work towards your goal. Keep in mind, however, that excessively checking your score throughout the year can negatively impact it, so make sure you don’t do it too frequently.

Without a savings plan in mind, it’s going to be much harder to boost your credit score. Paying off debt and improving your credit requires you to have the proper money management skills. This is why it’s important that you have access to a savings account. Not only will you have a way to save more to cover any excess debt, having more money in savings will allow you to create backup funds. Having some money in a backup savings account can allow you to cover large expenses without taking on extra debt.

If your credit score is significantly low, this can prevent you from getting a bank account due to the minimum credit requirements some banks have. However, there are options that you can look for to get around these issues, such as a second chance banking account. These accounts don’t require credit score checks to sign up for them, and because of this, are a great option for those with less-than-ideal credit scores looking to get access to banking. By having a secure savings account, you’ll be able to grow your savings and put this towards debt payment and emergency savings.

Getting your credit score to improve requires you to lower your debt significantly. If you have excessive debt and high-interest rates, you’re going to have a more difficult time boosting your score. Not only does a large amount of debt put you more at risk of missing payments, having a high amount of debt can directly contribute to a lower score since those with higher debt are more at risk of bankruptcy.

In order to include debt payment in your resolution, you should start looking into various debt payment strategies.

The debt snowball method allows you to pay off the smallest debts you have first, building momentum to paying off your bigger debts later.
The debt avalanche method involves paying off your largest debts first, freeing up large amounts of money that you can then put towards paying off your smaller debts.
Utilizing debt consolidation loans creates a method for you to combine your major debts into one, easy to manage loan. This is especially useful for making payments on time.

All of these are viable ways to get started on paying off debt, but of course, there are many other options available to use that will help you get out of debt and get your credit score boosted.

Finally, after you’ve set up a savings plan, and are working to pay off debt, you should start to look for credit boosting strategies. These are additional routes to take that, in addition to the previous steps, will help your score climb. One way of doing this is by taking out a credit boosting loan. These are loans that give you a set amount of money to pay off every month with low interest, in order to boost your overall score.

Finally, if you’re a renter you can utilize services like Rental Kharma. Unfortunately, many renters have fewer ways to build up a credit score when compared to homeowners building equity with a mortgage. The benefit of Rental Kharma is that you will be able to track your monthly rent payments for credit boosting purposes. This gives renters the same advantages as homeowners have when it comes to strengthening their credit score.

Due to the many great benefits that can come from improving your credit score, having a credit-focused New Year’s Resolution might be something you want to consider. With the right planning and strategizing, getting a credit score boost is a goal well within reach.