With so much at stake it is important for every individual to know their credit score. It is even more important for those individuals to do everything in their power to raise those FICO scores. Fortunately there are some (relatively) painless things consumers can do to boost their credit scores and ease their financial lives.

Pay all your bills on time. This one should be obvious, but it is an important factor to address. Making a single late payment can cause your credit score to take a substantial hit, so it is important to pay your bills early. When paying bills keep in mind that it can take a week or more for payments sent by mail to be processed, and even computer payments may not be processed immediately. Building some extra time into your bill paying regimen will reduce the chances of a late payment and help to keep your credit score high.

The first thing you will want to do is contact your creditors to get an updated balance. You will want to verify whether they have reported this amount to the credit bureaus and when it was done. If it was not done due to human error or a data processing error, simply request that they contact the bureaus immediately with an update of your current balance and payment history.

Your next step is to contact the credit bureaus themselves to find out if they have received any updated information on your account. Generally, credit agencies have their own schedule they follow to update accounts and it may take as much as two or three months for this update to have an effect on your credit score. This is why it is extremely important to start taking care of your financial matters several months before you start the process of acquiring a loan.