A less vague guide to improving a credit score could be provided by the designers of the credit score analytics ; FICO and XXXX. The bland recipe for starting, maintaining or correcting scores is not very helpful. Things like, pay your bills on time and do n't use too much a of a credit line can be arrived at through the use of some common sense.These " tips '' are much too generic to be truly helpful to consumers. They should advise us what the real story is. Tell consumers exactly what they should do to improve their scores and be specific. If paying off that past due XXXX card would raise my score by XXXX points than let me know. If paying of that {$400.00} balance on my auto loan will raise my score by XXXX points than tell me that. Bobbing and weaving through the vagaries of credit scoring for the average consumer is impossible. A transparent, easy to follow, step by step formula for increasing consumers credit scores would do a world of good for everyone from the most unsophisticated consumer on up. The credit scorers will come back, once approached with this idea, and claim it is impossible to do. They will assert that they do n't know what other factors may occur affecting your credit score to enable them to make a specific prediction as to a drop or increase in a score. My answer to that is for them to add a disclaimer saying, " If no negative factors related to your current score are reported your score should increase by approximately " xyz ''. This will at least give some guidance as to which specific accounts are more important to your score. I received my free XXXX report and score ( based on an Equifax credit report ) from XXXX to XXXX, XXXX substantial items changed on my credit report yey my score did n't change at all.