Got Bad Credit Even With a Solid Income? Here’s How to Boost Your Score

This simple move could increase your credit score by hundreds of points.

Rosemarie Groner

Sep. 18, 2020

You might think that a steady income and good credit go hand in hand. Not true — anyone can struggle with debt, no matter how big a paycheck they bring home.

Wilmington, North Carolina native Rosemarie Groner and her husband Jon both had solid jobs, but their financial outlook was seriously bleak.

“We earned a decent income, but our spending was out of control — especially with groceries,” Rosemarie says. “Our credit scores were both low and we had over $30,000 in debt.”

They did their best to turn things around, but they kept coming up short.

“Every time we tried to ‘get serious’ and reduce our spending, we'd end up right back where we started in just a few days or a few weeks,” remembers Rosemarie. “We didn't realize it at the time, but we were chronically disorganized.”

She heard that using a credit monitoring service might help, so she tried out a few before finally landing on Credit Sesame.

“Credit Sesame won me over because their services [were] free and they [gave me] $50k in free identity theft insurance just for signing up.”

Rosemarie started keeping track of her credit score and, to her surprise, it actually made a difference — with Credit Sesame’s help, she was able to boost her score by almost 150 points.

She bumped up her score from 618 to 762

Credit Sesame analyzed Rosemarie’s credit report and gave her personalized tips on what she could do to increase her credit score.

Any time her score changes, Credit Sesame lets her know. The regular updates help her better understand what affects her credit and make the right moves to improve it.

Here are Credit Sesame’s credit score ratings:

Bad credit: 300-629

Fair credit: 630-689

Good credit: 690-719

Excellent credit: 720-850

Since she started using Credit Sesame to monitor her score, Rosemarie’s rating has gone from bad to excellent.

“I use Credit Sesame to passively monitor my account for changes,” Rosemarie says. “It’s the bare minimum of effort everyone should take to monitor their credit score.”

She also finds Credit Sesame’s free identity theft insurance to be a major relief.

“I love the fact that it comes with free identity theft insurance,” she says. “[Identity theft] is a huge deal if it ever happens to you.”

Thanks to Credit Sesame, Rosemarie is able to worry less about losing money and think more about how to save it.

Big results with minimal effort

Credit Sesame helped Rosemarie and Jon overcome their debt and get their credit back on track, and it can do the same for you.

“It’s free, requires no effort, and gives you peace of mind,” Rosemarie says.

So sign up today — it only takes two minutes and it won’t cost you a cent.**

About the Author

Shane Murphy

Reporter

Shane is a reporter for MoneyWise. He holds a bachelor’s degree in English Language & Literature from Western University and is a graduate of the Algonquin College Scriptwriting program.

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