Some parts of a credit score respond within weeks, and some only change with time. Lowering card balances and fixing errors on your report can show up as soon as the next update; a clean payment record and a longer credit history build over months and years. This guide ranks the options by how fast they work, so you can see which ones fit the time you have. It’s part of our credit score guides, and if your goal is a mortgage approval, improving your credit score before a mortgage adds the lender-specific angle.
FCAC is clear that the exact formulas aren’t public: “Credit bureaus and lenders use different formulas to calculate your score, but they don’t share the exact details.” No one can promise a number of points for any action. What FCAC does publish is which habits count, and that payment history is “the most important part of your credit score.”
The options, fastest first
| Action | How soon it can show | Why it works |
|---|---|---|
| Pay card balances down before they’re reported | The next time the issuer reports, at most about a month away | Lower use of your available credit; bureaus update your report at least once a month |
| Correct errors on your credit reports | Once the bureau finishes its investigation | A wrong late payment, balance or collection comes off |
| Get a higher limit and keep spending the same | After the new limit is reported | The same balance uses a smaller share of your credit |
| Pay every account on time from now on | Builds month by month | Payment history counts most |
| Space out new applications | Gradually, as inquiries age | Fewer inquiries close together |
| Keep older accounts open | Only time | Account age keeps growing |
| Add a different type of credit | Months, as it builds a record | A file with only one type of credit may score lower |
| Wait for old negative items to expire | Years | Each item leaves the report at the end of its retention period |
Within a month or two
Pay balances down before they’re reported
This is the fastest lever for most people who carry balances. FCAC’s tip is to “Try to use less than 30% of your total credit limit,” and to “keep your monthly credit utilization rate low, even if you pay the full balance.” Paying down a card before its balance is reported, rather than after, means the lower figure is the one the bureaus receive. Credit utilization explains when card balances are reported and how the ratio is measured on each card and across all of them.
Fix errors on your reports
A payment marked late that you made on time, an account that isn’t yours or a balance you’ve already paid can drag a score down until it’s corrected. Get your reports from both Equifax and TransUnion, since each keeps its own file, and dispute anything wrong with the bureau that shows it. How to dispute a credit report error has the steps, and reading a credit report explains what each section means.
Ask for a higher limit
FCAC suggests you “aim to have a higher credit limit and use only a small portion of it.” An issuer needs your express consent before raising your limit, so an increase only happens when you ask for or accept one. A lender may check your credit report before “increasing your credit limit,” so ask whether the request involves a hard inquiry; soft vs hard credit checks explains the difference. If an issuer has gone the other way and lowered your credit limit, that page covers asking for it back.
Over the next several months
Pay on time, every time. FCAC’s list for payment history is short: make payments on time, make at least the minimum payment if you can’t pay the full amount, contact the lender right away if you expect trouble, and keep paying while you dispute a charge. Pre-authorized payments for at least the minimum protect against a missed payment caused by a forgotten due date. Each on-time month adds to your record.
Apply only when you need to. FCAC says “too many credit inquiries made too close together” can make lenders think you’re “urgently seeking credit,” and that quotes for a car loan or mortgage within “a 2-week period” count as one inquiry. How long a hard inquiry stays on your credit covers how its weight fades.
Consider a second type of credit, if you’d use it anyway. FCAC notes “You may have a lower credit score if you only have 1 type of credit product,” and lists a credit card, a car loan and a line of credit as examples of different types. Someone with only a card might add an instalment product such as a credit-builder loan; someone with no card might start with a secured credit card. Each new account is also a new application and a newer account on file, so the gain comes over time.
What only time fixes
Account age. FCAC says lenders “want to see a long and stable credit history,” and that closing an older account makes you “lose older credit history” and “reduce your available credit.” Keeping an older no-fee card open and using it occasionally lets that history keep growing; does closing a credit card hurt your credit score covers when closing makes sense anyway.
Old negative items. Late payments stay up to 6 years, and a first bankruptcy 6 years or more after discharge. What hurts your credit score lists how long each item lasts, and rebuilding credit after bankruptcy covers the longer road back from insolvency.
A thin file. With little or no history, there’s no shortcut around building one in your own name; building credit from scratch covers the products and the order to use them.
What about becoming an authorized user?
Being added to someone else’s card is often described as a shortcut, but FCAC’s guidance for an additional cardholder or authorized user is that “any purchases you make using the card won’t help you build your credit history,” because “the credit card account belongs to the primary cardholder.” Being an authorized user covers what the arrangement does and doesn’t do.
Common myths
| Myth | What FCAC says |
|---|---|
| Checking your own score lowers it | “Checking your own credit report or score doesn’t affect your credit score.” |
| Carrying a small balance helps your score | Paying in full avoids interest, and FCAC’s advice is to keep utilization low “even if you pay the full balance.” |
| Closing a card you’ve paid off helps | FCAC’s view runs the other way: an open account with no balance keeps its history on your file and its limit in your available credit |
| Phone and utility bills never show up | A credit report “may include: phone, internet or utility accounts” |
| A new card always raises your score | A new account “may reduce the average age of your accounts and lower your credit score.” |
A first month, step by step
- Get your credit reports from both bureaus and note every error, every card with a high balance and every account in collections.
- Dispute the errors with the bureau that reports each one.
- Pay down the cards using the largest share of their limits, timing payments before balances are reported.
- Set up automatic payments for at least the minimum on every account.
- Decide whether a limit increase or a second type of credit fits your situation, and if so, apply for one product, not several at once.
Sources
The figures and rules on this page come from these sources, last checked against them on September 25, 2026. How we check facts.
- Financial Consumer Agency of Canada: How long information stays on your credit report