How does one go about raising their credit score? Seeing your score jump 100 points can help you qualify for lower APR credit cards and a lower mortgage rate. There are many things that you can do to start to improve your score…but it won’t happen overnight when reaching for a 100 point jump! Basically, patience, dedication and DISCIPLINE can get you there in about 6 months! STEP 1: ELIMINATE YOUR DEBT! Credit card debt is the #1 beast haunting the credit reports of most people! This includes all major credit cards, department store or retail store cards, and gasoline credit cards. The quickest way to a higher score is to pay off your credit card debt! If you’re carrying too much debt, it’s dragging down your credit utilization, which is just a fancy way of describing how much you’re leveraging your credit card accounts. The metric compares your balances to your credit limits.