If you need to increase your credit rating, it’s unlikely there’s anything you can do to increase it instantly. You can, however, take some steps that will result in a higher credit score over time – sometimes within a month or two. If you are attempting to raise your score within a couple days, your options are limited.

If you have a little more time to increase your credit score, some of the things you can do include the following:

Pay down balances. Using more than 30% of your total available credit can result in a lower credit score. If you have cards that are maxed out, you can increase your rating quickly by paying down the balances to under 30%.

Catch up late payments. If you have missed payments or made late payments, it’s important that you catch up and make your payments on time going forward. Late and missed payments can cause significant damage to your score.

Open a new line of credit. Opening a new line of credit can help to increase your credit score. It isn’t advised that you open a bunch of new credit accounts, but adding a new credit card can increase your overall available credit and result in a slight increase to your credit score.