Raise your credit score by triple digits in just weeks

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Chris Reinhard admits to not doing as good a job as he should keeping tabs on his credit score.

"We never monitored it," says Reinhard.

When he did finally check, Reinhard's credit score was 648. Not bad, but not great either.

Wanting to get a better rate on a home loan, Reinhard began working to improve his score.

"I've seen results as quick as a couple of days," says Phoenix-based credit counselor Dean Wegner.

Wegner suggests several quick fixes that can significantly boost your score in as little as 30 days.

"You can do it on your own and see instant results," said Wegner. "You can raise it 50 to 150 points."

The first step Wegner recommends is reducing the balance to limit ratio on your credit cards.

You could pay the balances down or, Wegner says, you could simply ask for a credit line increase.

"So, for example, if you are at 5,000 dollars and you take it to 10,000 dollars, now you are at 50 percent," said Wegner. "That'll give you 30 to 40 FICO points just by doing that and it doesn't cost you anything."

Wegner also advises his clients sign up for credit monitoring with any or all of the three bureaus: Equifax, Experian, and Trans Union.

For $14.95, you can dispute any item on your credit report.

If the bureau cannot verify the information on your report within 30 days, legally it must be permanently deleted.

"If there's a repossession from several years ago and they can't provide evidence with signatures, it'll come off," said Wegner.

Additionally, Wegner says to think twice about paying off old charge-offs or collections because you may end up doing more harm than good.

"If a collection is five years old, you're looking at a 5-20 point hit, maybe," said Wegner. "If you pay it off, you'll lose 50 points just like that."

By following Wegner's advice Reinhard improved his credit score by more than 70 points to a 720.

"I didn't think it would be so dramatic, I thought maybe just a few points," admitted Reinhard.

Reinhard says the whole process took less than two months and proved fairly easy to accomplish.

"It's completely doable," says Reinhard. "You just have to go out there and get ahold of it."