5 Realistic Habits to Raise Your Credit Score

Same employer, same salary — yet one person gets a loan rate of 4.2% while another gets 6.8%. On a 100 million KRW loan over 30 years, that 2.6 percentage-point gap means roughly 160,000 KRW more every month, and a difference of nearly 57 million KRW over 30 years. What stands at that fork in the road is your 'credit score.' The good news is that a credit score isn't something you're born with — it's built through everyday habits. Today, rather than vague advice, we'll lay out with numbers exactly how scores are actually calculated, all the way through five realistic habits.

First, who scores your credit, and how?

In Korea, your personal credit score is calculated by two rating agencies — NICE Jikimi and KCB (Allcredit) — each on a scale from 1 to 1,000 points. The two companies' scores can differ because they weight their evaluation factors differently. Roughly speaking, four pillars are key: ① repayment history (whether you've been delinquent), ② debt level (the amount of debt and how much of your limit you've used up), ③ length of credit history, and ④ credit mix (what kinds of financial transactions you have). Understand this structure and it becomes clear 'what to do to raise your score.'

Habit 1. Never be late on a payment — not even by a day

Repayment history carries the largest weight in your credit score. In particular, once a delinquency of '100,000 KRW or more, 5 or more business days' occurs, it gets recorded with the credit rating agencies and your score drops sharply. A single short-term delinquency can knock off dozens of points, and the mark remains for a set period even after you repay. The key point is that it's not the size of the amount but 'the delinquency itself.' Bundling your phone bill, card payments, and loan interest all into automatic transfers, and making a habit of checking your balance the day before the payment date, is the single most powerful line of defense for protecting your score.

Habit 2. Use only 30–40% of your card limit

How much of your credit card limit you use up (your utilization rate) is directly reflected in the assessment of your debt level. If you charge 4.8 million KRW every month on a card with a 5 million KRW limit, then even if you always pay on time, you read as 'someone strapped against their limit,' which works against your score. As a general rule, keeping it within 30–40% of the limit is treated as the safe line. With a 5 million KRW limit, that means managing your monthly spending around the 1.5–2 million KRW range. If cutting spending is hard, another option is 'prepayment' — paying off part of the balance before the billing date to lower the balance at the time of billing.

Habit 3. Directly 'submit' the information that counts toward your assessment

Surprisingly, many people don't know this: a record of diligently paying things like phone bills, health insurance premiums, the National Pension, and apartment maintenance fees becomes a plus factor if you submit it yourself. You can link and submit your non-financial payment records through the 'raise your credit score' menu in apps like NICE, KCB, Toss, or KakaoPay. The effect is greatest for those new to the workforce who have little credit history. A few minutes of clicking can sometimes raise your score by anywhere from a few points to dozens of points, so it's worth checking once a quarter.

• Submit records of diligently paying your phone bill for 6 or more months
• Link your health insurance and National Pension payment records
• Diligent small transactions (steady use of a debit card) are also positive for credit-history length and mix
• However, submission only adds points when it's 'diligent payment' — a record of delinquency can actually become a minus

Habit 4. Don't carelessly cancel old cards

The longer your credit history, the better for your score. So if you cancel the primary card you've used the longest just because you 'don't use it,' your average account age shortens and it can actually hurt you. Conversely, opening several new cards in a short span, or applying (inquiring) to multiple financial companies for loans and cards all at once within a short period, can make you look like 'someone desperate for money.' The standard play is to keep only as many cards as you truly need, centered on the ones you've used for a long time.

Habit 5. When paying off debt, start with the 'expensive' debt — the order builds your score

If you have multiple debts, which one you pay off first determines how fast your score recovers. As a general rule, clearing the debts with high interest rates that read as danger signals first — cash advances, card loans, high-interest loans — is advantageous for both your score and your interest costs. For example, if you have a 3 million KRW cash advance at 19% annual interest and a 3 million KRW negative-balance (overdraft) account at 5% annual interest, then even for the same 1 million KRW, paying off the cash advance first delivers an interest-saving effect about 4 times greater. As your total debt shrinks and high-risk transactions disappear, your score naturally recovers.

The priority order at a glance

1. Block delinquencies first — automatic transfers + scheduling right after payday (the biggest effect)
2. Manage your card utilization to within 30–40% of the limit
3. Submit your diligent-payment records for phone, insurance, and pension directly in the app
4. Keep your old primary card, and refrain from multiple applications in a short period
5. Pay off high-interest, high-risk debt first to lower both your total debt and your risk level

A credit score is not a sprint but a record of consistency. Adopting the habits above won't raise your score by 100 points next month, but if you build them up diligently over 6 months to a year, your interest rate, limit, and loan eligibility change noticeably. Change begins the moment you start treating your score as something 'to be managed.' For reference, this article is for general informational purposes; the actual scoring criteria can differ by rating agency, point in time, and individual circumstances. For your precise credit status, please check directly with NICE Jikimi, KCB, and the like.