Do you feel like you’re drowning in credit card debt? You try to pay off the rising balances little by little, but they just keep piling on. You are not alone! Americans have roughly $1.08 trillion in revolving debt, which includes credit card debt.

We’ll bet that when you were a kid nobody ever told you what a credit score was, let alone how much of an impact it would have on your future. Your credit score decides how favorable you will appear to lenders and whether you will receive a low interest rate on a loan, or even if you’ll get approved for the loan. But maybe right now your credit score isn’t as good as it could be and you want a higher score. Here are 5 easy ways to improve your credit score.

You’re probably aware that paying bills late and maxing out credit cards can bring your credit score down. But sometimes we don’t know the not-so-obvious actions that can lower our credit scores.