The latter means that the credit reporting agencies &quot;evaluate&quot; how you&#x27;re doing at specific times, so instead of paying off your card when it is due, you can notice when they evaluate and pay it off <i>right before they check</i>. If you do, try and pay off enough to have it below 10%, but above 1%, since that&#x27;ll give you the best evaluation (i.e. the highest credit score).<p>For anyone else, pretty much anyone with income can more or less fix their credit in 6-9 months if you just work at it. It&#x27;s a game, you can game it, and get a good credit score.<p>(If you scoff at the notion of credit scores being &quot;a game&quot;, realize that <i>it&#x27;s the whole point</i>. People who &quot;care&quot; enough about their credit score to learn the game and play it are—by definition—good credit risks. So doing well &quot;at the game&quot; is <i>exactly</i> what credit providers want you to do.)