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You’re ready to buy your first home, to move another rung up the property ladder, or even just to rent a killer place. There’s just one problem – you’re worried about your credit score. Is it high enough for you to qualify for a mortgage or get the best interest rate? Will a potential landlord rent to you if they run your credit?

LendEDU did a study in 2017 that looked at the cities with the best and the credit scores using Experian’s Premier Aggregated Credit Statistics and Onboard Informatics location data. The good news is that Philadelphia wasn’t on the list of the top 100 cities with the worst credit.

The bad news? Philadelphians didn’t make it to the list of the top 100 with the best credit either. The average credit score for people from Philadelphia is 632. That means that the typical Philadelphian in on the low end of having average or fair credit which is usually considered to be between 630 and 689.

If your credit is close to Philadelphia’s average, you might have a hard time getting the mortgage of your dreams, but don’t despair. The handy thing about a credit score is that you can always improve yours.

Here are 3 credit mistakes to avoid and fix if your credit score currently leaves something to be desired.

1. Making late payments

Sure, you always mean to pay your credit card on time, but sometimes a big expense comes up that you didn’t expect or you just forget when the payment is due. That’s a big mistake and it will cost you in terms of your credit score.

If you’re planning to buy a home or rent a new place soon, make sure to prioritize making your payments on time. One missed payment could cost you dearly if it means another couple percentage points of interest on your mortgage. Create an emergency fund so that you’ll always have the cash to pay the minimum payment on your card and set up automatic payments so that you won’t ever forget.

The good news? Many credit companies don’t report late payments to credit bureaus until you’re 30 days late so act quickly if you forget.

2. Using too much of your credit

Credit cards are meant to be maxed out, right? Wrong! In order to get an optimal credit score, you should use just 20% to 30% of your available credit. Even if you intend to pay off your debt at the end of the month, going over this utilization amount could affect your credit score. Why would credit companies even care how much you use? If you’re using more of your available credit, you could be facing financial difficulties which could mean you’ll default on a debt obligation in the future.

Luckily, this problem can be quickly fixed. While you could call your credit card issuer and ask them to give you a higher credit limit, or take out a personal loan and refinance your credit card debt. You won’t just save money because you may qualify for a lower interest rate than you’re paying on your credit cards, but you’ll also greatly lower your credit utilization. You might even get bonus credit points because you’re using a diversity of credit types (another way you can boost your credit).

3. You don’t have old accounts

One big thing that affects your credit score is the age of your credit accounts and your history of repayment on those accounts. If you don’t have very old accounts or if your payment history isn’t ideal, you can borrow the great credit history of a friend or family member. How do you do that? If they are willing to make you an authorized user on one of their credit cards, their account will appear on your credit history and give your credit score a boost. The best news? You don’t even have to use the card that they get for you in order for it to boost your score.

Also, be sure to do your future self a favor not cancelling your oldest credit accounts.

It can take time!

Depending on what your credit score looked like when you started, it can take some time to boost your score. But if you plan ahead, you should be able to improve your score before your need to apply for a mortgage or an apartment rental. When you move into your dream home, all the hard work improving your credit will be worth it.