<prompt> Human: I trashed my credit, I was in the lower 500s. Then I turned things around and fixed my credit, yay! I just paid off my final collections bill, the only debt I have is my car note and my credit card. I owe around 1,000 on my car and I pay off my credit card monthly. I need to contact Ford today to see if there are penalties for paying off my car early. I plan on using some of my tax return to pay off my car and then sack the rest of it away in the bank. But once Ive paid off my car the only thing I have building me credit is my credit card. I want to keep improving, so what should I do?Edit: Spoke with Ford... there is no penalty for paying off the car early.  <response>: You can open a couple of additional credit cards, but at that point there arent any quick fixes to improve your credit. Just keep using the credit cards and paying them in full. You score score should slowly rise.If those collections are still on your report your largest boost will come when they drop off after 7 years. As long as they are on there they pull your score down significantly. 