A good credit score is a number that helps you to get better interest rates and credit cards. It can also affect whether or not you can get a loan or a credit card at all. Many businesses such as insurance companies and cable companies use your credit score to determine whether they will allow you to use their service.
Should you continue to have problems with your credit score, you can use a credit repair company to help quickly restore it.
Making sure that you are building your credit score is very important for you to be able to get services with ease and get better rates on credit cards and loans in the future.
1. Your Bill Payment History
It is very important that you have a long history of paying your bills on time, every time. If you do miss a payment, then it will be worse the longer that payment goes without being paid. A payment that is 30 days late will affect your score differently than one that is 60 or 90 days late. If you miss a payment, make sure you pay it as soon as you possibly can. The longer you wait, the worse it will be.
Another factor that determines a bill’s impact on your credit is how much you owe. If you miss a payment and owe a lot then you will want to start making payments regularly and get that debt paid down as quickly as possible to improve your credit.
If you do end up in a position where you are having a hard time making payments you could end up with a mark on your public record. A tax lien, foreclosure, or bankruptcy will definitely have a negative impact on your credit score.
2.Your Level of Debt Matters
Your debt level has a huge impact on your credit score. The level of debt you have is 30% of your credit score all by itself. The things that are looked at for your credit score (such as your FICO score) are things such as the amount of debt you have, your credit card balance compared to your credit card limit and your loan balances compared to what the original loan amount was in the first place. The thing you will want to keep in mind is that you should only be utilizing about 30% of any credit card limit you have. Having a high balance on your cards can negatively affect your score, but the quicker you pay down those debts the faster your credit score improves.
3.Your Credit History Age
How long you have had a credit history can be a huge factor in your credit score. Things such as the age of your oldest account, the age of your newest account, the average age of all of your accounts, and whether or not you have used any of your accounts recently all have an impact on your credit score.
Before you decide to open a new account, you will want to consider how it will affect your score because it could change your account age average and it might not be worth it in the long run. This could be offset though because it could lower your utilization rate and positively affect your credit score. You will have to look closely at your options and determine what is best for you.
Closed accounts can actually stay on your credit report for up to ten years, which is good because it can increase the average age of all the accounts you have open. You will have to watch when the account drops off though to see how it affects your credit score.
4.Types of Credit on Your Report
There are two main types of credit on your report – revolving accounts and installment loans. Have both of these types of credit on your report because they will show that you are able to manage different types of credit. It is even better if you have multiple different types of loans on your credit in addition to credit cards because credit only makes up 10% of your credit score.
5.Number of Credit Inquiries
Another 10% of your credit score comes from inquiries that are made on your credit score. This happens when you submit an application where they need to check your credit. It doesn’t hurt too much if you have one or two of these, but you will want to try to not overdo it when it comes to credit checks. The positive part of this is that only the credit checks performed in the past 12 months affect your credit score. The inquiries completely disappear from your credit report within 24 months. (Keep in mind that if you check your own credit score, known as a “soft” inquiry, it doesn’t affect your score.)
Finally, the following is a list of things that you don’t have to worry about when it comes to your credit score – income, bank balances, employment status, age, marital status, and debit or prepaid card usage.
Conclusion
We all know how important it is to have a good credit score, it can help you with interest rates and applying for credit cards and loans with ease. The factors above can help you in improving and maintaining your credit score. Be sure to always have a clean track record if you want to have a good credit score to help you in the near future.
