What Factors Can Hurt My
Credit Score?
Five Key Factors That Can Adversely Affect
Credit Scores
You help your credit score by making payments on time, staying well within your credit limits, and keeping the number of your accounts in check.
Five Key Factors That Can Impact Your Credit Score:
1. Payment history
Late payment really hurts your score. Are you late with your payments? How late? How often? And on how many of your accounts?
2. Amounts owed
Large account balances may be another negative. What is the balance on each of your credit obligations? How many accounts have balances? Are you “maxed out” or nearly so on your credit cards regardless of the dollar amount? Credit scores are negatively affected if you have a balance on any card in excess of thirty percent of the credit limit on that card.
3. Level of new debt
Opening too many new credit accounts in a short period of time can work against you. How many new accounts do you have? How long has it been since you opened a new account? How many recent inquiries have been made by lenders to whom you have made application?
4. Types of credit used
It’s good to mix and match credit types to your needs. How many accounts do you have?
5. Length of credit history
It helps your score to have older accounts that you have kept in good standing. How long have you had each account? How long has it been since you used the accounts?
