What things hurt your credit and what things help build up your credit?

Answer 1

Negative impact things include: having too many lines of credit, too many of them are at the max level of credit available,too many recent inquiries, late by 30, late by over 90, judgements,liens,repossessions

Positive things include: longevity of account history,keeping low or no balance on accts, good payment history, strong employment history, strong/long residence history

Individual creditors also employ some criteria of there own screening for both positive & negative characteristics.

Answer 2

Being late on payments.

Too much revolving credit - that is the total limit for all your credit cards.

Having more than a few credit cards.

Having less than two credit cards

Store cards - the more you have, the worse things are.

Too many applications for credit - like if you filled out a lot of credit card applications shopping for a good rate.

History - you need at least 10 years of history with a single credit card to get a good score. If you've changed cards frequently, this affects your rating.

You can get a free copy of your credit history - you should do this at least once a year. This will allow you to challenge any incorrect statements on the history. Go to http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/credit/freereports.htm for information.

NOTE!!! You shouldn't trust any links people post if they don't go to a .gov site (that guarantees this is not a spam site, it is a government site).

The actual link to the free credit report is https://www.annualcreditreport.com/cra/index.jsp, but as I said, you should get this by first going to http://firstgov.gov, or the FTC site I listed early. Why? Because someone might otherwise point you to a site that is going to steal your identity information! It's always better to start with a known good site - and sites that are .gov based can be trusted.

Answer 3

What goes against your credit are the fact that you make your payments late. You max out your credit cards all the time and you only make minimum payments. Also, you do not pay your utility and phone bills on time. These get reported to credit bureaus too. Oh yes, and you spend a lot more that you earn. This can be determined by your card use and even your cell phone use. Big Brother is always watching us. If companies are always running your credit as you put it, that is because you are constantly requesting credit or you are not quite credit worthy in your finances. To fix bad credit, you can start by cutting up all your credit cards. Start making some serious effort to pay off your debt and get yourself on a budget. If you cannot do so, then see a reputable credit couselor and getting cracking. You will have to give up credit for a long time once you agree to settle your debts for a lower interest rate. It actually is a mild form of bankrupcy. You build your credit by having a good employment record. The ability to earn and pay your living expenses within your salary range. You obtain a small credit line to begin with, you use it sensibly. You always make your payments on time an you do not continously max out your credit card and you do not make minimum payments. If you max out and make min. payments, the credit card companies will love you because they will continue to raise your finance charge rate to the max and get away with it. Another good thing to do as far as building credit, is to establish a relationship with a bank starting with a checking account and a small savings account. Use your C/A sensibly (do not overdraw). You may be offered a line of credit, and that is a good way to start building a good credit record. Oh yes, you must also never pay your other regular personal bills like electric, telpehone and rent late. All of these good habits will help you to be on your way to building GOOD CREDIT.

Answer 4

Also add canceling too many credit cards in a 30 day period will, slightly, lower your credit. Say, more than one or two cards.

Having a too high available credit to debt ratio. For example, you owe a total of $1000 but you have $60,000 available.

Too many inquiries in a 30 day period will lower you score, but only inquiries made for when you apply for credit. The routine inquiries conducted by credit companies that you are part of do not count.

There are a bunch more, some make sense, and a bunch of reasons don't. Mostly pay you bills on time.

Answer 5

Dear Janice,
The things that hurt your credit are 1.Paying minimun payments, 2.Paying late, 3.Allowing any bill to go into collection, 4. Doing or having car dealers doing credit investigations
The things that help your credit are 1.Always paying more than the minium, 2. getting your payments in on time or EARLY, even if you have to send by Priority Mail 3. arranging and following payment plans for odd bills such as eye doctor, personal doctor, hospital bills. You have to go in and negotiate a payment plan, and then follow it faithfully, 4. not doing any credit checks or allowing anyone else to check your credit. There are probaly other things but these are the ones I know that work. Good Luck!

Answer 6

Paying late, applying for too much credit at one time or within a short period of time and paying just the minimum balance hurts. Pay more than your minimum balance on time and this will help to build your credit.

Answer 7

Being late on monthly payments by MORE than 30 days hurts your credit rating. Repossessions and bankruptcys will KILL your credit rating. Applying for loans/credit cards and being turned down will hurt your credit rating, as will excessive credit report checks being conducted by companies you've applied for credit with.

The only way to build a good credit report is to be ON TIME with your payments, be CONSISTANTLY on time, payoff your debts early, and don't have too many credit cards.

Answer 8

Some important factors are: timeliness of payments, amount of credit being used, length of credit history, loans paid in the past and earnings. Please read the articles linked below.

Answer 9

not paying your bills hurts, paying your bills helps.