- Paying your bills on time. Delinquent payments and collections can have a significantly negative impact on your score.
- If you have missed payments in the past, getting current and staying current on your payments.
- Paying off debt rather than move it around.
- Re-establishing your credit worthiness if you have had problems. Opening new accounts responsibly and paying them off on time may help in the long run.
- Applying for and opening new credit accounts only as needed.
- Keeping credit cards and managing them responsibly. In general, having credit cards and installment loans (and making timely payments) may help in the long run. Someone with no credit cards, for example, may be seen as a higher risk than someone who has demonstrated a history of managing credit cards responsibly.
- If you are having trouble making ends meet, contacting your creditors or seeing a legitimate, reputable credit counselor.
- Keeping balances low on credit cards and other lines of revolving credit.
- Doing your rate shopping for a loan or credit line within a short period of time. FICO® scores distinguish between a search for a single loan and a search for many new credit lines in part by the length of time over which inquiries occur.
The following factors typically do not have a positive impact (or may even have a negative impact) on your credit score:
- Opening a number of new credit cards that you do not need, just to increase your available credit. This approach could backfire and actually have a negative impact on your score.
- Opening a lot of new accounts in a short period of time, especially if you have been managing credit for a short time. New accounts will lower your average account age. If you do not have a lot of other information in your credit file, this could have a larger effect on your score. Also, rapid account build-up can look risky if you are a new credit user.
