Credit score is like a credit card. They can be your helping hand or the ax that cuts you down.

Some things to be aware of with your credit score is what affects it. Your credit score is ultimately judges whether you are a risk for a creditor or a lender. As well if you are considered “Low Risk” then your interest rates and fees are generally lower. So it is very important that you are aware of what your credit score is and how to access it.

To access it I personally I like to use TransUnion to view my credit score. It allows me to not only view my credit score for them but also the other 2 large credit reporting bureaus (Experian and Equifax) all for about $14.95 a month. Which is well worth every penny in my book.

Now that we how to access it we can look at some of the things that affect your credit score. I will cover what positively affects your score and what negatively affects your score so by the time your done reading this you will not only know what is hurting you. But also what you can do to raise the “Almighty Score” of yours.

Positive actions:

• Paying your bills on time
• Using 25 percent or less of your available credit. Ideally, you should carry a balance of no more than $2,500 if your credit limit is $10,000.
• Steady employment. People who are steadily employed are viewed as being better able to pay their bills on time.
• Length of credit history.

Negative actions:

• Late or missed payments
• Using more than 80 percent of your total amount of available credit (That is per card. So even one maxed out card can hurt your score)
• Bankruptcy
• Liens or foreclosures
• Periods of unemployment
• Too many requests for new lines of credit
• Having a credit card thats not in use and has been listed an inactive
• Opening new credit lines

Unfortunately it is easy to see that there are more things to go wrong then right. So there are a few things to consider about each good an bad.

Paying your bills on time:
This is obviously important. Nothing says your reliable like paying on time.

Using 25 percent or less of your available credit:
When some one is considering loaning you money and you have spent every dime that has been put in front of you. That throws up a red flag that. One that says you may not know how to manage your finances. That may not be true for your particular situation but for most it is. It only takes one card to be maxed to have an impact on your score.

Length of credit history:
Each on time payment makes a bigger statement. If you have had a card for 3 months and have had a flawless record, it still will not have the impact of a card that has been paid in a timely manner for years. So keep that in mind when you want to close out all of your cards out of frustration. It would help you much more just to cut them up and make your payments with the account still open then to call the company and close the account. Either way your paying the same amount but one way positively affects your precious credit score and one way can harm it.
Now that you are aware of the basics. I encourage you to go and look at your credit report. If there are any issues that are inaccurate, the best thing is to file a dispute. Getting errors off of your report is the quickest and easiest way of helping your score. Next get a game plan of all of the things that are negativly affecting your score that can be quickly fixed (late payments, inactive cards). Make sure you get a plan of how your going to pay those on time. If you want some tips on getting organized then look at my previous post. Education and awareness are key to a good score. Stay on top of it and refuse to have late payments.

Your Partner in Profit,
Bradley