The Dos & Don’ts Of Credit Scores

Here are some important facts about credit scores you should know!

Don’t Apply For New Credit during the loan process. Every time that you have your credit pulled by a potential creditor or lender, you can lose points from your credit score immediately.

Don’t Close Credit Card Accounts. If you close a credit card account, it may appear that your debt ratio has gone up. Closing a card will affect other factors in the score, including credit history.

Don’t Max Out or Over Charge Credit Card Accounts. Try to keep your credit card balances below 40 percent of their limit during the process. Pay Down balances if possible.

Don’t Consolidate Your Debt. When you consolidate all of your debt onto one or two credit cards, it will appear that you are “maxed out” on that card and you will be penalized.

Don’t Do Anything That Will Cause A Red Flag To Be Raised By The Scoring System. This includes adding new accounts, co-signing on a loan or changing your name or address with the bureaus.

Do Join a Credit monitoring program www.lifelock.com or www.myfico.com. Then, you may check your own credit reports regularly without hurting the score. In Addition, if something unexpected does show up, you can address it promptly.

Do Stay Current On Existing Accounts. Like your mortgage and car payments, credit cards ETC. One Recent 30-day late notice can cost you 50-100 points.

Thanks for your interest. If you have a topic you would like me to address in a future post, please let me know.

Sincerely,

Joseph Pisa