I’m Allie Wadley, Director of Credit Operations at NDBT and this episode of our Credit Education Series is about maintaining good credit.
There are five factors which impact your credit score. These include the amounts you owe, your payment history, new credit, history of how you pay, and the mix of your credit.
The two biggest influencers are your payment history and the amounts you owe. These two factors impact your credit score anywhere from 30% to 35%, respectively. Credit card balances are considered high when your usage, your outstanding balance exceeds 30% of your credit limit. Additionally, one missed payment that results in collections activity will stay on your credit report for 7 years and might cost you 40 points off your score.
Credit history moderately impacts your credit score, around 15%. The longer you manage your credit responsibly, the better it reflects in your credit score. Avoid opening new accounts frequently.
Your credit mix and new credit accounts are less influential to your credit score, each impacting the score 10% respectively. Also, lenders like to see that you’re capable of managing multiple types of credit accounts, as long as you make all payments on time and keep your credit card balances low.
Be sure to view the other topics in our video series to keep yourself credit aware.
