Some surprising and important facts about credit scores?
? Your income level does not affect your score. Never. Income level is completely irrelevant when it comes to your credit score. But?.on most purchases your income level will affect whether you can qualify or not. Most lenders will take into consideration many factors including your credit score and your income and job history.
? The length of your credit history is important. Don?t close old accounts even if you are not using them because you need as much history as you can get.
? Beware of paying off or even paying towards old collection accounts, especially if it has been charged off. While the date of your first delinquency counts, the date of last activity also counts. Either way the negative impact reduces over time so you may want to consider whether you want to focus on building new and good credit or if you want to pay off old credit. The new and good credit may serve you better for your future.
? Your debt to available credit ratio is crucial. Do not let it go over 20% and you may even want to keep it less than that for the highest credit scores.
? Skip the credit offers at your local department store and don?t shop around for credit unless you are absolutely serious about getting it because every single inquiry into your credit decreases your score.
