![\"\"](\"http:\/\/66.147.244.56\/~worldwa7\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/fico.png\" "\\"FICO\\"")
<\/a><\/p>\nYou can see that your score is comprised of many factors.<\/p>\n
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- P<\/strong>ayment History:<\/strong> \u00a0This is you paying your bills on time. \u00a0Your bills include things like credit cards, mortgages, and loans. \u00a0All of these contribute toward making your score higher. \u00a0Unfortunately the gas bill and the city bill you receive don’t contribute toward this even if you make the payment on time. \u00a0However, if you don’t pay that city bill it can negatively affect your score, so it doesn’t help you much, but it can definitely hurt you.<\/li>\n
- Amounts Owed:<\/strong> The amounts owed category has to do with having high balances on your cards and lots of payments on a monthly basis. \u00a0Make sure that you aren’t getting even to 50% of your available credit limit on your cards. \u00a0Some sites tell you that you can get closer, but just don’t live on the edge. \u00a0For example, if your credit limit is $1000, \u00a0you shouldn’t spend more than $500 on the card in one billing cycle. \u00a0That can hurt you. \u00a0Keep the balances low and ideally you would pay them off each month. \u00a0After all, it doesn’t do you much good to pay interest if you are trying to get free travel…<\/li>\n
- Length of Credit History:<\/strong> What is the average age of your credit account? \u00a0This is affected by how long you have had your average account open. \u00a0If you are new to the credit industry you won’t have anything here. \u00a0This takes into account your mortgages, loans, credit cards, etc.<\/li>\n
- New Credit:<\/strong> This takes into account the number of recent inquiries on your credit and the distance between each of those inquiries. \u00a0It also looks at how much new credit you have vs. what experienced credit you have.<\/li>\n
- Types of Credit Used:<\/strong> This looks at the different types of credit you have established. \u00a0There are mortgages, installment loans (e.g. car loans), credit cards, retail accounts, etc.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Our Take: <\/span><\/span><\/div>\nLook, you need to be smart. \u00a0Hopefully you have already begun building your credit and are well on your way to carefully managing it as you hit all of these bonuses and travel for free. \u00a0Make sure you always keep you oldest credit card open as it has a great history of payments (hopefully). \u00a0Try to open a few different types of accounts so you can build your credit not only by credit card, but also buy other types of credit. \u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/div>\nMake sure you don’t have too many inquiries, but really you can have quite a few and it won’t affect you that much. \u00a0I’ve heard that you can have up to 9 inquiries with each of the thee crediting agencies every 2 years. \u00a0That could theoretically be 27 inquiries every 2 years. \u00a0Make sure you \u00a0pay your bills on time and don’t run high balances. \u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/div>\nTo help you effectively manage your credit, you can use the services of Credit Sesame. \u00a0We don’t have their direct link yet, but here is their website. \u00a0It is a personal finance & debit tool. \u00a0We should have the link within the week.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Here is the answer to the question that you’ve probably all been looking for. \u00a0What about my credit? Essentially a credit score is comprised of a few different histories. \u00a0Thanks to MyFICO.com for the graphic below. \u00a0It \u00a0shows how your … Continue reading
- Amounts Owed:<\/strong> The amounts owed category has to do with having high balances on your cards and lots of payments on a monthly basis. \u00a0Make sure that you aren’t getting even to 50% of your available credit limit on your cards. \u00a0Some sites tell you that you can get closer, but just don’t live on the edge. \u00a0For example, if your credit limit is $1000, \u00a0you shouldn’t spend more than $500 on the card in one billing cycle. \u00a0That can hurt you. \u00a0Keep the balances low and ideally you would pay them off each month. \u00a0After all, it doesn’t do you much good to pay interest if you are trying to get free travel…<\/li>\n