35% Payment History

Making monthly payments on time is the most important factor to lenders.

What you can do about it?

- Set up alerts for reminders of payment due dates.

- Set up recurring automatic payments to make sure you never forget to make a payment.

30% Length of Credit History

If a high percentage of your available credit is in New Credit: 10% use, it can cause you to appear overextended and more likely to miss payments. Opening multiple credit accounts over a short What you can do about it: period of time can be a red flag to lenders.

Plus, the inquiries and multiple new accounts Keep the amount of credit you use well below can negatively impact your score. the amount you're offered. What you can do about it: Keep total debt to less than 25% of your Only open accounts you absolutely need. available credit. Maintain a combination of accounts with balances and accounts with a $0 balance. Credit Mix: 10% Pay down installment loans (like a mortgage Demonstrating that you can manage different or auto loan) as quickly as possible by making kinds of credit (such as credit cards and extra principal payments installment loans) is a plus in the eyes of lenders. Length of Credit History: 15% What you can do about it: Maintain a mix of revolving credit (like credit A longer credit history has a positive effect on your cards) and installment. loans (like auto or score. Lenders consider the oldest, newest and mortgage loan). average age of all your accounts. If your credit history prevents you from getting a new credit account, consider a secured credit What you can do about it: card or loan backed by a deposit that serves as Keep your oldest account open, even if you collateral. don't use it. Don't open new accounts that you don't need. ........ .. "Credit scores range from 250 to 900. Various models are used to calculate credit scores. Your score could vary epending on the model used to calculate.