Credit Mysteries Uncovered – Know What Brings Your Score Down

By Author: Justin Scott
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Your credit score has the utmost importance, since it reflects your financial situation. A low credit score could make life difficult for you. It would not be easy for you to take part in any important financial transactions. The higher your score is, the better will be the rates granted to you, when you apply for loans. Prevention is always better than cure, and so, instead of doing credit score repair in future, it will be better to not let your score shrink at all.

The Fair Isaac Corporation or FICO score is calculated by all the three major credit reporting bureaus - Equifax, TransUnion, and Experian, and ranges between 300 and 850. Your FICO score is generally calculated on the basis of:

o Payment history - around 35% of the score
o The owed amount - around 30% of the score
o Length of credit history – around 15% of the score
o New credit – around 10% of the score
o Types of credit use: around 10% of the score

Thus, you can see that several factors influence your credit ...
... score. As such, any wrong step on your part will make your credit score drop. The following reasons may influence your credit in a negative way:

1. Late or missed payments – Past credit behavior is taken into account, while calculating your credit score. If you cannot continue with the payments on your loans or debts, the creditors will report the missed or late payments to the bureaus, which consequently will affect your score. Such activities on your part will make it difficult for you to undergo credit score repair in the future.

2. Collection accounts – The creditors usually hand over the accounts to the debt collectors, when they fail to extract their payments from the borrowers. Your credit reports will show the collection status of your account, and thus the score will drop.

3. Debt settlement – A settlement process makes you stop payments on your debt accounts for a certain period of time. It might be able to get you a better deal, with a reduced pay off amount. However your credit scores are bound to drop due to the missed payments. Even the account status, after the completion of the procedure, will be updated as ‘settled’, instead of ‘paid-in-full’, which will influence your credit score in a negative way.

4. Foreclosure – Failure to make timely payments on your mortgage loans will lead to foreclosure. The late payments will not only lower your credit score, but also will make it difficult for you to get future loan approvals.

5. Balance transfer – You can consolidate your credit card debts with the help of a balance transfer credit card. Although this will ease your monthly payments, you’ll end up carrying more balance on your credit card. This will enhance your credit utilization ratio, and the credit score will be hurt.

6. Bankruptcy – This should be the last option to choose, when you are desperate for debt relief. Bankruptcy will leave its impact on your credit score for around 7 to 10 years.

7. Numerous credit or loan applications – Creditors usually make credit inquiries before they approve your loan applications. If you continue applying to a lot of creditors, a lot of inquiries are going to take place, which will hurt your credit score.

You should scan your credit availability options thoroughly, before you select any amongst them. Credit score repair can be a tiresome procedure. So, it is advisable to step ahead carefully so that your financial condition remains stable.