Items on Credit Report that Matter (But You Never Thought They Would)

There are items on your credit report that you probably never thought would count so much against you but they do. It seems unexpected and odd that some of these items would matter but they do and that is something you have to deal with.

• Records of credit cards you voluntarily closed even if when you have it was in good standing.

• Opening new accounts can hurt you at the time it occurs and for up to a year afterward. (The goal here would be not to open too many at once.)

• Records of credit card balance transfers can hurt you. You should not make too many of them. Just the transfer itself can lower your credit score by five points, approximately.

• Settling debts could count against you somewhat. It is better than bankruptcy but it can hurt your credit score.

• With rare exceptions, those pseudo-limitless credit cards you hear about can hurt you. Be very careful about using these as they can catch up with you do if you miss payments. Furthermore, they raise your credit utilization rates often to about 20% above normal.

• Library fines, parking tickets, and other small penalties that go to collections and appear on your files could hurt you more than you think. Left unpaid these can drastically affect the payment history section of your credit report drastically.

Solutions

If any of the above scenarios might pertain to you make some changes. Whenever possible, pay off any unpaid balances or your problem will continue to snowball.

The sooner you pay them off the faster they will be removed from your record. This will help in time lower the amount of unpaid debt you have and it will raise your credit score.

Furthermore, limit number of accounts you open. At the same time, try to use a variety of different types of credit and always pay back the bills when due.

Furthermore, if you plan to move make sure you square away any unpaid debts with a certain community. Otherwise, the neglected balances (i.e. library fines, parking tickets) could cost you.

Furthermore, never deal with a credit card company who does not use typical credit report procedures. For instance, if they refuse to report balances to a financial bureau it can actually hurt you not help you because again it can raise your credit utilization ratio drastically.