| Your credit score is going to determine a lot of things | | | | companies looking at your score, this can lower it. It's |
| for you in the near future. If you don't have a score | | | | going to show the other companies that you're out |
| that is good, you're going to find that you will get bad | | | | there looking for loans or credit cards. These are what |
| car loan rates, a bad mortgage rate, or even nothing at | | | | you call "hard" inquiries. |
| all! This is something that you don't want when you | | | | - Not paying: Whether you don't pay your bill on time, |
| want to finance something as large as a house. | | | | or you just skip out on payments, this is going to hurt |
| I had found with a friend before that he had a decent | | | | you significantly. You will want to make sure that you |
| credit score. He was able to get a mortgage but he | | | | always try to pay the minimum on your credit card |
| had to pay points on top of getting a larger interest | | | | each and every month. |
| rate. We had homes that were comparable in price, | | | | - Too many credit accounts opened: You don't want |
| but what I had found out was that he had paid nearly | | | | to have a large amount of credit opened. What you're |
| $5,000 more for his mortgage at closing just because | | | | going to find is that some companies are hesitant to |
| of his score. | | | | lend to you if you have too much credit available. |
| If you're curious about your credit score dropping, I | | | | - Debt to income: If you make $40,000 a year and you |
| wanted to give you some simple pointers that may | | | | have $35,000 in debt, your debt to income ratio is |
| cause your score to drop. By preventing these items, | | | | going to be a little high. You will want to make sure that |
| you will find that your score will either remain the same, | | | | you narrow this debt down to increase your score. |
| or will rise slightly over time. | | | | These are just a few of the many items that can |
| - Too many inquiries: If you have banks and other | | | | decrease your credit score. Every report is different. |