Credit Tips: Part 4

Once Upon A Time... continued

That sounds like a good way to start a story ~ Let's call it your Credit Story.

There are 5 Major Factors that Make Up a Credit Score:

Payment History
Credit Usage
Credit Age
Mix of Credit
Inquiries

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Keep in mind, that Credit doesn't make a lot of sense. If you remember that, try not to argue and shake your head often, you'll be way ahead of the game. :-)

Cartoon - credit ask

getty images

Let's continue with #3, Credit Age

Now it starts to get a little more confusing. Credit Age is the age of your oldest account, the age of your newest account, the average age of all your accounts and whether you've used an account recently. They are all factors related to the length of your credit history. In most cases, the longer your credit history, the better.

Credit Age

Read it Again: Example; My son and I both got our first credit card at age 18. I am 30 years older than my son. Therefore, my credit age is 30 years older than his. I should have better credit. (I do!) haha But, you can see that if I had a vehicle repossessed and claimed bankruptcy at some point that his credit could be better than mine.

There are many, many different things that go into a credit score. We'll continue to explore the 5 biggest influences on your number. I often refer to credit like sneaking out of the house when you were a teenager. Your parents somewhat trusted you until you snuck out, past curfew without their knowledge or permission. You got caught. Now you have to earn that trust back - Whew! Not an easy task. It only takes a few mistakes to screw up your credit ~ but it takes a really long time to get it back!